Physical Wellness

Baltimore Teen Wakes from Heart Transplant, Can't Stop Dancing

By Charlie Gaeta | Update Date: Jun 14, 2017 09:33 AM EDT

Amari Hall was dealt a tough hand. Born with a congenital heart defect, he had his first heart surgery when he was just 2 days old. His second was at 9 months, his third at 2 years. Few have had a rougher start. Yet despite the tough medical cards he has been dealt in his life, he loves to dance.

Despite the success of his early operations, there were many things the Baltimore teen could not do. He was not able to lead a normal active life.

His mom, Kina Hall said her son knew he was different.

"He kind of began to feel separate from his friends," Hall explained. "We have had conversations before where he felt like, 'I don't have everything my friends have. I'm different.'"

He was different. Amari could not pay sports with his friends and was not permitted to attend school every day.

When he was 13, doctors told Amari that his heart was failing. He would need a transplant.

Getting a heart transplant involves a lot of luck. You need to be lucky enough to find the right donor. At 13, Amari needed someone else to die who had a healthy heart who was roughly the same age as he was. After all of that, you still have to worry about the possibility of organ rejection. 

In March, Amari received the news he had been waiting for: He was getting a new heart. When he woke up in a hospital bed following a heart transplant, the first thing he did was dance.

In the video that has gone viral, Amari dances while still in his hospital bed and seems completely oblivious to the nurse who is adjusting his IV. The nurse, a woman named Katie, could not resist the urge to join him in dancing. She is seen dancing in the video in full scrubs and surgical mask.

Apparently this is nothing new for Amari.

"He's always dancing," said his aunt, Charawn Hunter, who posted the video to Facebook. "If you want to get him to do something, put on some music and say, 'Go Mari.'"

He even danced his way out of the hospital when he was released.

"Amari has a personality that is larger than life." Hunter added. "Prior to the surgery, we was not able to do a lot of these things. Transplant surgery saved Amari's life."

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