Aliza Marlin

Type of Donation:          pulmonary valve recipient

Age and Location:          Age 52 – New York, NY

Donation Date:             1/30/2015

Sponsor:                   Honored by CryoLife

ALIZA’S STORY

Upon Aliza’s arrival into the world in a quiet maternity wing of a big NYC hospital, the doctor said to her parents “I hear something.” Pediatric Cardiologist, Mary Allen Engle, at New York Hospital quickly diagnosed it as aortic stenosis and Aliza’s journey with congenital heart disease and tissue donation began.

Aliza had her first open-heart surgery at 8 years old, recovered quickly and raced to live life. Her singing and dancing were interrupted only by another surgery at age 18. She earned a degree in musical theatre from Boston’s Emerson College and spent her first lifetime performing across the country. Her third surgery, the Ross Procedure, she received at age 27, just before marrying the love of her life, Gary.

In 2015 at the age of 46, Aliza suddenly began to feel overwhelming exhaustion with the slightest activity and simply associated it with getting older. She gave up her intensely active and physical life just to get through the day. An emergency visit to her adult congenital cardiologist at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Marlon Rosenbaum, confirmed endocarditis, an infection of the heart which required a pulmonary valve replacement by surgeon Jan Quaegebeur.

Not knowing the type of valve she would receive, she made Gary promise to tell her the minute she opened her eyes. Squeezing Aliza’s hand 3 times was her post-op tradition, and with Gary’s third squeeze, he whispered, “a donor valve.” The phone number on the back of the tiny card led Aliza to a young woman in upstate New York and her extraordinary family who, in the midst of their grief, chose to give life.

Celebrating the life of her donor, Aliza serves on the board of directors of The Adult Congenital Heart Association and is a passionate volunteer with The W Connection. She lives a full and active life in the center of NYC, teaching yoga, working in the advertising industry, and loving her family and friends as hard as possible. Every day is a gift - a humbling and transformative opportunity to pay tribute to the legacy of her donor and the family that gave Aliza her future.