De La Cruz was turned down from transplant lists because of the lack of transplant centers in Nevada. Reznor became aware of his situation after De La Cruz’s sister, former CNN.com news anchor Veronica De La Cruz, began a fundraising campaign on her website. The campaign is as much to raise money for Eric as it is to raise awareness of Nevada’s limited transplant opportunities, and to petition Senator Harry Reid and other Congress members for improved legislation.

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Doctors scrambled to come up with a way for Simmons to survive until a new donor heart became available. A custom-made artificial heart was the solution. It looked like a large, complex machine, and Simmons was attached to it for 118 days.

"It was like I was a fake person, like I didn’t really exist. I was just here," Simmons said. "Now, I know that I really was here and I did live without it."

"It was scary," said Simmons’ mother, Twolla Anderson. "I didn’t know from day to day how she was going to turn out or if it would’ve been fatal or what. Thanks to my buddies, the transplant team — I love them for everything they’ve done for her — I couldn’t be happier."

On Oct. 29, Simmons received another donor heart and a kidney, as well.

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