If you were wondering about the importance of organ and tissue donation, look no further than a 22-year-old woman from Grand Falls-Windsor, who is living proof.

Amanda Saunders has a rare form of muscular dystrophy, one that she has lived with her entire life and which attacks her heart.

In April of 2018, she went into right-sided heart failure, and says her heart was the size of a floppy disk. She was unable to do any of the things a normal 20-year-old could do, like walk more than five-feet. She would also get stomach sick anywhere from 3 to 15 times a day.

Saunders had to withdraw from her studies at MUN last October due to her illness. She attributes her support system of family, friends, doctors and the community for helping her stay positive.

She was sent to Ottawa for a transplant assessment and medication tweak after things weren’t working for her at home. That’s when she went into cardiac arrest during a routine procedure, and was categorized as urgent on the transplant list.

Saunders says she is living, breathing proof that organ and tissue donation really works.

She says there are thousands of people waiting for organs and tissue. She is so grateful to be a recipient and cannot thank her donor and their family enough for what they have done, as they are the real reason she is here today.

It has been six months and Saunders has never felt better.

She says it’s indescribable what a healthy, functioning heart can do. For the first time in her life, she has a normal blood pressure and heart rate, and is able to walk more than five-feet again.

Saunders, who is going back to school in September to finish her degree, encourages people to talk to their families and register to become an organ donor.