Gresham woman thanks family for new heart

KOIN Local 6 | Jenny Hannson
GRESHAM, Ore -- Gresham's Shannon Lusby is a survivor several times over -- and recently, she got to meet with the family of the woman who helped give her a new lease on life, again.

"My hope to meet her was that it would help her, give her closure," Lusby explained about meeting her heart donor's mother. "You never get closure when you lose someone you love. But, to show her that her daughter's life has been used has saved lives."

In 1986, Lusby became the first Oregon woman to receive a heart transplant. That heart lasted 20 years before it started to fail. Lying in the intensive care unit seven years ago, Lusby thought she would die, but then came news of a new heart, from a 16-year-old girl in California named Melanie Ann Miers.

"She was at a party one afternoon and her and two other kids came out the front door as a drive-by shooter went by and shot all three of the children," Lusby said about the death. 

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