. >> reporter: denise whitaker is in a happy place where she lights up thinking about how good life is and how fragile. >> i've been in heart failure refer most of my life. >> reporter: denise as she was diagnosed in her 20s with postpartum cardiomyopathy. a weakening and enlargement of the heart muscle. not many years ago she was told that she only had a year to live without a heart transplant. >> a week after i heard the news i had a massive cardiac arrest. >> reporter: she took this photo from a different ride. the back of an ambulance. >> they said i was moving into the hospital, to stanford university, i was going to wait for my transplant. >> reporter: miraculously a donor heart was available and so did the blood needed for the surgery to save her life. >> i had a new heart and several pints of donated blood that was keeping me alive. >> reporter: it was a hard path back but now simple walks are . >> everything is beautiful. look at the clouds, the rain, it's just stunning. blades of grass shoot up and struggle through the clay. the struggle produces the beauty. >> reporter: life