Veronica De La Cruz, MSNBC anchor and founder of the Hope for Hearts foundation, paid a visit to Colby Salerno, a 24-year-old man who has waited at the top of the Hartford Hospital transplant list for nearly three months.
Veronica started the Hope for Hearts foundation in memory of her brother Eric, who passed away after he wasn't able to receive the life-saving heart transplant that he desperately needed. Since then, Veronica has made it her mission to help make healthcare available to everyone. According to the report on CT Now (a Hartford, CT station), organ donorship has decreased by nearly 75% in the past eight years, due in part to advanced medical techniques.
Last week, Veronica hosted a fundraising event in New York to raise money for the foundation - the event raised nearly $8,000 for heart transplant patients - $5,000 of which will help pay for Colby's medical care.
You can watch Veronica weekdays on MSNBC's First Look. And you can learn more about Colby's condition on his blog, "Tales from the 10th Floor."
