Minneapolis woman thankful for each day after second heart transplant

[KARE 11 News, February 13, 2023] Melanie Wickersheim was just 10 years old when she went through her first heart transplant. Recovery went well and Wickersheim went on to live 27 years with her second heart.

"I got the opportunity to go back to school, go back to sixth grade; got to go to college, find my passion, went to grad school, got married and had a child three years ago. So I've got a 3-year-old daughter," Wickersheim said. "And then I ended up having a heart attack in 2020 and, at that point, we realized my heart was beginning to fail from transplant coronary disease."

On April 16, 2022, she received two transplants in one day — her second heart in addition to a kidney, the latter necessary because of the effects of medications over the years.

Erin Hannibal is Melanie's nurse and a heart transplant coordinator with Allina Health. "She's been able to live and enjoy life and spend time with her family and she makes an effort every day to be a good steward of that gift," Hannibal said.

KSTP-TV News and WCCO-TV News also covered this story.

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