TOLEDO, Ohio — This week is an emotional one for a local family.
It marks the anniversary of a life-saving heart transplant.
WTOL 11 first introduced you to Emmalyn and the Rowan family in 2021. Emmalyn is lively and energetic, but it wasn't like that nearly one year ago.
"She loves to play, sing and dance," Emmalyn's mother, Nicole Rowan, said.
"Watching Frozen is one of her favorites."
Emmalyn Rowan, or Em, spends her days like any other 3-year-old.
"Dress up, whatever she wants to do, and just be normal," her mother said.
She says wouldn't have it any other way, because underneath, Emmalyn has been through more than many of us could imagine.
"Unless you've seen her scars, really nobody would realize the journey she's been on," Rowan said.
A journey that started the day Em was born.
Em was born with heart problems and after countless surgeries, the only option left was a heart transplant.
The last time we checked in with Em, she was getting ready for her first dialysis treatment.
Those have since stopped and April 21 will mark one year since getting her new heart.
"Her last catheter that she had on April 1 went beautifully. The numbers in her heart look good and everything looks like it's working wonderfully; kidneys are working fine," Rowan said.
Em's doctors say she has almost a clean bill of health and it's all because of one person's decision to be an organ donor.
"We were down to the wire and didn't know how it was going to end," Rowan said. "They saved her life and gave us all of those memories that we've made from the day forward."
Rowan says they are so thankful for the opportunity to have Em in their life and that every day, she thinks about the family who lost someone and how that piece of them is still alive through Emmalyn.
Em still has to see doctors every four- to six- months but as things progress, those check-ups will lessen.