For Kristin King, every day is a gift after she underwent a life-saving heart transplant in September 2023.
“Life can stop at any point in time,” King told CBS News. “You never know when that will be. I was healthy, I had never had a heart problem in my life. And suddenly, I needed a completely new organ.”
King’s health took a drastic turn just four months after giving birth when she began experiencing severe complications.
“I started having trouble breathing in the middle of the night. I couldn’t lie down. I wasn’t able to eat or drink, and I was extremely tired,” she recalled.
At first, King and her husband, Gavyn Johnson-Dean, assumed the symptoms were typical postpartum effects following her C-section.
“We chalked it up to normal after-pregnancy recovery, but it just kept building and building,” Johnson-Dean said.
What they initially dismissed as routine post-childbirth fatigue turned out to be a rare and serious heart condition, leading to the urgent need for a transplant. Now, King is sharing her story to raise awareness and highlight the importance of organ donation, hoping her journey inspires others facing similar challenges.