Ana Martinez Heart Transplant Recipient Thanks Family of Heart Donor
Elmer Lopez, a baseball-loving teen from Coral Springs, was born with a strong heart.
Ana Martinez, a studious teen from Immokalee, was born with a weak one.
The two never met. But Elmer’s heart beats on in Ana, one of 21 pediatric patients at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital who have received a heart transplant since the program began five years ago.
“At first, I didn’t want to receive his heart because it wasn’t mine,” Ana said Thursday during a tearful reunion at the hospital for six transplant patients and one donor family. “But then I realized God was giving it to me for a reason. I am living for Elmer and I.”
Elmer died five years ago, at age 14, after suffering a brain aneurysm while playing basketball during a P.E. class at Coral Springs Middle School.
Ana, who has congenital heart disease, became the hospital’s second patient to get a heart transplant in February 2011.
