Lifeline
One heart and the will to stay positive
Melinda Dillon has lived through the unthinkable, although you’d never know it from the way she talks. She’s upbeat, funny, and practically glows with life—she’s taken the words on the small tattoo at her wrist seriously, and she works hard to “stay positive.” The tattoo shows the lifeline of a beating heart alongside a B+,…
Read MoreAll Heart: Suffolk rallies for teen heart recipient
Chaunta Chalmers did what she always did while Jasmine was in the hospital last year: she looked at her little girl (far too little, in fact—a teenager trapped in an eight-year-old’s body) and said, “We’re going to do the best with what we have. We’re going to make the best of a bad situation.” The…
Read More3 ways to save a life in 2018
We like to think of New Year’s resolutions not as a way you can work on bettering yourself (we think you’re pretty great already), but as an opportunity for looking at the world and deciding how you’ll be a bigger part of it. Sometimes playing that bigger part stems from something small—a little bit of…
Read MoreFairfax Couple Rings in the New Year with New Hearts
Taylor and Collin’s life together officially started in 2016 when they began dating. A young couple living outside of Washington, D.C., they’re celebrating their second Christmas together as they figure out the future and reminisce about a past that’s been full of both sickness and miracles. They celebrated their anniversary on June 9 but it’s…
Read MoreThankful for time: A Galax family heads south for Christmas
While other children are dreaming of a white Christmas, Audrey Gillespie is dreaming of palm trees and Mickey Mouse this year. Audrey spent her first Christmas in the hospital waiting for a heart transplant but this year, she’ll spend her fifth Christmas at Disney World. “We found out at the 20-week ultrasound that she was…
Read More