INDIANAPOLIS — Lauren Aggen is an Indianapolis transplant. She moved here about two years ago, just before the pandemic.
Aggen is originally from the Chicago suburbs, but as she mentions, her heart is from the lone-star state. In 1989, at just eight days old, Aggen underwent a heart transplant in Chicago after doctors diagnosed her with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. She is 32 now, which according to data analyzed by the Indiana Donor Network, makes her one of the “oldest living U.S. transplant recipients with an originally transplanted pediatric heart.”“At the time, we weren’t quite sure whether this heart would actually grow with her,” said Dr. Constantine Mavroudis.
Aggen will be the first to tell you she is living a full life, even despite challenges — like her loss of hearing due to medication she took as a child.Clean eating, exercise and a round of 10 pills a day make up Aggen’s daily routine, but so does baking, playing board games and spending time as a newlywed with her husband, Stephen.Through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Aggen penned a book reflecting on her life as an organ donor.