OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Here in the metro, one grandma is an anomaly. On Friday night, a special anniversary for a matriarch was interwoven with years of history.
The thrills of spooky season can make your heart skip a beat. But grandmas are built tough.
For Kim Castellano, Halloween was the day her heart started again.
Last year on the scariest day of the year, Kim got a heart transplant.
“My heart’s nickname is Boo, which is why all of the ghosts are in here,” Kim said, pointing to party decorations. “I wanted it to be something that is friendly and fun because it was a true miracle to get.”
Friendly and fun are two traits Kim passed down to her two daughters. There’s one trait they don’t have.
“We went in for our EKGs was it?” her daughter Jennifer asked.
“Yeah, we got full heart work-ups just to make sure it wasn’t passed onto us,” replied daughter Jessica.
Kim was born with a congenital heart defect. She wasn’t supposed to make it to childbearing age. She wasn’t supposed to make it to college. She wasn’t even expected to live past childhood.
“This is the first time since I was two that I haven’t had a pacemaker,” Kim said.
More than 50 years ago, at 3 years old, she beat the odds as the first child in Nebraska to have a pacemaker implanted.
Decades of wearing pacemakers wore out her heart, which is why she needed a transplant.
She was relying on a scooter to get around and keep up with her grandkids.
“My goal was to make it back to the zoo and make it back to Disney, and that kind of motivated me,” Kim said. She wanted to walk alongside her grandkids.
“When Astrid was born, my new grandbaby, that’s when it hit me that I could’ve not been there to see her.”
Now, a year after surgery, she’s the life of the party.
“She’s always been good at being that one person in charge or at the lead of the room,” said her husband, Peter Castellano.
“She lives life like it’s always her last day in the best way,” her daughters added.
Today, her heart is still beating the odds.
“I don’t think I could be more grateful,” Kim said.
Kim also fundraised at her party. People could buy raffle tickets or these specialty drinks she had with heart-themed names.
All the money from that would go toward the Nebraska Transplant Support Group.
Some members of that group were actually at Kim’s celebration today, along with some of the medical professionals who treated her.
They also all said a prayer for her anonymous organ donor.
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