A double transplant patient has revealed how she was stopped by airport security when trying to take her old heart through customs.
Jessica Manning told the Daily Mail she had packed the organ when moving from New Zealand to Melbourne in November last year.
The 30-year-old teacher said she took it with her, securely vacuum sealed, because she planned to bury it on a property that meant something to her.
"So maybe the first house I buy and then I wanted to plant a tree on top," she said.
Manning had a double heart and liver transplant eight years ago, after being born with six heart defects and enduring multiple open-heart surgeries growing up.
She suffered heart failure when she was 19 and was diagnosed with liver disease at 22 before being put on the transplant list.
Manning's travel troubles, which she has chronicled on TikTok, began upon arrival in Melbourne.
She didn't declare the heart on her arrival card because there was no option for human remains.
Instead, she mentioned it to a biosecurity officer, sparking a long ordeal during which she was questioned by multiple officials.
"They were…worried that my heart had some disease in it that I could bring into the country," she posted on TikTok.
Officers asked to see official documentation stating it was a human heart, which she did not have.
Eventually they accepted paperwork outlining her current medical needs and allowed her to keep the heart, but warned her not to travel with it again.
"The heart is safe and sound, it's at the top of my wardrobe… but it scared the shit out of me."
