JESSICA Manning, 28, from New Zealand, was diagnosed at birth with six different heart defects - meaning that she had the equivalent of half a heart, with multiple holes and leaky valves. By her third birthday, she had already had two open-heart surgeries and she was given only a few years to live. She has undergone over 200 surgeries, including five open heart surgeries, two pacemaker surgeries, and one emergency lung surgery. At 25, she had both a heart and liver transplant. Jessica explained the process to Truly: “I knew that a transplant is a pretty big surgery considering I was having both organs done. It's weird to think that at one point there is just a machine in the middle of my chest, keeping all the rest of my vital organs pumping while they take out my heart and they insert my donor's heart. They replaced my heart first before they got to my liver.” The recovery from her surgery was intensive: “I was in the hospital for a total of 53 days in ICU, 14 days on the ward and I was in the cardiac rehabilitation centre for 21 days," she said. Despite the trauma of her medical history, she now wears her scars with pride: “Due to all the surgeries that I have had, I have a whole chest and stomach full of scars, which I absolutely adore and love. I show them to everyone.” Since the surgery was successful, Jessica offered her heart and liver to go to a New Zealand university for research. 10 months later, she was told her heart was ready to collect and now she keeps it at home. Jessica continued: “I store it in my wardrobe, I think it looks like cookie dough.” Now she shows her heart online, and answers questions on the topic of organ transplants. Her TikTok videos gain millions of views, and Jessica hopes it will educate others on the importance of organ donation: “I was hoping by sharing my complete story, the good, the bad, the raw that it will spread the awareness out on heart disease and actually how serious it is and how much it can impact someone's life."

https://www.instagram.com/jessica.elena.xo/
https://www.tiktok.com/@jessica.elenanz