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Brittney Andrews of Loveland will finally get to meet the family who gave her the gift of life.
Andrews will travelled with her family to California to meet the parents of the 20-month-old boy who gave her his heart.
When Andrews was 3 months old, she received the boys heart in a transplant at Loma Linda University Medical Centre near Los Angeles.
She was born with hypoplastic left-heart syndrome, a condition in which the left side of the heart does not develop properly.
I was very happy and very excited, she said. We couldnt wait to thank them and show them what Brittney has achieved because of them, said her mother, Michelle.
On New Years Day, Andrews rode in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena on a float designed by the Coalition on Donation.
The float was the first ever in the Rose Parade to promote awareness of organ and tissue donation. The float was just huge, 50 feet long, she said. People who had received or donated organs rode on the float, including Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu, deputy surgeon general, who donated his wife and daughters organs when they died in separate car crashes, and Chris Klug, an Olympic snowboarding bronze medalist and liver recipient.
The Coalition on Donation arranged the meeting between Andrews and her donors family.
The National Kidney Foundation nominated Andrews to ride on the float. The foundation sponsors the U.S. Transplant Games in which she has competed. She has won two gold and two silver medals competing in track and field events at the World Transplant Games in France.
Andrews competes in volleyball, track and basketball and participates in drama at Conrad Ball Middle School. She takes only one medication, an anti-rejection drug, and has regular medical checkups to make sure her heart is working properly.
She rode on the float along with her best friend, Sara Castro - the families met at Loma Linda while both were waiting for heart transplants.
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Click here to donate to the Transplant Australia Trust - Ashley Cooper Foundation.
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