Poised, thoughtful and confident, Theresa Alexander is a prime example during Women’s History Month of women who are determined to turn their adversity into an opportunity to help others.
The Philadelphia woman’s journey with heart disease began in 2005 when she started having chest pains and breathing problems while driving to work.
She turned around and headed straight to Temple University Hospital, where tests revealed a faulty mitral heart valve.
While the valve was replaced, her doctor told her she would eventually need a heart transplant.
Multiple procedures couldn’t halt heart failure, and in February 2018, Theresa went onto the transplant list. Soon, her condition began to deteriorate. As doctors mapped a plan to keep her healthy enough for a transplant, news of a donor hero opened a new chapter for Theresa.
Theresa received her new heart around Halloween. As she says, it was “a treat, not a trick.”
When she woke up, a nurse asked if she would like to hear her new heartbeat.
“I just started crying overjoyed and overwhelmed because I could hear this heartbeat,” she recalls. “Two or 3 days later, I was walking and talking and eating and everything.”
Dr. Eman Hamad, a heart failure specialist at Temple Health, said educating patients about risk factors and offering treatment for conditions like diabetes, hypertension and obesity, for instance, can help mitigate the growing issue of heart failure, especially in young women.
Theresa is grateful for her donor hero and credits her loving and devoted husband for being her rock through every surgery. In addition to keeping busy with young grandchildren, she’s now doing her part to educate the community. She serves as a Gift of Life Volunteer Ambassador, sharing her story and promoting organ donation, and was named the 2023 Philadelphia Go Red for Women Faces of Heart Honoree by the American Heart Association.
“You know what I’m taught? Why not me? So I figured that if it happened to me, it’s not about me. It’s about the person I’m going to help next,’ she said. “When I got the heart transplant, I promised God that I would take care of the heart and that I would tell my story no matter what platform he gave it to me.”