Young heart transplant patient recovers

BURRILLVILLE, RI (WPRI) -- Lifelong heart patient Samantha Richards never knew what ‘normal’ felt like until now.

The 21-year-old Johnston native is home in Burrillville, 3 weeks after receiving a heart transplant at Tufts Medical Center.

“Most likely, I probably feel just like everyone does every other day but to me it just feels so much better,” Richards said with a smile. “I’m very energized, like I could just keep going all day. Not sure if it's the heart or the new steroids I've been on.”

She chuckled as she dumped out an entire bag of bottled medications that add up to a co-pay of over $200.

“Mornings, noons, evenings,” she said, snapping open the series of containers. “These are the medications I have to take every day.”

The nursing student was born with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, and in the fall she was hospitalized in Boston for a transplant. Three weeks ago, the four-month wait came to an end with a nurse's announcement, although Richards thought she was still second in line.

“And she said no. This one's 'your' heart. And then I just screamed. She was not expecting me to scream and I started jumping up and down.”

But then bad weather delayed transporting the heart to Boston. Samantha's wait in her hospital room that was decorated for just about every season to match how long she was there, would last another 12 hours.

“That wait was longer probably than the whole four months I was there,” she said.

Her recovery includes weekly check ups and a mask to protect her from germs anytime she leaves her home.

“I have to put this (mask) on for the first hundred days. Little kids stare at you, thinking I have some sort of horrible disease.”

She is also gently, strengthening her new heart, taking walks on a regular basis.

“It's actually kind of hard right now because of the surgery,” she explained, walking up a small hill in her backyard. “But it's a lot easier to breath than before the operation. No chest pain when I breathe hard.”

But you will not hear many complaints from the patient who as a nursing student took a very medical approach to the six hour surgery. She saved pictures and even a video of the heart that was failing.

“It's the last three beats of my old heart out of my body,” she said holding up the video on her phone. "It's amazing."

Up next, she will write a letter to the donor’s family. While she knows it will be difficult to balance her own excitement with the donor family's sadness, it is a letter that the patient who smiled during the wait and is still smiling during the recovery, is looking forward to writing.

“Probably the biggest thank you you can give to anybody.”