A British transplant patient came face-to-face with her old heart Tuesday, in what she called a "surreal" and emotional encounter at a London exhibition.
Jennifer Sutton, 23, was given a new heart earlier this year after suffering from a cardiac condition since her late teens, and donated her old one to the Wellcome Collection to put on show."It was slightly surreal but amazing at the same time to see the object that had caused me so much pain and anguish," she said, after attending the exhibition which explores the medical and cultural significance of the heart.
"I was really curious and excited to see it but at the same time I am trying to love the heart I have now," she said.
"I have lost my feelings for the old one, it doesn't matter to me any more.
"It's weird to think I am stood here alive and that was part of me once upon a time."
Sutton began to feel progressively unwell when she was 18 and studying for a degree in animal science. She was eventually diagnosed with a condition called restrictive cardiomyopathy.
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The exhibition, which is open until September 16, gathers contemporary and historic artefacts to look at how human understanding of the heart has changed over time.
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