‘This Mama Is So Happy’: 19-Year-Old’s New Heart Looks Good After Transplant, Mom Says

THE HEART IS BEATING.

This morning, 19-year-old Janearae Ryder’s mom says doctors have given her the news the family desperately prayed to hear after her daughter’s heart transplant: her new heart looks good.

Yesterday, thousands of people joined this family in prayer as Janearae — born with only half a functioning heart and already a survivor of five open-heart surgeries — prepared to receive the gift that could save her life.

Today, she is waking up with someone else’s heart beating inside her chest.

Her mom, Loretta, reached out from the ICU after meeting with Janearae’s surgeon. Doctors performed an echocardiogram and told the family the transplanted heart looks good.

“This mama is so happy,” Loretta said. “I know we have a long road ahead of us, but I also know that there are people praying.”

There are still critical hours ahead.

Loretta says doctors are closely watching some arterial vessels that could potentially bleed. The surgeon told the family the next 12 hours are especially important. If there is no bleeding during that period, they do not expect it to become an issue.

Janearae will remain sedated today, with doctors potentially removing her breathing tube tomorrow.

That brings another prayer.

Loretta says Janearae’s diaphragm was injured during her very first open-heart surgery when she was a baby. Her surgeon is hoping that when they begin waking her and getting her into a chair tomorrow, her diaphragm will work well enough on its own.

For a young woman who has spent her entire life fighting a heart she was born with, this morning marks the beginning of a life with a new one.

But Loretta does not want anyone celebrating Janearae’s new heart to forget where it came from.

“Please do not forget to keep the donor’s family in your prayers as well.”

Somewhere, another family is grieving an enormous loss while Janearae’s family is celebrating the gift of more time with their daughter. That family said yes to organ donation. Because they did, a 19-year-old born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome now has a new heart beating inside her.

Please keep the prayers coming today.
Pray there is no bleeding over these critical next 12 hours.
Pray Janearae’s diaphragm does exactly what doctors hope when the breathing tube comes out.
And pray for the donor family whose generosity made this morning possible.

Source: ICU update shared by Loretta, mother of 19-year-old Janearae Ryder, following her daughter’s heart transplant for hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS).