Nora Williams
Heart Recipient
“What started as a routine check-up at the pediatrician progressed to an ambulance ride to Greenville Memorial Hospital ED and then a life flight to MUSC’s Pediatric Cardiac ICU. They discovered that our infant daughter, Nora, had an undiagnosed congenital heart defect, ALCAPA, and her heart had swollen to the size of a teenager’s in her seven short weeks of life. The following day, Nora had corrective heart surgery to mend the defect. She was then placed on the heart transplant waiting list and admitted indefinitely to the PC ICU.
Over the next several months, we waited. We waited together as first-time parents with Nora. We waited through the attending rounds, the vital beeps, the setbacks and interventions… central line, feeding tube, ventilator, fentanyl patches, paralytics, dialysis, collapsed lungs, VAD and debilitating stroke. On September 2, 2016, Nora received the gift of a new heart. A new heart from another grieving family in South Carolina. A new heart that saved Nora’s life, in the nick of time.
The journey was not over yet, though. More waiting… surgery, ECMO, solemn discussions, maximum ventilator settings and slow progress. But we knew the waiting chapter would come to an end. In January 2017, shortly after Nora’s first birthday, we carried her out of the hospital. We still had the feeding tube, ventilator and fentanyl patches, but we had Nora.
Now, seven years later, Nora just celebrated her 8th birthday by dancing and singing Taylor Swift karaoke at the top of her lungs. We celebrated at our home surrounded by all of Nora’s second-grade classmates and her five-year-old twin sisters. Nora is healthy and happy. She loves music, dancing and watching sporting events and performances. Ours is a story of healing, thanks to Nora’s new heart, her gift of life,” shared Nora’s dad, Eddie.
