KCBS Cover Story: Bay Area Survivor Of Historic Heart Transplant Runs Half Marathons; Lives Life To The Fullest
REDWOOD CITY (KCBS) — 30 years ago Lucille Packard Children's Hospital performed an historic heart transplant on Lizzy Craze, who was not quite three years old at the time. Now 33, Craze is the longest living pediatric heart-transplant recipient in the U.S. to survive with an original donor heart.
"I've lived a pretty awesome life, I think, so far," she said. "I know it sounds cliché but I try to live everyday as if it was my last because you never know when things are going to happen. So I try to make sure that I'm really, thoroughly enjoying life and getting all the experiences that I want to and that I can."
Craze has also become a quite the world traveler; she's been to Cuba, Fiji, and the Czech Republic.
"I've been to 49 out of the 50 states and that was a whole lot of fun—a whole bunch of road tripping," she said.
Her mother, Susan, said she's amazed at how active her daughter is.
Bay Area Survivor Of Historic Heart Transplant Runs Half Marathons; Lives Life To The Fullest
"She's going to die with her boots on someday, but she just does everything. I mean she runs—not full marathons—but half marathons and she's just so active with everything," she said. "She's on the advisory board for adult heart transplants at Stanford; she's always had full-time jobs. She graduated from Whittier College."
Dr. Philip Oyer, who was on the transplant team that was led by Dr. Norman Shumway at the Palo Alto hospital, said that at the time, all they were hoping for was a five-to 10-years survival.
"In those days the survival after transplant [for] kids and adults, was not as good as it is today. So few kids were done back then; we didn't know what to expect," he said.
Craze's current cardiologist, Dr. Sharon Hunt said her prognosis is excellent.
"I don't know for another 30 years, but right now there is nothing limiting her longevity," she said.
Grace said, however, that her heart has been beating a little faster these days.
"I'm a big Giants fan," she said.
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