National Donor Day: Minneapolis heart transplant patient says donations saved her life — twice

Melanie Wickersheim says organ donations saved her life… twice.  The 38-year-old Minneapolis woman has had two heart transplants.  Her first was at age 10, after being diagnosed with myocarditis.  Then in 2020, she suffered a heart attack.  Doctors determined she needed another heart transplant and a new kidney as well.

“It was something I lived with while I was waiting.  Every day I’d think ‘Is this the day I get my heart? Or ‘Is this the day my heart gives out?’” she said.

In April of 2022, Wickersheim became one of the first patients in Minnesota to undergo transplant surgery by using new, heart-in-a box technology.  It’s a groundbreaking organ-care system using a variety of devices that extends the time the heart is outside the body.

“You just feel this intense gratitude that someone would give that gift,” she said.

According to The Health Resources and Services Administration, there are more than 106,000 patients waiting for an organ transplant across the country.