Kelli Jaunsen has never known life without serious health problems, including congenital heart defects and liver failure. She received a heart and liver transplant that she calls “a double gift of life.”

Kelli's Story

Kelli Jaunsen’s life has been difficult since the day she was born. Several serious congenital heart problems required that a shunt be inserted before her first birthday. At age three, she had open-heart surgery and a second one at age six. Many complications and even more surgeries were to follow.

Kelli’s final open-heart surgery was in 1997, when a pacemaker was implanted to help her heart beat correctly. The surgery turned out to be unexpectedly difficult and again, she experienced many serious complications.

“A few years passed, and my life was relatively normal. I was able to get out and photograph wildlife and work on digital art projects,” said Kelli, who is now 23. Then a medicine she had been taking induced lupus symptoms that affected her nervous system. Soon after, she was diagnosed with gallstones and had her gall bladder removed, followed by a serious bout with peritonitis.

“By this time, I was getting pretty sick and tired of being hospitalized, and I longed to be home to care for my pets, especially my favorite cat, Lulu,” said Kelli.

In 2003, Kelli experienced liver failure due to problems from one of her heart shunts. Her fragile and complicated condition caused her to be turned down as a viable transplant candidate by several major transplant centers. Only Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles accepted her for both a heart and a liver transplant, and placed her on the waiting list at the end of November 2005.

On February 1, 2007, Kelli received the call she had been awaiting that the vital organs she needed were now available.

“My emotions were mixed with tears, fear and happiness,” said Kelli. My transplant surgery took 16 hours, and after 49 days in the hospital, I went home with a new heart, a new liver and a new life. Words simply cannot express the incredible gratitude I feel for receiving a double gift of life.”