16-year old Courtney Montgomery had a heart that was failing really fast, but she furiously refused when she was urged by her mother and her doctors to get a heart transplant.

Montgomery said that her previous heart surgeries have not helped her at the very least; she did not think a riskier and scarier surgery would either. She added that back then, she thought she did not want the heart transplant and if she ought to die, she’d rather do. She now realizes that she was not thinking straight at that time.

It took another teenager who was also dealing with a new heart to make her think twice.

Doctors said that heart transplants are far more complicated in teenagers than in adults. Although they are still minors, they cannot be forced in to taking the transplant because they will be the ones who are given the burden of taking care of their new heart; no one else can do it for them. Anger, self-pity, depression, and overall adolescent pangs can interfere with the anti-rejection treatment and the heart transplant can all go to waste.

In general, our ability to decide rationally does not mature until our late 20s, said Dr. Robert Jaquiss chief of pediatric heart surgery in Duke University Medical Center. Also, teenagers who have to go through heart transplants feel isolated. There is a very slim chance that someone among their peers has to go through the same ordeal.

Because Courtney was steadfast in her decision not to receive heart transplant, a social worker introduced her to a teenager who also received a heart transplant at Duke. Josh Winstead had a very successful heart transplant; he is now back at school and is living a normal teenage life.

His life story inspired Courtney and she immediately changed her mind about the transplant. She received her new heart a month ago and at present she is shaping up with the hopes of going back to her cheerleading squad.