Struthers girl on the mend after her second heart transplant

STRUTHERS — “Mommy, am I dying?”

Those were the first words of 12-year-old Krista McArdle Brown when she revived after passing out because of her bad heart.

“She said if she was dying, she wanted me and Eric [her stepdad-to-be] and siblings to know that she loves us,” said Krista’s mother, Miranda McArdle of Struthers.

“The hardest thing to watch was her fear of dying. It was heartbreaking,” Miranda said.

Krista, now 13, is all about heart.

The tiny seventh-grader with the shoulder-length, strawberry-blond hair, suffering from coronary artery disease since birth, has looked death in the eye while waiting for her new heart and smiled through her tears and fear.

She received her second new heart May 24 at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, and now, while doctors are working to keep her body from rejecting that new heart, she’s still smiling.

For the complete story, see Sunday's Vindicator and Vindy.com.