Heart Transplant: All Aboard My New Heart!

Heart Transplant: All Aboard My New Heart! invites children, teens, and the adults who care for them on a hopeful journey from sick-heart struggles to standing tall with a brand-new “train station.” Using a lively train-station analogy—where the heart powers the blood “trains” that deliver oxygen cargo all over the body—complex anatomy suddenly feels familiar and fun. Inside, readers discover: Why hearts sometimes fail and the symptoms that signal trouble. Bridging support with a VAD, explained as a super-charged battery that keeps the trains moving while you wait for your donor heart. The gift of donation—how a generous donor family’s decision lets your new heart “beat on inside of you,” and what matching, wait-list status, and transplant day look like. Step-by-step surgery and recovery, from ICU tubes to regular “track inspections” (biopsies and caths) that keep the new heart chugging strong. A kid-friendly “Doctor Words” glossary that turns intimidating terms like immunosup