She's only 6 months old, but Kylee Faith Jones has already proven herself to be a fighter.
"We found out at 15 weeks that she had a heart defect," said her mother, Trace Jones.
"We couldn't believe it. It caught us totally by surprise," said her father, John Jones
Days after being born, Kylee was fitted with a pacemaker, but it wasn't enough for her failing heart.
"At first she was doing OK. She was at home. Then, one day, she got really sick and we rushed her to the hospital. That was on a Sunday, and by Wednesday she was on the heart transplant list," said Trace.
Joe DiMaggio Children's hospital was just approved to do transplant in December 2010.
"Kylee had two issues. She had a congenital heart block which caused discoordinated pumping and another defect caused her right ventricle to fail," said Dr. Frank Scholl, Director of Pediatric Cardiology at Joe DiMaggio.
At one point, doctors though Kylee might need to be on a device to take the place of her own failing heart, but a donor came through.
"We were fortunate enough to have a family who at their worst time thought about others and gave her the ultimate gift," said Scholl.
Scholl said as she grows, Kylee will develop like any other child with no limitations.
"Yes, they have to take medicines and yes they have to be monitored and yes they have complications related to the medications but for the most part, they do really, really well," Scholl said.
Kylee's parents are expecting great things from her.
"She has an onus on her now to live up to the gift she's been given," said John Jones.
According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, about 300 children in the U.S. receive heart transplants every year.