'This video is part of the Teens Taking Charge: Transplant Learning Hub on AboutKidsHealth.ca Visit for more information - http://teens.aboutkidshealth.ca This video is provided for general information only. It does not replace a diagnosis or medical advice from a healthcare professional who has examined your child and understands their unique needs. Please speak with your doctor to check if the content is suitable for your situation. #organtransplant #medications #transplant Subscribe to the AboutKidsHealth YouTube channel: http://ow.ly/CzrN50ClHN3 Follow us on: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AboutKidsHealth Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AboutKidsHealth Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/AboutKidsHealth VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Having a heart transplant allows you to do a lot of things that you couldn\'t do before like sports, and other activities, like walking or whatever the case may be. I couldn\'t really play much sports because I had to take a few months off. My liver was -- my muscles weren\'t ready to go, so I tried to avoid just getting hit by the ball, or falling... especially falling. Because if I run, I find that I\'ll fall. I don\'t want that to happen, so... The only thing that\'s gotten worse is probably physical contact. Before I used to play some hockey, some American football, but now it\'s more limited to...to sports that, you know, don\'t involve too much contact. Even soccer, I\'m careful about it now. For me, it\'s basketball, I\'m not supposed to be playing too much of it, but, I cannot resist it, so...I\'m careful about it. But hockey and football, I can never play again. One thing in weightlifting I cannot do, is a certain...,I think if I go like this, pretty sure, I\'m not allowed doing that. Because it will affect, it will impact my heart. That\'s the only thing I know of. Other than that, I can do contact sports, play hockey, do whatever I like. It\'s just like... if you don\'t drink all the water you\'re supposed to, your side will hurt. And you will not want to do anything. Also your body will eventually start to ache, because it\'s trying to get re-used to everything again, and you just, kind of, feel out of it, a lot. I mean it\'s been a year and like, a month, since my transplant and I\'m still getting used to my medications and everything, so...I\'m determined, though, to start my running again, because I missed that, so... Exercise is important for me because it keeps me fit. Working out by walking, running... yeah. And it helps my liver, too, because my muscles started to work, and keep it active. If I keep active, I will be fine, and my back, too. Well... in terms of exercise, you could ask any physiotherapist, and they\'d say it\'s the most important thing out there. I do dance, I\'m in the school musical, I actually do dance for over three hours a week. I\'m in ballet and modern. And then there\'s, you know, Broadway dancing in musicals, but that\'s just... not very flattering. I had dance class in grade nine I joined it, and...I did gain some abs, which I\'m really happy about. I joined my basketball team, which I love, basketball, I joined basketball, I played badminton, I swam, I did everything possible, and it\'s really beneficial for you because it keeps you strong, it keeps you looking good. Even though you sweat a lot, you still get acne, whatever you get, but overall it keeps you healthy and always keeps you going which is why I recommend exercise a lot. I\'m very much into biking, I love biking everywhere I go. For me, exercise is not really my key thing in the world, but I do like taking walks, and I do walks. That\'s my exercise, I go for thirty or twenty minute walks with my friends. So that\'s what keeps me fit. And I work, so I\'m always on my feet. Maybe trying to avoid getting my liver hit, because when they said that, it was kind of hard, because sometimes some people might...maybe someone... poked me there, and I didn\'t... or maybe I get hit there, sometimes. Yeah, it was hard to avoid. Especially when I went to go back to school. It was hard. My friends were -- they knew about it, my friends knew about it. My whole class knew, the whole school did so they would be careful with me. So that was fine. And even, you know, in the hallway, when your friends punch you playfully...I still have to remind people constantly. No matter how many times I tell them, it\'s always going to slip out of their mind, and...Sometimes I resent that fact, because I can\'t really roughhouse, be rough with my friends. But at the same time, I\'d rather watch out for physical contact than, you know what, not to watch out for it and get sicker every day, so...Even though that\'s the only bad aspect of it, I\'m happy with my life. Small price to pay for a lifetime of...healthiness now.'
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