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Rescue mission: organ donation saves the lives of thousands of Americans. Charis Roberts is alive today, thanks to a family who donated the heart of their son.

Article Excerpt
When Charis Roberts awoke on April 2, 2002, blue skies and sunshine greeted the Texas teen. But before the day's end, Charis would encounter the darkest moment of her life.

As she and her mother headed home from an evening stroll, Charis suddenly keeled over in the middle of the road. Complaining of chest pain, she struggled to catch her breath. Moments later, Charis collapsed. At just 16 years of age, she was having a heart attack.

"My whole life, I never had any health problems," the high school senior from Clerborne, Texas, tells Choices. "I was completely healthy. Then one day, the main artery in my heart explodes."

Two days later, with her chances of survival fading, Charis was placed on the United States organ transplant waiting list. Eighty thousand Americans, including 2,200 children under the age of 18, are on that list. Sadly, 6,200 of those individuals died in 2002, waiting for organs that never came. Charis, however, was one of the lucky ones.

After being rushed by helicopter to a hospital, Charis underwent double bypass surgery to restore the blood flow to her heart. During the operation, however, doctors made an alarming discovery--85 percent of her heart had been damaged. If Charis didn't receive a new heart, doctors told her parents she would likely be dead within a few days.

Heart-Stopper

"I was scared I was going to die," says Charis, now 18. "A transplant was my only option, and I knew that there was a slim chance I was going to get a heart."

Because of the urgency of her medical situation, Charis immediately moved to top of the national organ transplant list. Yet her chances of receiving a heart in time were slim; her blood type was O-negative--the hardest blood type to match.

But just 10 days later, Charis received a heart. A 12-year-old boy had been killed in a four-wheeler, and his family...