Ava Kaufman
Type of Donation: heart recipient
Age and Location: Age 71 - Los Angeles, CA
Date of Transplant: 2/21/2009
Sponsor: Honored by OneLegacy
AVA’S STORY
When the path ahead of you suddenly veers off, it can change the trajectory of your life, and the road not taken is slipped under your feet, a whole new world can open up for you. It can be unexpected, but it can also be what leads you to the reason you were put on this planet. "The first reason I was put on this planet," Ava says, "is to be a mother to Jade". Then, there was a second calling.
Ava Babbin was born in Yonkers, in the Bronx. She attended New York University, where she received a BS in Dance Therapy and a BA in Theatre Arts. She is a classically trained dancer and has performed in numerous productions around the world. She ran a successful company called Blue Skys with her then husband. But soon, everything came crashing down.
"Sometimes", she likes to say, "your life can turn on a dime". That's exactly what happened in Ava's life. After dropping dead in the doorway of her home in 2009, Ava spent 2 months in a coma, during which time she received a heart transplant. She spent two more months learning how to walk, talk, and live again, finally walking out of the hospital four months from the date she went in. Throughout her journey of her second lease on life, Ava discovered some of the rules that apply in the world of transplants and organ donation were not only unfair, but were impossible obstacles for some patients to overcome, making them unable to get listed. So, being the spitfire that she is, Ava created Ava's Heart, a non-profit organization that provides the necessary 3 months of post-transplant housing required to get listed for an organ transplant. In addition, Ava has been able to assist donor families with final expenses.
Ava learned that the journey to helping people is not an easy one, and is littered with as much heart break, as it is with gratitude for life and extraordinary people, including the donors and their families, organ transplant recipients and their journeys, and the doctors, nurses and OPO's that make this life-altering possibility a reality for more and more people every year.
Ava was recently honored to be named a CNN hero for 2021 and has had her story and her organization featured on ABC news, always looking to continue to shed light on the transplant community, its possibilities and its needs. She recently completed her book, Shark Heart, which chronicles not only her own transplant journey, but explores the lives of other organ transplant recipients, donor families, and the community that is continuing to build around this beautiful science.
From her background as a dancer, Ava learned that the body, the mind and the human spirit know no bounds. She was able to come back from a life that had ceased to work, losing everything, to a rich life that has become one of giving back, creating a community through Ava's Heart, and filling a need that was falling through the cracks. It now has a foundation of help and support. She touches peoples' lives by giving them a home and hope for recovery - as she has also achieved.
A transplant is not just a surgery - it is a transformation of one's life. And Ava knows better than anyone, that without the donor, there is nothing. In her book, Shark Heart, Ava's dedication reds as follows: For my Donor: Though you have chosen to remain nameless, to me, your name is Strength. Thank you for my Life. Together, we live on . . .