Author Amy Silverstein:
Health Story

Aired on Lifetime Television
Sunday, February 10 and March 30, 2008
Show 506

Try to imagine the surreal plunge—you are a vibrant, energetic 24-year-old woman, a Phi Beta Kappa type-A student at NYU law, happily juggling a new romance and a heavy work load, when suddenly you find yourself blacking out, temporarily blind, and suffering from a 60-year-old man's ailment—a failing heart. Dieting and exercise won't cut it; it's heart transplant or die. Then, you face a new, unrelenting danger: transplant-related death. The medicines that keep your body from attacking your new heart are also poisons, and you must white-knuckle your way through innumerable heart biopsies that monitor your health. Further, your heart—if not rejected—comes with a ticking ten-year life expectancy. Twenty years later, find out how Amy Silverstein continues to defy the odds. Her harrowing journey is chronicled in her new book, Sick Girl.