AUSTIN, Texas — Yolanda Lara is a vibrant, energetic 7-year-old girl who can’t wait to play basketball and ride a bike like most kids her age.

Yolanda happens to do so Thursday around the physical therapy room inside Dell Children’s Specialty Pavilion. 

“She plays every day till she can’t stop,” Anna Mata, Yolanda’s mother, said.

Earlier in the day, Yolanda saw her physicians that are helping in her recovery after receiving a heart transplant in November 2021.

“Last year her heart got really weak. She started having problems, so they decide the best thing for her would be a heart transplant,” Mata said.

Mata says Yolanda was born with a heart defect and what she thought would have to be a series of heart surgeries ultimately ended up being the need for a heart transplant.

“It was a big shock when we got the donor heart, like after three weeks,” she said. “It was so quick. I was scared, but afterwards I was so relieved and happy.”

In the state of Texas, the number of people receiving heart transplants has risen, according to Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). 

In 2015, there were 270 heart transplant recipients. 

In 2016, that number rose to 311. 

The numbers then fluctuated between 287 and 292 from 2017 on up and in 2020 there was 275.

However, the number of people on the waiting list dropped from 405 in 2015 to 328 in 2020, according to HRSA.

For pediatric patients needing heart transplants, the need has remained critical. 

“Overall, pediatric heart transplant numbers have gone up along with national numbers, that for overall heart transplants have gone up,” Dr. Chesney Castleberry, pediatric cardiologist and medical director of the Pediatric Heart Failure and Transplant Program, said.

According to Dell, the first pediatric heat transplant at Dell Children’s took place on Oct. 3, 2020. 

Since then, it has performed 13 heart transplants with 10 others currently waiting on the transplant list. 

Yolanda’s mom says they don’t know who the donor was that gave Yolanda a second chance at life.

“I would tell them I’m so happy and I’m grateful. I couldn’t thank them any other way,” Mata said. “Words can’t even explain how happy I am that they gave my baby another opportunity for life.”