Woman seen holding own heart after transplant

London, 18 Jan 2013, (IANS): A photo of a woman reportedly holding her own heart in her hands after she had a successful transplant has caught the internet by surprise.

 

The woman, named as Penny by her friend Kelsey on photo sharing website Imgur, is seen wearing a medical mask as she holds what appears to be her old heart, the Telegraph reported.

 

Penny now has a new fully-functioning heart following the operation, her friend said.

 

"(Penny) is holding her own heart. She has survived cancer and crippling heart failure and never lost hope," Kelsey wrote.

 

She said doctors allowed Penny to take a photograph of her old heart before it was cremated. She had wanted to take her heart home but doctors refused.

 

"She wanted to keep it but they wouldn’t let her! I said the same thing. It had to be cremated but she kept the ashes," Kelsey wrote.

 

Around 3,500 heart transplant surgeries are performed across the world each year.