51: Allison Sklarew: Leading Teen Advocate With Heart Transplant Tells Her Story on Health

Allison Sklarew is an American teenager and high school student who lives with her family in Maryland, right outside Washington, DC. Unlike many prominent guests in this podcast series, she does not have an impressive professional resume, but it is easy to suspect that that part of her life will change over time. For now, she is similar to millions of other youngsters in the United States, except for some important details. First, as a toddler she underwent heart transplant surgery. Secondly, she has made a presentation to a group of experts at the National Institutes of Health and testified before the Maryland State Legislature. Another way in which she stands out in contrast to individuals her own age and also to a great many adults is that she has an enormous amount of experience as a recipient of health care services, which include taking various medications and undergoing sophisticated diagnostics, such as electrocardiograms and biopsy catheterizations. Many love songs contain lyrics along lines of “my heart belongs to someone else.” In her case, it is literally true, for she owes her life to being one of the fortunate individuals to have undergone transplant surgery. In this interview, Allison provides details on all of this as well as her care at UPMC and with Kaiser insurance and the incredible story of her reaching out to her donor family and then meeting them at The Transplant Games.