Two families are forever linked after a breakthrough surgery involving an HIV-positive heart transplant. From Baton Rouge to the Bronx, two families now linked by the heart that beats in the chest of Miriam Nieves. A heart donated by Brittany Newton’s family. “I am full of thanks and I am full of gratitude. God has given me several, but this is the most important. It saved my life, so thank you,” Nieves said. Miriam, 62, contracted HIV during years of drug addiction. She’s been clean for three decades. But her kidneys began to fail, and doctors at Montefiore Health System in New York considered a transplant. But they determined that her heart would not survive the operation, so she was placed on a list for both organs. “We thought if we did that, it would put her in a category of her own. She wouldn’t be competing with anybody else in the whole country,” said Dr. Omar Saeed, of Montefiore Health System. Watch the video above to learn more about this story.
Two families are forever linked after a breakthrough surgery involving an HIV-positive heart transplant.
From Baton Rouge to the Bronx, two families now linked by the heart that beats in the chest of Miriam Nieves.
A heart donated by Brittany Newton’s family.
“I am full of thanks and I am full of gratitude. God has given me several, but this is the most important. It saved my life, so thank you,” Nieves said.
Miriam, 62, contracted HIV during years of drug addiction.
She’s been clean for three decades.
But her kidneys began to fail, and doctors at Montefiore Health System in New York considered a transplant.
But they determined that her heart would not survive the operation, so she was placed on a list for both organs.
“We thought if we did that, it would put her in a category of her own. She wouldn’t be competing with anybody else in the whole country,” said Dr. Omar Saeed, of the Montefiore Health System.
Watch the video above to learn more about this story.
