Woman Holds Her Own Heart Following Successful Heart Transplant Surgery
Penny Smith, 35, received her heart transplant in September 2012. She had known for years that she might one day need one.
"I was 3 and a half when I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins T-cell lymphoma and I went into remission at age 6," she told the Daily News. "From there in 1994 I developed a heart problem, which my mom knew about. (The doctors) had told her when I went through chemo that I would have it."
Doctors monitored her condition closely over the years, but, Smith says, "I went downhill in 2007. I couldn’t breathe, I could barely walk.