By Barnett Wright
The Birmingham Times
“Like mother, like daughter” is more than a proverb for Lucy Emonina and Ovuke’ Emonina McCoy, both of whom had strokes and received heart transplants decades apart.
Mother (Emonina) and daughter (McCoy) were born with a genetic condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the walls of heart that makes it difficult for the heart to pump blood. The illness runs in their family: Emonina lost four brothers and two sons, McCoy’s siblings, to the disease.
“When you say, ‘I want to grow up and be like my mom,’ you don’t think, ‘I want to be like my mom and have a heart transplant,’” said McCoy. “That’s what happened, [though]—my mom had a heart transplant, and I had a heart transplant.”