Source: Go Erie | Editorial
Brittany Grimm is floating on air these days. On New Year's, instead of watching the Rose Bowl Parade at her Fairview home, 15-year-old Brittany will be in Pasadena, Calif., perched on the Donate Life float.
At age 10, Brittany went to the doctor to be treated for pneumonia and learned that she had something much more serious -- restrictive cardiomyopathy, which causes the heart muscle to stiffen. Eventually, she would need a heart transplant.
"You can't tell a 10-year-old you're going to have to get your heart taken out and replaced with a new one," says Colleen Grimm, her mom. Less than two years later, after collapsing at home, Brittany found herself at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, with a top-priority designation for a heart transplant.
Now, the heart of a 30-year-old man who succumbed to a massive seizure beats inside her chest, and Brittany has assumed a new role to spread the word about how vital it is to give the gift of life through organ donations.
Based on a 500-word essay she wrote, Brittany was selected as one of 28 organ transplant recipients who will ride on the Donate Life float on Jan. 1. When she learned she was one of the essay winners, she says, "I got all excited. I couldn't breathe. I was star-struck."
Certainly the availability of a donor heart helped Brittany and her parents to breathe easier about her health. Her family was forced to confront the issue of supply and demand for donor organs when Brittany, now a freshman at Fairview High School, first learned she had an enlarged aorta.
For those who are healthy, organ donation is not an easy topic to contemplate.
Yet Brittany has joined the ranks of other young people in our area who have told their stories about their own return to health after receiving a donated organ.
For Katy Holland, the five-year anniversary of her heart transplant came in September. Katy is a 2009 graduate of Villa Maria Academy. "We'd like to thank the Erie community again for your continued support and positive thoughts as we continue this journey with Katy. She continues to thrive and do well," her parents, Kathy and Jack Holland, wrote in a letter to the editor.
Another mom, Debbie Danowski, of Harborcreek, wrote a letter in 2009. "I was sitting in the waiting room of Liver Transplant Services at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. I could not help but notice the obituary in the Erie Times-News for a beautiful young lady whose life was taken way too young. I noticed the organ donation symbol above her name and my eyes instantly filled with tears." Her son, Eric, is alive because of the three liver transplants he's undergone since he was 18 months old.
As you scurry about to finish your Christmas shopping, consider giving the gift of life. Become an organ donor. Learn more about the Center for Organ Recovery & Education, www.core.org.
At age 10, Brittany went to the doctor to be treated for pneumonia and learned that she had something much more serious -- restrictive cardiomyopathy, which causes the heart muscle to stiffen. Eventually, she would need a heart transplant.
"You can't tell a 10-year-old you're going to have to get your heart taken out and replaced with a new one," says Colleen Grimm, her mom. Less than two years later, after collapsing at home, Brittany found herself at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, with a top-priority designation for a heart transplant.
Now, the heart of a 30-year-old man who succumbed to a massive seizure beats inside her chest, and Brittany has assumed a new role to spread the word about how vital it is to give the gift of life through organ donations.
Based on a 500-word essay she wrote, Brittany was selected as one of 28 organ transplant recipients who will ride on the Donate Life float on Jan. 1. When she learned she was one of the essay winners, she says, "I got all excited. I couldn't breathe. I was star-struck."
Certainly the availability of a donor heart helped Brittany and her parents to breathe easier about her health. Her family was forced to confront the issue of supply and demand for donor organs when Brittany, now a freshman at Fairview High School, first learned she had an enlarged aorta.
For those who are healthy, organ donation is not an easy topic to contemplate.
Yet Brittany has joined the ranks of other young people in our area who have told their stories about their own return to health after receiving a donated organ.
For Katy Holland, the five-year anniversary of her heart transplant came in September. Katy is a 2009 graduate of Villa Maria Academy. "We'd like to thank the Erie community again for your continued support and positive thoughts as we continue this journey with Katy. She continues to thrive and do well," her parents, Kathy and Jack Holland, wrote in a letter to the editor.
Another mom, Debbie Danowski, of Harborcreek, wrote a letter in 2009. "I was sitting in the waiting room of Liver Transplant Services at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. I could not help but notice the obituary in the Erie Times-News for a beautiful young lady whose life was taken way too young. I noticed the organ donation symbol above her name and my eyes instantly filled with tears." Her son, Eric, is alive because of the three liver transplants he's undergone since he was 18 months old.
As you scurry about to finish your Christmas shopping, consider giving the gift of life. Become an organ donor. Learn more about the Center for Organ Recovery & Education, www.core.org.
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