Jennifer's Story

Jennifer radiates warmth and vitality, and her smile can light up a room. She was the first Black woman featured in the Eaton’s catalogue, Canada’s largest department store chain at the time, and has held many roles, including model, Black community and youth advocate, entrepreneur, mother, and in 2022, one of the top 100 Accomplished Black Canadian women. Jennifer has always lived life to the fullest, but when she was diagnosed with advanced heart disease in 2007, she thought it might be cut short.

Jennifer received a device called a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), which did the work of the left side of her heart that had stopped working. She had to wear the device (about the size of a VHS cassette tape) in a crossbody holster at all times, and needed to carry 4 to 5 battery packs with her wherever she went. The device wouldn’t allow her to lift both arms at once and she could not overexert herself. But music and dancing were her passions, and armed with extra battery packs, she was determined to go dancing occasionally to soothe her soul. But as an active and passionate person, she was not living the way she was meant to.

After 2 years, she had given up on the idea that she would ever receive a match. But one night while having dinner, she got the call: “We have a heart for you, Jennifer.”

What she remembers most vividly is coming home after the transplant and going into her bedroom. In the years leading to her transplant, all she heard in that room were the machines that were keeping her heart pumping. But her sons had removed the massive charging unit for her LVAD before she got home, and when she lay her head down, what Jennifer heard was her strong, steady heartbeat. Her donor’s heart. Her heart. And she was just so grateful.

Jennifer has always dedicated her life to the service others, which is something her sons have been inspired to adopt in their work. She didn’t know anything about organ and tissue donation until she needed it, and Jennifer has since become an enthusiastic advocate to help raise awareness for others.

One of her favourite, full-circle moments since her transplant was speaking about her experience at the 2017 Mayfest, a celebration of Deaf culture, language, and heritage in Toronto. It was Mother’s Day, and she stood on stage telling her transplant story while her son, a well-known sign language interpreter, signed alongside her. “It was a mother’s dream,” she says proudly.

Since her transplant in 2010, Jennifer wakes up and takes a moment to thank her donor for this gift, living by the motto “Every day is a happy day.”

“I have a lot to be grateful and happy about…I’ve had such an outstanding go at life,” she says, and intends on making every day count. She dances whenever she wants now, and when asked what she appreciates most about this second chance at life, Jennifer says, “Everything.”