Dropped Heart Successfully Transplanted In Mexico

Published January 25, 2012 5:00AM (EST)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A heart that was dropped on the ground while being transported to a hospital has been successfully transplanted into a 28-year-old hair stylist.

Dr. Jaime Saldivar says Erika Hernandez doesn't yet know that her new heart made national news when a medic stumbled and the plastic-wrapped heart tumbled out of a cooler onto the street two weeks ago.

Saldivar says it will be up to the family to tell her.

A rosy-cheeked Hernandez spoke briefly with reporters on Tuesday and thanked the donor's family, saying "I have no words to express what I'm feeling right now."

Hernandez was born with a congenital heart defect. She received the heart of a man who died in a car accident.


By Salon Staff

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