Indiana woman thankful for 2nd chance after life-saving heart transplant
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An Indiana woman recovering from a heart transplant is sharing her story to raise awareness.
Grateful doesn’t begin to express the gratitude Jaelyn Kinchelow feels. Knowing the sacrifice needed to give her a second chance at life.
She hopes sharing the story inspires someone else to help save a life. The Indiana Donor Network estimates black people account for half of the people on transplant waiting lists but only account for 35 percent of organ donations.
“You never know when a heart is available,” Kinchelow said. “So you have to sort of just wait it out.”
On March 28, Kinchelow received a heart transplant. It’s a important marker in a decade-old fight to live. In 2012 while taking laps around a track, she dropped, only remembering waking up at Riley’s Hospital for Children.
“They, kind of, were just trying anything to keep me alive,” she said.
Her heart had failed her. With her heart condition, track was out of the question.
“The coronary artery tore in my heart,” Kinchelow said. “So they had to take a vein out of my leg and they placed it in my heart.”
She found freedom in other things. But 10 years later, the heart valve repair failed, forcing her onto a long heart transplant waiting list.
“She is a little unique in how she got to that process – what actually took her to cardiac problems – because she didn’t have a defect from birth,” said Debbie Murphy, heart transplant coordinator at Riley Hospital for Children.
She said 14 seems young but heart defects can also impact newborns.
“We can’t take organs with us. And if you can give that opportunity for someone else to have a second chance at life, why not do it? Be kind to others and give that family that blessing,” she said.
Kinchelow considers herself blessed by having to only wait three months for her life-saving gift. She says many people don’t think about organ donations until it impacts their family.
She urges you not to wait.
“It takes a pretty brave person to say, ‘if I can no longer live, I want to help other people live,’” Kinchelow said.
She says she wants to honor their loved one by doing something big with her life. After she recovers, she hopes to finish up nursing school.