Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The Hearts of a Girl recounts how Jessica Carmel fought for life at a mere four days old and kept fighting through three more heart repair surgeries, a heart transplant, and a kidney transplant. Carmel provides a unique patient view in this riveting memoir--her struggles growing up with half of a heart, learning she was in need of a heart transplant and later a kidney transplant, the pain, both mental and physical, she endured while living with a rare disease, and her fight for life. Carmel realized at a very young age that she was different from other children, and though she has faced death several times, she has remained determined to live as normally as possible.
Synopsis
No one expected this journey. Jessica Carmel was born with a severe congenital heart condition. At four days old, her parents learned she would need heart surgery. They had no idea that her future held multiple surgeries and even more unexpected challenges. Fast-forward sixteen years. As Jessica sat in her cardiologist's office for a routine checkup, he told her and her mom that there was nothing more he could do for her. Jessica needed a heart transplant. Three weeks later, Jessica underwent heart transplant surgery. Her recovery was long, but good. Feeling healthier than ever, she went on to graduate high school and college. Soon after her college graduation, however, she began to feel "off." She visited the emergency room for what she thought was severe stomach pain, but it turned out her heart was the real issue. She was admitted to the hospital to relieve fluid, and a couple of days into her stay, a transplant nephrologist informed her she was going to need a kidney transplant. Nearly ten years had passed since Jessica had received her heart transplant, and now she was in desperate need for a kidney. Her only hope to survive was her hero and sister, Amy. Amy came through--right away, she agreed to offer up one of her kidneys. Now, it wasn't enough that Jessica's mom was going to see one daughter off to the operating room, as she had done with Jessica many times before. She would be seeing both her daughters heading into surgery. In The Hearts of a Girl, Jessica shares that story and the story of her many years of struggle to survive and thrive after a long history of challenging surgeries. It's a story that informs and inspires.
Synopsis
The Hearts of a Girl is an unflinchingly honest and deeply personal story of the resolve required to survive when one has faced death several times.