The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Going strong with Zoe every day
Teen celebrates 10 year ‘heartaversary’ after heart transplant
Zoe Tanner danced happily with her friends and family Dec. 2 as she celebrated her 10 year ‘heartaversary’ in Elyria.
Zoe, 16, was joined by a number of loved ones at her anniversary celebration at VFW Post 1079 at 500 S. Abbe Rd. in Elyria.
All commemorated Zoe, who received a successful heart transplant in 2008 when she was 6-years-old.
Today, the Elyria High School sophomore competes on the school swim team and serves as a camp ranger for the Flying Horse Farm camp for children with medical illnesses.
Zoe said after 10 years, she’s happy to celebrate the success of her transplant and to live as a regular teen to the fullest.
After staying in the hospital for most of her childhood and losing three friends due to similar cases, she said it was unbelievable to be celebrating her health.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s been 10 years,” she said. “It’s life altering, you grow to learn a lot.”
Zoe’s condition made her realize to live her life the fullest because “you don’t know when it could end and you don’t want to leave the world with regrets,” she said.
She said she currently does what any normal teen does, while she continues to receive check ups and biopsies with close to perfect results every year.
However, she is also not able to have piercings, tattoos or anything that may cause an infection.
Zoe does plan to go to college for childcare and looks toward a career at the Cleveland Clinic while working as a counselor at her camp.
Her mother, Chrissy
Snider, 39, said she’s so happy to celebrate her daughter who has gone through a lot.
Snider recalled Zoe first catching a virus which caused her heart to go into congestive heart failure at 6 weeks old, but was taken care of after receiving medical treatment.
At five years old, she began to suffer from heart failure, but was unaware after being told told she was sick due to nerves on beginning kindergarten.
She then learned she desperately needed a heart transplant.
After waiting over a month for a heart, she received one in December, 2008.
The heart belonged to a young boy about her age, which her mother said could be an explanation for her toughness and strength as a powerful teen today.
“It’s surreal, you don’t think about it every day,” Snider said. “This is something that makes her stand out and make her say, ‘I’m not just like everyone else.’”
She said their goal as a family is to not think Zoe had a heart transplant, that she’s different, and that does not let her condition stop her.
“10 years snuck up on us,” she said. “The 7th anniversary was a big one because she had her donor heart longer than the one she was born with. Now she’s 16, she has her temps and will be driving eventually.”
She noted the transplant isn’t a cure to her problem and there will be more bumps and challenges along the way, but Snider and her family know she will prosper.
Zoe’s father Mike Tanner, 45, said her ‘heartaversary’ makes the family realize how far she’s come and recall a time when he didn’t know what would happen.
“You have to look at the good in anything and the fact that this has opened her up to many opportunities as far as helping other kids, it makes every day a little more special,” Tanner said.
He agreed there will always be hiccups along the way, but it’s something she’s accepted.
He added it’s taught her and her supporters to take what you have and hug, love and hold onto it because it can be gone the next day.
Zoe’s condition made her realize to live her life the fullest because “you don’t know when it could end and you don’t want to leave the world with regrets,” she said.