"I received a new heart, a new chance at life. Now I can start a family, and God willing, after the wedding, there will be a child too," says Nikola Popović, a young man from Matejevac near Niš, who came for a check-up at the UMC Cardiac Surgery Clinic with a wedding invitation in hand. This is the same place where his life was saved 15 months ago by a last-minute heart transplant.
Someone's "yes" in the darkest moments of April 2023, when a close and young person was dying, gave life to a young man. And now that life is moving forward in the most beautiful direction, and God willing, it will continue with new lives. How much life can immeasurable humanity give!
foto: Zorana Jevtić
We met Nikola last year, shortly after his heart transplant. Lying by the window in a glassed-in intensive care unit was a 27-year-old man. Hooked up to monitors, with tubes, but still cheerful. He made it! And even then, he said:
"Now everything is different; I got a new life! I can plan for the future!"
The future has arrived. The wedding with Anđela, who is also his guardian angel, is set for August:
"We've been together for five years; Anđela has always been by my side and is my greatest support in this entire battle."
The invitation is in the right place.
"I came for my eighth regular heart muscle biopsy. The results are good; there’s no organ rejection. And at the same time, I brought a wedding invitation for the whole heart transplant department. I’d be delighted if someone could attend," Nikola says.
foto: Privatna Arhiva
In 2016, he was diagnosed with heart failure. Despite this, he worked as a person with a disability until six months before the transplant, when he could no longer manage. That's when the life-and-death struggle began.
"The night between the 26th and 27th of April last year, after two and a half years of waiting, I received a new heart. Before that, I couldn't walk 100 metres without gasping for breath. Now I can walk 10 km at a leisurely pace, no difficulties," Nikola recounts, expressing immense gratitude to the donor’s family, who remains anonymous, as well as to the doctors and nurses.
foto: Privatna Arhiva
Aleksandra Stojanović
‘I just wanted my little boy to see the sea for the first time’
"My five-year-old son had never seen the sea because I always had to stay in Serbia in case the most important call of my life came. I had a heart pump implanted and was on the waiting list for a transplant. I asked Dr Emilija if I could go to the sea, as I didn’t expect the call to come. I no longer even packed the bag that had to be ready in case the call came. I just wanted my five-year-old to see the sea for the first time. Everyone goes to the sea, but he hadn’t," says Aleksandra Stojanović (30) from Prokuplje, who is still recovering from the surgery but is also thankful to the donor’s family.
Dr Nestorović tells us that Aleksandra is a reminder to all of us that a transplant may be necessary not just for those born with heart defects, but for anyone.
foto: Zorana Jevtić
"Healthy and young, at 24, she became pregnant. But after giving birth, due to terminal heart failure, she was transferred to cardiac surgery, where we fought for her life. We barely managed to implant an artificial heart—a heart pump on which she lived for five years and managed to participate in her child's upbringing," says Dr Nestorović.
At a routine check-up 10 days before the transplant, she asked about going to the sea.
"Since the pump is connected to electricity and cannot be submerged, I told her she could go but not to swim. Then she said she no longer prepared the bag for a possible call, after which she must leave immediately because the heart must be transplanted within four hours. So she said, 'But I’ll wash the clothes now.' And she needed them!"
Nikola expects someone to come. Cardiologist Assist. Dr Emilija Nestorović, who has been with him the entire time, says that everyone will attend!
"The whole department is going to the wedding in Niš! We’re all going to Nikola’s! He was lying here last year with terminal heart failure, days away from death. The heart arrived at the last moment. First, that joy—we managed to save him, and now a wedding invitation. That’s what you say: 'This is why we do what we do.' And it’s not just a success for our cardiac surgery team but for society as a whole—we’ve managed to bring back someone who was given up on to a normal life, and now he’s going to start a family," Dr Nestorović tells Kurir.
foto: Privatna Arhiva
She’s also pleased that in her intensive care unit, there are as many as two patients who have just received new lives. In 11 days, two families agreed to donate organs in the most difficult moment—eight transplants were performed at the UMCS Serbia, including two hearts.
"Miloš (23) had a transplant 15 days ago; he had a congenital heart defect. He’s doing well, waiting for a routine second myocardial biopsy before going home. And he’s keeping company with Aleksandra (30), who is on her sixth postoperative day."
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