Johnston 21-year-old gets new heart

BOSTON, MA (WPRI) - Twenty-one-year-old Samantha Richards of Johnston received a heart transplant early Tuesday morning, 5 months after she was admitted into Tufts Medical Center in Boston when her lifelong heart condition worsened.

A Tufts spokeswoman said the six hour long surgery went well and Richards was recovering in her room.

"She looks great," Julie Jette said

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Richards was diagnosed with a type of heart disease before she could even talk, let along pronounce it; Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. It did not stop her from leading an active life with her church and as a dancer and cheerleader but eventually her heart made her slow down.

"You just get so winded. The dizziness and black outs," Richards explained during an interview in her hospital room last month.

She started wearing a pacemaker at 17 and was able to graduate from Johnston High School, start college and also hold down a job at a Johnston jewelry company. The unexpected change in November followed a routine check up that revealed her condition was worsening

"I was in shock," she said about being admitted after the check up. "But everyone says they couldn't do it (as in the wait) but if you're put in a situation and it's your only choice? I'm not afraid."

The nursing student's friends and co-workers, who realized how expensive medical bills and traveling to and from the hospital is, held a couple of fundraisers to help defray the costs.

Her boss created a pink heart pendant and proceeds from the sale of “Samantha’s Heart” will go toward shrinking those medical bills. On Saturday, March 31, the Samantha Richards Have A Heart fundraiser was held at The Young Panesse Club in Providence.

Back in Boston, a look around Samantha’s hospital room will tell you how long she has been waiting. Saint Patrick's Day green is in one corner next to a Valentine's Day heart and then a wall of Christmas cards. A grease pencil board hangs near the window for Samantha to write the tally for the number of days since she was admitted.

Heart recipients are allowed to write a letter to the donor’s family although a response is not guaranteed.

“It's going to be the hardest thing ever to write. Because they’re going to be in mourning and I'll be so excited. I don't know how to balance it."

But she is more than ready to balance all the activities of a ‘typical’ 21 year old's life which she believes will include dancing again and no huffing and puffing when she climb stairs.