Woman receives heart transplant after suffering rare condition after childbirth: "Life can stop at any point in time"
By Natalie Brand
February 27, 2025 / 9:01 PM EST / CBS News
Washington — Kristin King counts every day as a blessing ever since she received a heart transplant in September 2023.
"Life can stop at any point in time," King told CBS News. "You never know when that will be. I was healthy, I had never had a heart problem in my life. And I needed a complete new organ."
King's transplant occurred four months after her heart began to fail following childbirth.
"I started having problems breathing in the middle of the night. I wasn't able to lay down," King said. "I wasn't to drink or eat, and I was really, really tired."
King's husband, Gavyn Johnson-Dean, said the couple initially "chalked up all the symptoms to after-pregnancy and after a C-section, but it just kept building and building."