DONNA ASHLOCK, RECIPIENT OF HEART FROM TEEN ADMIRER:
PATTERSON, Calif. (AP) - Donna Ashlock, the teen-ager who received a dead admirer's heart when her own failed, died in her sleep yesterday while awaiting a second transplant.
Ashlock, 17, died at her home in this central California town around noon, said Jim Cullen, a spokesman for Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center in San Francisco, where the first transplant was performed.
The cause of death was not immediately known, said Nancy Millhouse, another hospital spokeswoman. She said doctors had not felt the teen-ager was in immediate danger.
Ashlock's body had repeatedly tried to reject the heart of 15-year-old Felix Garza Jr., which she received after Garza died in January 1986. She was waiting for a new heart when she died while taking a nap.
Ashlock's death shocked hospital staff members, Millhouse said.
"We're very saddened by it," she said. "There are many people at this hospital who have gotten close to her over the year. She turned to the hospital as a place to have friends and get out of the limelight."
Ashlock's case drew international attention when it was reported that Garza, who had a crush on his high school classmate, had told his parents he wanted to leave her his heart after his death.
Garza, the son of farm laborers, had been suffering from blackouts and headaches when he talked with his parents about donating his heart. He died suddenly on Jan. 4, 1986, after a blood vessel burst in his brain.
"I hope that what Peno (Felix) did shows how people can help each other," Ashlock said in a statement 12 days after the transplant surgery. "I was surprised when Dad told me about Peno and what he had done for me. I felt very sad, but thankful for what he did."
PATTERSON, Calif. (AP) - Donna Ashlock, the teen-ager who received a dead admirer's heart when her own failed, died in her sleep yesterday while awaiting a second transplant.
Ashlock, 17, died at her home in this central California town around noon, said Jim Cullen, a spokesman for Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center in San Francisco, where the first transplant was performed.
The cause of death was not immediately known, said Nancy Millhouse, another hospital spokeswoman. She said doctors had not felt the teen-ager was in immediate danger.
Ashlock's body had repeatedly tried to reject the heart of 15-year-old Felix Garza Jr., which she received after Garza died in January 1986. She was waiting for a new heart when she died while taking a nap.
Ashlock's death shocked hospital staff members, Millhouse said.
"We're very saddened by it," she said. "There are many people at this hospital who have gotten close to her over the year. She turned to the hospital as a place to have friends and get out of the limelight."
Ashlock's case drew international attention when it was reported that Garza, who had a crush on his high school classmate, had told his parents he wanted to leave her his heart after his death.
Garza, the son of farm laborers, had been suffering from blackouts and headaches when he talked with his parents about donating his heart. He died suddenly on Jan. 4, 1986, after a blood vessel burst in his brain.
"I hope that what Peno (Felix) did shows how people can help each other," Ashlock said in a statement 12 days after the transplant surgery. "I was surprised when Dad told me about Peno and what he had done for me. I felt very sad, but thankful for what he did."
DONNA ASHLOCK, RECIPIENT OF HEART FROM TEEN ADMIRER:
PATTERSON, Calif. (AP) - Donna Ashlock, the teen-ager who received a dead admirer's heart when her own failed, died in her sleep yesterday while awaiting a second transplant.
Ashlock, 17, died at her home in this central California town around noon, said Jim Cullen, a spokesman for Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center in San Francisco, where the first transplant was performed.
The cause of death was not immediately known, said Nancy Millhouse, another hospital spokeswoman. She said doctors had not felt the teen-ager was in immediate danger.
Ashlock's body had repeatedly tried to reject the heart of 15-year-old Felix Garza Jr., which she received after Garza died in January 1986. She was waiting for a new heart when she died while taking a nap.
Ashlock's death shocked hospital staff members, Millhouse said.
"We're very saddened by it," she said. "There are many people at this hospital who have gotten close to her over the year. She turned to the hospital as a place to have friends and get out of the limelight."
Ashlock's case drew international attention when it was reported that Garza, who had a crush on his high school classmate, had told his parents he wanted to leave her his heart after his death.
Garza, the son of farm laborers, had been suffering from blackouts and headaches when he talked with his parents about donating his heart. He died suddenly on Jan. 4, 1986, after a blood vessel burst in his brain.
"I hope that what Peno (Felix) did shows how people can help each other," Ashlock said in a statement 12 days after the transplant surgery. "I was surprised when Dad told me about Peno and what he had done for me. I felt very sad, but thankful for what he did."
PATTERSON, Calif. (AP) - Donna Ashlock, the teen-ager who received a dead admirer's heart when her own failed, died in her sleep yesterday while awaiting a second transplant.
Ashlock, 17, died at her home in this central California town around noon, said Jim Cullen, a spokesman for Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center in San Francisco, where the first transplant was performed.
The cause of death was not immediately known, said Nancy Millhouse, another hospital spokeswoman. She said doctors had not felt the teen-ager was in immediate danger.
Ashlock's body had repeatedly tried to reject the heart of 15-year-old Felix Garza Jr., which she received after Garza died in January 1986. She was waiting for a new heart when she died while taking a nap.
Ashlock's death shocked hospital staff members, Millhouse said.
"We're very saddened by it," she said. "There are many people at this hospital who have gotten close to her over the year. She turned to the hospital as a place to have friends and get out of the limelight."
Ashlock's case drew international attention when it was reported that Garza, who had a crush on his high school classmate, had told his parents he wanted to leave her his heart after his death.
Garza, the son of farm laborers, had been suffering from blackouts and headaches when he talked with his parents about donating his heart. He died suddenly on Jan. 4, 1986, after a blood vessel burst in his brain.
"I hope that what Peno (Felix) did shows how people can help each other," Ashlock said in a statement 12 days after the transplant surgery. "I was surprised when Dad told me about Peno and what he had done for me. I felt very sad, but thankful for what he did."
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