Your Heart to Keep

Long tapered fingers. Slender build. Legally blind. Dilated aorta. That's me. My name is Holly Jenkins and I have Marfan's Syndrome.

The medical profession class this syndrome as the most common to affect the connective tissue, with one in every 10,000 to 20,000 individuals diagnosed. However, not many people I know had ever heard of it until I came along so I don't understand how it can be common.

I am one of the twenty-five percent who did not inherit the disorder from either one or both parents. Mine was a random occurrence during the formation of my fetus, caused by a simple gene mutation.

I'm currently on the heart transplant waiting list and have been for the last thirteen months. My heavily dilated aorta is at risk of tearing, rupturing, or both. It's a sad fact that I have to wait on someone compatible to die before I can be fixed and the lack of willing donors throughout the world, make it an even longer wait.

The beta-blockers I take help stop my aortic tear from worsening but at the end of the day not even that is guaranteed.

Secondary to my heart condition is my failing vision. Typical of someone with Marfan's, is corneal thinning, which has left me with extremely poor sight that has gradually worsened over time. I am fluent in braille and teach other newly unsighted people how to use it to live as normal a life as possible. I've always desired to make a difference in people's lives and this allows me to give something back to the blind community that has supported me over the years.

I had a corneal transplant a few years back to restore my sight but it was unsuccessful and so rather than go through another episode of getting my hopes up only to have them dashed, I have learned to live in my cloudy, distorted world. The success rate of corneal transplants is normally extremely high; for mine to have failed was a harsh slap in the face. I'd taken it as a sign that maybe God had other plans for me.

At twenty years of age, I have lived a quiet existence with my loving parents, adapting to the progression of my condition as needed.

I have always enjoyed my uncomplicated life of routine and structure. That is until fate stepped in and threw Jaxon Reynolds and the phone call that would change everything, my way.

Chapter One

How it all began – Jax

"Chloe! Chloooeee!" I roared, stomach roiling; head blazing like a furnace. Something was desperately wrong. The last thing I remembered was driving from Sterling, Colorado heading back home to Denver with my girlfriend, Chloe. It was late but we were both in good spirits. Sober. Chloe didn't drink and I was driving. When I had her in the car with me I made a point of not touching any alcohol before getting behind the wheel. We'd been visiting her folks for New Year. Instead of staying the extra night like they'd offered, I'd decided to make the trip back home so that I could hit the gym early the next morning. It was only a two hour drive...

Opening my eyes, I wasn't sure where I was at first. Disoriented. Confused. I seemed to be hanging upside down, suspended by something. A slight hissing stained the eerie silence. I blinked a few times in order to gain my bearings wondering why Chloe hadn't answered me. Turning my head, it took a minute for my vision to cut through the encompassing darkness and focus. A shape. The outline of a body. I let out a horrific cry. "Jesus! No. Nooooo. Chloe!" Her crumpled body folded around the seatbelt as if she were hugging it which I wouldn't have been too worried about if it wasn't for her head twisted at a grotesque angle, resting against the passenger window. The sudden realization that we had crashed and the car had rolled, one or a number of times, hit me with the ferocity of a bullet. We were both upside down and I was dangling from my seat.