NEW YORK — A woman who got a new lease on life after a ground-breaking heart transplant between an HIV-positive donor and recipient got to meet the family of the woman who gave it to her, giving them a chance to hear their loved one’s heart beating in its new home.
Miriam Nieves, 62, this week eagerly hugged the mother and sisters of Brittany Newton, a 30-year old Louisiana woman whose heart she received earlier this year in what doctors at Montefiore Medical Center said was the first heart transplant from an HIV-positive donor to an HIV-positive recipient.
“The only words that come this Thanksgiving for me is, I am so thankful and so grateful for science, for my family, for my God,” Nieves said. “But I can’t express enough that if it wasn’t for the donors, they are my angels, because they are the ones that allow me this second opportunity.” Newton’s mother, Bridgette Newton, carried a large photo of her daughter, a certified nursing assistant who died of a brain aneurysm.
“My child is still walking around,” she said. “And for that I will forever be grateful.”