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Cancer, heart transplant survivor meets with dolphin

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A 20-year-old Georgia woman who has battled cancer, a stroke and underwent a heart transplant lived out a dream on Tuesday. Meghan Head went nose to nose with a dolphin at the Georgia Aquarium.

For a few precious moments, Meghan and her parents had the chance to meet with a dolphin named Lily.

"I like how they laugh; they're really smart," Meghan said.

Meghan's mom, Tribune Head, says Meghan is not just a young woman who loves a dolphin trainer, she's a survivor.
      
"She was diagnosed when she was 7 months old, originally, with leukemia.  And then went through a bone marrow transplant from her twin sister," said Tribune Head.

Meghan was cured, but then she relapsed at 3 and endured a second bone marrow transplant.       

"Did well for 17 years.  They always tell you that the chemotherapy has late effects," said Tribune.

Last winter, Megan had a stroke. That's when her family learned the chemotherapy she received years before had severely damaged her heart. She then needed the most major surgery of all: a heart transplant.

"I just believed in God, and I just felt, 'OK, all right, this is another hurdle we have to get over.'  And I just believe that she would come through that," said Tribune Head.

On November 1 2012, at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Meghan received her new heart.  It was a major turning point.

"And she is getting strong every day, we are very, very blessed," Tribune Head said.

It's been almost four months since Meghan's heart transplant. She's been working with her father Raymond, who is a personal trainer, every day to get stronger.

Megan had begun college when she had her stroke in February of 2012. She hopes to one day go back to school.

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