NJ Woman Returns To Newark Hospital With Diseased Heart In Hands

NEWARK, NJ — On Friday, a 49-year-old Rockaway Township resident walked into Newark Beth Israel Medical Center one year to the day after she left to fulfill a promise: I’m coming back with my heart in my hands.

National Wear Red Day has a special significance for New Jersey heart transplant patient Lisa Salberg, who is now using a plasticized version of her old, diseased heart to raise awareness about the genetic disease that plagued her and her family: hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Salberg first posed the unusual request to keep her old heart after she received a life-saving transplant at the Newark hospital in 2017.

Her surgery was performed by Margarita Camacho, the hospital’s surgical director of cardiac transplantation and assist devices, who recently became the first female recipient of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's Harvey E. Nussbaum Distinguished Service Award.

• See related article: Newark Surgeon Is 1st Female To Earn Prestigious Medical Award
• See related article: Newark Hospital On Pace To Perform 1000th Heart Transplant

Demonstrating her tenacity, Salberg, the founder of the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association, promised that she’d be back, hospital staff said.

“She told us she would be back in one year with a plasticized version of her old heart and we welcomed her with open arms.” said Darrell Terry Sr., the hospital’s president and CEO. “Lisa Salberg is certainly a remarkable patient and advocate for heart failure patients and the importance of living a heart healthy lifestyle.”

And what was it like to literally hold her heart in her hands? Patch reached out to Salberg last year after her surgery; she provided this reply:

"Emotionally it was like I was saying goodbye to a dear friend, almost like a funeral. Logically, I was fascinated by the density and weight of my heart and astounded to realize that just a few hours earlier, this was my life and now it was still… and I was still alive."

• See related article: N.J. Woman's Heart Handed To Her On Valentine's Day… Literally

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Photo: Newark Beth Israel Medical Center

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