A young Ohio girl’s prayers were answered when doctors told her she would be receiving a new heart after waiting more than 200 days in the hospital for a transplant, as she broke the life-changing news to her father.
“Daddy, I’m getting a heart,” Ava Cooper, 11, said.
Ava was born with multiple severe heart defects, including a hole in the heart, reversed chambers, a misplaced heart, and a blocked pulmonary valve, according to the Cleveland Clinic on Wednesday.
She underwent her first heart surgery at just six days old and, by the time she was five, Ava had endured another four open-heart surgeries.
After that last surgery, she went on to spend the next five years without any trouble. However, in the summer of 2024, she began to get sick again, her mother Jamie said.
“I was noticing her waking up with facial swelling, not able to lay flat all the way, having a hard time breathing,” Jamie Cooper said. “Her doctors at the time determined she was in heart failure.”
After her parents were informed that she would need a new heart to survive, Ava was placed on a transplant list. She then spent the next 200 days in the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital, hoping for a donor heart.
However, despite being stuck in the hospital, her family refused to let it stop them from finding ways to “create memories together.”
“We had Sunday dinners, threw a birthday party for Ava’s sister in her hospital room and even brought up presents to open on Christmas morning,” Jamie Cooper said.
Her father, Sean Cooper, held a father-daughter dance in her hospital room since she couldn’t attend the one at school.
“It’s now one of the best memories I have with Ava, and I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who came together to make it possible,” her father said.
Then, after months waiting on the transplant list, her doctor, Madeleine Townsend, received word in March that a donor heart had been identified and went right to Ava’s room.
A tear-jerking video shows Townsend leaning into Ava in her hospital bed and whispering the good news in her ear so she could be the one to tell her parents that she was “getting a heart.”
Her father said hearing the news after so long in the hospital filled him with joy.
“The hospital had become our second home, so hearing Ava say those words, ‘I’m getting a heart,’ was overwhelming,” he said. “After everything she’d been through, we were finally one step closer to coming home for good.”
Ava said she herself “couldn’t believe it was actually happening,” but was “so excited” that a donor heart was found.
The next day, Cleveland Clinic surgeons transplanted a strong new heart, giving her a fresh start.
She spent another month recovering in the hospital before finally returning home for the first time in eight months in April.
The tiny trooper said what she was most excited for was being back in her own bed and spending time with her dog, Rocky.
Townsend said Ava’s donor heart is working well with no signs of rejection, and her care team will keep monitoring her recovery as she moves forward.
Now, Ava is gearing up to return to school.
“Even though I missed my whole fourth-grade class, I’m excited I’m able to see my friends, go on field trips and do art projects again,” the 11-year-old said.
Her family is thankful that a donor was found, and she recovered well.
“We can’t even put into words how thankful we are to our donor family. They’re the reason Ava is here today, and we’re forever grateful,” her mother said.
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