Heart transplant recipient: ‘I can live my life’
Thanks to a heart transplant in 2016, Brian Parra is able to pursue his goal of becoming a history teacher.
“When I was little, all the other kids would run around at recess like kids do. But I couldn’t keep up with them. That’s when I remember feeling different.
“I was born with an enlarged heart and a heart murmur. I’ve been taking special medicine since I was young.
“Then one day in my junior year of high school, I was walking up the stairs and feeling really, really fatigued. I got to my class and I was going to my seat. The next thing I know, I was waking up and the ambulance was there. It was pretty scary because I didn’t know what happened. They told me that I passed out and I was having a seizure.
“They implanted a little machine in my heart called an LVAD (left ventricular assist device) to help pump blood to the rest of my body. The doctors told me and my parents that it wasn’t a permanent solution. At some point, I would need a heart transplant.
Brian Parra spent his senior year of high school at home following a heart transplant.
“So about eight months later, in February 2016, they put me on the transplant list. They told me it could take months to maybe even a year. But because I already had the LVAD and I was really at risk, I was near the top of the list.
“It was on a weekend about a month later when they called and said they had a heart for me. Luckily, the transplant was a success. My body took well to the new heart and there weren’t any problems.
“I’m doing well today. I can do most everything pretty normal, except eat certain foods that interfere with my medicine. But I feel very fortunate.
“I’m lucky to have gotten a heart so fast. It came from a girl about my age who lived in the El Paso area. I know her name. I met her family.
“In my mind, I thank the person who had to pass away for me to get her heart. It’s sad for her and her family. But for me, it means I can live my life. It’s weird to think about having someone else’s heart in my body. It’s random when it happens, but sometimes I feel like someone else is in there. Someone else is part of me.”
— Brian Parra
