I received my new heart – my second chance at life – in 2018. As I recovered, I knew I wanted to give back to the transplant community that was carrying me through my rough times. I began by volunteering as an ambassador for Donor Network West to educate the public about the life-saving power of organ donation. Then in September 2019, I became aware of a gap no one was filling in my area – one that could delay, or even cost, someone their second chance.
I learned about a patient whose heart transplant would be postponed until he could afford the doctor-required month-long temporary recovery housing near his hospital that his insurance didn’t cover. In the San Francisco Bay Area, that cost is out of reach for many people already burdened by snowballing transplant-related costs and decreasing income from inability to work. I couldn’t accept that such a reason would stand between someone and a life-saving transplant. I rallied my community and hosted a backyard fundraiser which raised $12,000 for him and another similarly financially challenged patient to move forward.
I also heard from a father whose daughter recovered from her heart transplant in their car because they couldn’t afford the required lodging and help wasn’t available for them. Their reality struck me as unacceptable. I was fortunate after my transplant. When deeply immunosuppressed and vulnerable, I was able to have a private space that protected me and facilitated my recovery. Every person deserves this same opportunity when beginning their second chance at life.
That’s why in 2020 I founded Heartfelt Help Foundation – to ensure that no heart transplant recipient suffers between financial survival and physical recovery. And we’ve grown! We now operate two financial aid programs, Lodging and Helping Hand, and three counseling programs, Peer Mentoring, Financial Coaching, and Parent Grief Support. These are what I dreamed of during my recovery. I’m committed to helping when patients and families have nowhere else to turn, and to removing economic and emotional barriers so healing can begin and they can thrive.
I’m deeply grateful for my second chance, and I feel a responsibility to make it count – by giving back to a community no one asks to join, but one that changes everything for those of us who do.
Listen to Denise describe Heartfelt Help Foundation here.
Read more about Denise’s story here.