07/02/2026
For those who are still undecided whether to be an organ donor, either as themselves or as a parent, we hope this story helps change your mind
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She received a heart transplant at age 2. Ten years later, doctors removed it, and she survived.
Harefield Hospital, London.
Two-year-old Hannah Clark was slipping away. Cardiomyopathy had left her heart so feeble that it could barely send blood through her small frame.
Without a miracle, she had only weeks left.
The answer seemed clear: transplant her heart. Take out her heart, put in a healthy donor’s.
But Hannah’s surgeons, led by the renowned Sir Magdi Yacoub, proposed something almost unimaginable:
Leave her failing heart right where it was.
Instead of swapping it out, they would add a second heart, nestling it beside the original.
The donor heart, from a one-year-old, would take over the heavy lifting. Hannah’s own heart would stay, finally free from its impossible task.
Resting at last. Maybe, just maybe, it could heal.
It was a bold gamble. In 1995, no one knew if a heart so damaged could ever recover, even with help.
The surgery succeeded.
Hannah went home with two hearts beating inside her.
For years, doctors listened to every beat. The donor heart kept her alive, while her own heart slowly, quietly, began to grow stronger.
By the time she turned six, both hearts were working in harmony.
Her recovery felt nothing short of miraculous.
But the drugs that protected her new heart began to turn against her, bringing devastating side effects.
She developed EBV PTLD, a cancer directly linked to immune suppression.
At age eight, the cancer had spread and become life-threatening.
She braved chemotherapy, round after grueling round. The cancer would retreat, only to return—again and again.
For years, Hannah was caught in an impossible choice: risk losing her donor heart without the drugs, or battle cancer with them.
By 2005, ten years after her original transplant, doctors faced a very difficult situation.
Now, the donor heart was failing. To fight the cancer, doctors had to cut back her medications, and her body began to turn on the very organ that once saved her.
But then, an echocardiogram revealed something astonishing:
HHannah’s original heart—the one that had nearly given out in 1995—had come back to life.
After a decade of rest, supported by its borrowed partner, it had regained its strength. It was functioning like a normal, healthy heart.
A bold decision was made.
In February 2006, at Great Ormond Street Hospital, a surgical team led by Dr. Victor Tsang performed a surgery that had never been done before.
They removed the donor heart.
A reversal of the transplant—something never attempted before.
As surgeons lifted the donor heart from her chest, Hannah’s own heart took command.
It beat strong and sure, pumping blood all on its own.
The heart that had been too weak to sustain life at age two was now strong enough to carry her forward.
With the donor heart removed, the immunosuppressant drugs were stopped entirely.
Hannah's immune system, no longer suppressed, fought off the cancer.
She made a complete recovery.
Hannah Clark became the first person in the world to have a heart transplant successfully reversed.
Today, she lives with the heart she was born with—a heart that failed, rested, and then defied every expectation. Undeniable evidence that the human heart, under the right conditions, possesses remarkable regenerative powers.
It showed that in certain types of cardiomyopathy, especially in young children, damaged hearts can heal if given enough support and time.
Her story helped pave the way for modern treatments, including ventricular assist devices that give failing hearts the support they need to potentially recover, without the complications of permanent transplantation.
Hannah's case stands as proof of something profound:
Sometimes, with the right help, our bodies can heal themselves in ways we never imagined possible.
A two-year-old girl was given a second heart to save her life.
Ten years later, doctors removed it and discovered her first heart had been quietly healing all along.
Two hearts. Two chances. One miraculous recovery.
A miracle is not just the absence of death; it is the resurrection of hope.
Authors
Awakening the Human Spirit
We are the authors of 'We Are Human Angels,' the book that has spread a new vision of the human experience and has been spontaneously translated into 14 languages by readers.
We hope our writing sparks something in you!
