A transplant patient has revealed how she was stopped by airport security as she brought her old heart through customs.
Jessica Manning, 30, who underwent a double heart and liver transplant eight years ago, was moving New Zealand to Australia and had the organ in her hand luggage.
She said she had to personally express her heart to officials because there was no option for “human remains” on the incoming passenger card.
Ms Manning said she had “never felt so anxious” as she showed the border officer the now pale organ in a vacuum-sealed bag.
Jessica Manning, 30, New Zealand, revealed how she was recently stopped by airport security – for taking her old heart through customs
She kept the preserved heart (pictured) by her side after a life-saving double transplant in 2019 and was cleared through customs after explaining her story
“He didn’t really know what to do with it, so he went to talk to his boss,” she said.
“Then my tears started because the man was as nice as he could be, and I understand he was just being very careful.
The teacher was held for about an hour as border officials ruled out any health risks with the abnormal find before allowing her to pass.
‘His main problem was that I was bringing a new disease to the country, and he didn’t want me to bring anything that was a danger to Australia.
“But I’m glad it all cleared up, and I was allowed to continue my journey, and I still have my old heart with me.”
Ms Manning was born with venereal heart defects, which led to multiple heart surgeries as a child and her heart failed at the age of 19 before her liver failed three years later.
This ultimately resulted in a complete heart and liver transplant.
Airport security didn’t know what to do when the woman with a heart arrived
She told how workers wanted to rule out cross-border health risks but allowed her to continue her journey after she revealed her story and medical history
She said: ‘When I was 19 I developed heart failure. And when I was 22, I was diagnosed with liver disease. The liver disease was the result of a procedure I had when I was three years old.
‘In December 2016 I was assessed for a heart and liver transplant, but as this had not yet been done in New Zealand or Australia for anyone born with heart problems, it took a long time for them to decide if it was something they were willing to do. risk.
‘I was eventually placed on the transplant list in April 2017 and had to wait 16 months for my transplant.’
The teacher revealed that New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world where transplant patients are allowed to keep their discarded organs.
She explained that indigenous Maori cultures strongly believe that you should be buried in the same way you were brought into this world.
“So we have the choice to keep our organs so that we can bury them with us, so that we are fully buried.
Jessica, originally from New Zealand, was born with six heart defects, which required her to undergo multiple heart surgeries during her childhood
Jessica pictured as a newborn after doctors discovered she had heart problems
‘I’m not Maori but I still think the religion is really cool but I actually donated both my organs to medical research and science so that’s why I don’t have my liver because it went to a university for research to the liver. cirrhosis.’
But that wasn’t the last she would see of her heart.
‘About ten months later I got a phone call saying they no longer needed my heart and asked if I wanted it back.
“I said yes because I wanted to bury it on a plot that meant something to me, so maybe the first house I buy and then I wanted to plant a tree on it.”
