Alyssa Parete

Alyssa was previously an advocate on Heart-Failure.net.

Alyssa Parete is 25-year-old heart transplant recipient who received her new heart at the age of 8 years old. When she was 2 weeks old, she was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. She received treatment at a local hospital until she was 7 years old. At this time, she went into server heart failure and was referred to a Hospital in New York City they preformed pediatric heart transplants. After a childhood of many doctor’s appointments and tests such as EKGs, Echo’s, and biopsy’s this has helped Alyssa to cherish the little things and life and often reflect on how lucky she is to be alive. After things going near to perfect after her transplant nearly 10 years later, she went into a severe rejection at the age of 18. Again, in heart failure she was grateful for her doctors who were able to help her recover and has been healthy ever since. She majored in Social Work at Southern Connecticut State University where she uses her degree to help other like so many people have helped her.

Click here to read all of Alyssa's articles on Heart-Failure.net.