AURORA, Colo. — A woman from the Western Slope is calling University of Colorado Hospital home as she waits for a new heart.

A few months ago, Tammy Harper was flown from her home in Palisade to the Front Range after her heart began to fail. Harper has been waiting for more than 100 days, hoping to receive a phone call about a new heart.

“A little bit of time here means a lifetime of good health,” she said.

Harper was born with a heart defect and has had two open-heart surgeries.

“It was easier at first, but as time goes by, it gets harder,” Harper said.

It’s difficult for Harper to wait for someone to give her a new lease on life knowing she has dealt with something similar 8 1/2 years ago.

“It’s difficult to lose any loved one, but your children. … You should outlive your children,” she said.

Harper lost her 11-year-old daughter Marissa unexpectedly when she died while undergoing surgery.

“I knew we could make something good out of something so tragic,” Harper said.

Harper donated her daughter’s organs and helped save a few more lives. Now, she’s hoping someone will come along and save her.

“I would like people to think about it if it were their child, their husband or their wife that needed it. You would want people to donate life,” she said.

Doctors expected Harper to have a new heart by now, but they haven’t found a perfect match.

University of Colorado Hospital is the only hospital in the region to perform heart transplant operations. Dr. Ashok Babu, a heart transplant surgeon, said the hospital only gets 25 to 30 hearts a year. There are usually 40 people on a waiting list.

Still, Harper remains confident.

“I do have a lot to live for,” she said.