CHICAGO — Climbing over 1,600 stairs inside the former John Hancock Center is an impressive feat on its own. But for Laura Valentine, it symbolized survival just months after enduring one of the most complex dual organ transplants ever performed at a Chicago hospital.
This June marked the one-year anniversary of her rare heart and liver transplant — a milestone made possible by medical innovation and her relentless determination.
Born with Half a Heart and Mirror-Image Organs
Valentine was born with only one heart ventricle, a rare condition that left her skin bluish and limited her oxygen supply as an infant. She also has situs inversus, a congenital condition where her internal organs are reversed — with her heart on the right side and liver on the left.
“If we hugged, our hearts would touch,” she explained…