A New Zealand national born with half a heart went viral on social media after sharing her story and her heart.
Jessica Manning revealed to Jam Press, “Whenever I’m ready to break up with my heart, I’d like to bury it somewhere important to me, but now I’m putting it on TikTok.”
Since she was three, Jessica Manning, 28, has had to undergo 200 surgeries due to several heart problems.
Holes in her body, twisted arteries, leaking valves: Doctors estimated that Jessica only had a few years to live.
“My biggest operation was Fontane, which connects my heart to the pulmonary artery with a tube, it was practically a reconstruction of my heart,” she said in an interview.
“The operation allowed me to live a good life until my late teens. Over time, I had problems with my liver.”
When she turned 19, she had to stay in the hospital for a while. She was still able to rest at home for a month, before she developed heart failure.
I spent three months in the hospital fighting for my life. It revealed that my heart was working at only 5%.
Then, at the age of 25, Jessica underwent heart and liver transplants. But four weeks later she had a heart attack.
Because CPR isn’t working, doctors put her in a coma for three days.
Fortunately, Jessica was able to get free healthcare in New Zealand. His transplants would have cost him just over $2.4 million.
Although she has not had any other complications since the transplant, she will still have to take medication for the rest of her life.
She decided to donate her heart and liver to a university in New Zealand for research.
“People from the university called me saying they still had my heart and they only needed a part of it. They asked me if I wanted the rest of my heart and I said yes.
Since her heart, which has the texture of cookie dough, is in her possession, she shared what she’s tried on the TikTok platform.
“He looks like that because he’s been so damaged,” Jessica explained.
