Bronx mother sheds a light on the importance of being an organ donor
Shenice Weber was born with a genetic heart defect. After waiting five years on the transplant list, she was given the gift of life through a heart transplant.
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Shenice Weber was born with a genetic heart defect. She had a successful heart operation at the age of 12 and lived a healthy life until everything changed in 2017 when she had her fourth child, Journey.
Journey was born with a heart condition, was in the ICU as a newborn, went through several heart surgeries and nearly died. Weber says this pain was too much to bear, and she got sick.
"I went back to the hospital and my doctor explained to me, 'You're in heart failure. She sent you with all the stress that you were went through this past year, you're in heart failure,'" said Weber.
After waiting five years on the transplant list, Weber was given the gift of life through a heart transplant.
She successfully went through the surgery with the help of her doctors at Mount Sinai hospital.
"I absolutely was giving a gift. This gift helps me see my daughter. My daughter is about to graduate high school in the next couple of months. So, this is definitely a gift. This is God's given gift. And I couldn't be more grateful. More grateful. I'm very thankful for a second chance at life," Weber said.
Dr. Maya Bargash, Weber's cardiologist at Mount Sinai, tells News 12 every eight minutes, someone is added to the transplant list because they are waiting for an organ to save their life. She adds that every day, about 17 people die waiting for an organ that they're not able to get because they're too sick to wait for that organ to become available.
To learn more about organ donation or to become an organ donor click here.
