An excerpt from A Brand New Heart by Sharayne La'Trice

Chapter 4

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When they told me, I needed a heart transplant, I just shook my head. I was literally living out what had happened to my father. He had to get a heart transplant too! Now, they were telling me I needed one. But in order to get a transplant, my name had to be added to the list. And before you can be added to the list, you have to go through all of these different tests and bloodwork to make sure you’re a good candidate for the transplant.

So I started all the tests and all the drawing of blood, the biopsies, the EKGs, and more. A miracle happened for me. They put me down as a category 3, and because of this, my name was approved for a transplant. On April 15, 2022, my name got approved on the transplant list!

Finally, I was crying but it was tears of joy! It was the best news I had heard since hearing my twins were born healthy and fine. But right on the heels of that good news was horrible news. My body began shutting down and my name ended up moving to category 2. My body had taken all it could, and it was shutting down on me.

I remember calling my mama crying, barely able to speak. When I tell you my mama got up there so quick!

As soon as she entered the room, I started crying again. I was so happy just to see her. When my mama saw me crying, she asked me what was wrong. I looked at her as she sat down in the chair beside my hospital bed. I looked her straight in the eyes and asked, “Am I gonna die?”

There was a male nurse in my room at the time, and with a very somber face, he said to my mama, “It’s not looking too good for her.” I started crying even harder, and my mama wrapped her arms around me and she broke down crying too. My mama was crying, but she never stopped praying. No matter what bad news we were told, she kept praying. She kept saying what God said: “You’re healed. You’re already healed. You will live and not die to proclaim the works of the Lord. By His stripes, you are healed. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. Though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you will fear no evil for God is with you.” The bad news I received only made Mama go higher in prayer every single day. 

I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was in the fight of my life.***

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