Photo: Screenshot – Telefuturo
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Tatiana was only 6 years old when in 2007, after a real struggle to find a donor, she received the vital heart transplant that would allow her to continue living and became the first intervention recorded in the medical history of this country.
Tatiana agreed to comment on her experience and that of her parents with the Telefuturo program La Lupa, where she was drastic in saying that a situation like the one she experienced, that is, depending on others to live, she does not wish on anyone, mainly in reference to Nahiara, who also needs a heart and has so far been rejected by about 10 potential families for donation.
“It makes me sad, it seems unfair to me because nobody wants to go through such a situation, I always say that it is something that I do not wish on anyone because your life depends on the decision of others,” he said.
Tatiana remembers her moments in those hospitals, connected to machines that sought to keep her alive while waiting for a heart and her parents’ anguish.
“Dad went to Spain hoping to take me there for the transplant, they called him and told him to come say goodbye to his daughter because he had 1 week to live,” he recalls.
The day of the “miracle”, as he explains, occurred in that 2007, it allowed him a second chance that he did not miss because he considers that it is a debt to his donor and a way to honor them in life.
“This heart, in these almost 15 years of transplantation, has already done everything, it was able to finish school, college, it was able to start a university career that is already finishing today, it was able to practice a sport, it fell in love, it cried, it laughed”, said.
Like Nahiara, she also received refusals at the time, but points out that even those people who at that moment of mourning decided to say no later expressed their regret.
“The people who refused to donate, who I also met, told me I regret it because I know that the organs do not go to heaven, I know that those organs that continued to function had the opportunity to save someone else,” he said.
Tatiana, living testimony of the importance of organ donation, asked society in general to be aware of giving a second chance to people who need an organ transplant and currently suffer from the hardships of being on a waiting list.
“We have to put aside that selfish feeling, we have to think that there is someone who needs, there are children and adults who need, who are on the waiting list,” he concluded.
#Interview The first infant heart transplant performed in the country.
Tatiana Benítez talks about her experience. The young woman received a heart within days of her 7th birthday, in 2007.
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