Jennifer Sutton, a 22-year-old university student, recently saw her own heart on display at a museum in the U.K., which she described as “extremely surreal”. She hopes to encourage organ donation and maintain an active lifestyle.
A woman recently saw her own heart on display at a museum in the U.K. The heart had been taken from her body after a life-saving transplant procedure 16 years earlier. This is one of the oddest reunions ever documented, and it’s certainly in the running for the title. Jennifer Sutton, who was born and raised in Ringwood, Hampshire, and who now works as a curator at the Hunterian Museum in London, described the experience of seeing her own organ displayed there as “extremely surreal.”
She said that as soon as you step into the room, your first thought is, “That used to be inside my body.” “But in addition to that, it’s extremely pleasant—it’s just like a buddy of mine. It has allowed me to see another 22 years of life, and I am truly pretty pleased of it. “I’ve seen a lot of things in jars in my lifetime, but it’s very strange to think that actually belongs to me,” she went on to say.
She shared her optimism that it will encourage organ donation, which she referred to as “the greatest gift possible.” She said in an interview with the media that she now maintains an active and hectic lifestyle, and that she wishes to “keep myself going for as long as possible.”
Ms. Sutton was a university student of 22 years of age when she first became aware that she had difficulties participating in moderately strenuous physical activities, such as walking up hills. It was determined that she suffered from restrictive cardiomyopathy, which is a kind of cardiomyopathy that inhibits the capacity of the heart to pump blood throughout the body. If she did not have a transplant, the doctors predicted that she would die quite soon after.
In June of 2007, she was given the news that would forever change her life—a match had been discovered.
“I will never forget the moment I woke up after the transplant and thought, ‘Oh my goodness, I am genuinely a new person. She said, “I remember doing a little double thumbs up dance to my family and saying, “I made it I made it.””
After that, Ms. Sutton gave the Royal College of Surgeons permission to utilize her heart for an exhibit, which is currently on display at the museum in Holborn and is accessible to the public.
She said that she wanted to take actions for the promotion of organ donation and noted that organ donation made life-defining occasions like her wedding possible. She went on to say that she wanted to inspire other people to get the most out of their lives and that she wanted to tell anybody who was putting off plans to “do it today.”
