Bride Honors Heart Donor at Wedding — and Thought of Her While Walking Down the Aisle (Exclusive)

“Desiree's life was short-lived, but there's a way that it is continuing on,” Katherine Herrmann, who got married after a life-saving transplant, tells PEOPLE

Walking down the aisle on her wedding day three months ago, an Ohio bride wasn't just thinking about her soon-to-be husband, but about the woman who literally gave her a heart.

“I’m just grateful," the newlywed tells PEOPLE of donor Desiree Burge. "She had a very helping heart."

And after having met Desiree’s father and stepmother, Katherine Schroeder (now Katherine Herrmann) is really trying to live the best life for both of them.

“It’s not just me anymore,” says Herrmann, 23. “I work to make sure that I am thinking of others, helping others, making sure that I'm getting my mission out there of heart health.”

Related: Paramedic Saves Man’s Life, Donates Kidney to His Daughter Years Later: 'Like Having a Guardian Angel'

Herrmann was barely a month old when doctor’s discovered she had a hole in her heart and an abnormal valve. She was diagnosed with Shone’s Complex, which affects how blood flows into and out of the left side of the heart.

“Growing up, hospitals were all I knew,” she says.

Although when she was younger, Herrmann had more than 20 surgeries and procedures, including four open heart surgeries, pacemakers and pacemaker replacements, she says that having a heart transplant was "never an option."

“You want to avoid it at all costs," she says. "They always wanted to try and surgically fix what they could before ever looking at transplant.”

During her first year at Kent State University in 2018, she met — and started dating — fellow freshman Ian Herrmann. And over winter break, after scheduling a pacemaker replacement surgery, he stood by her side as she was diagnosed with heart failure.

“He was very supportive about something a lot of people would be scared away by,” she says. “It wasn’t easy. There were tough days.”

People told her she should drop out of college, but she was determined to stay in school and graduate.

“We would fear for what the future was, but we knew that we had to just pray and have faith and know that I'm a fighter and I haven't ever given up and I never plan on it,” she says. “He is very supportive of making sure I continue to live life. But also, he makes sure I take rest when needed and watches out for my health.”

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When he proposed in November 2020, Hermann says "neither of us knew the future."

"What we did know is that we wanted to do it together,” she adds. “He always reminds me of how strong I am, and how far I’ve gotten, and that there’s nothing that we can’t face together."

Months later, she was officially placed on the transplant waiting list in June 2021.

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True to her word, Herrmann graduated from college in May 2022. Less than two months later, she was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic. After 35 days of waiting, they found a heart and her transplant surgery was scheduled for July 25.

After she woke from the surgery, she FaceTimed her mother and fiancé. She felt better than she could ever remember.

“I never knew what a healthy heart was. My heart has always been sick,” she explains. “For me, the transplant wasn't, 'Oh, I'm going back to normal.' The transplant was an, 'Oh my gosh, I am living a life that I've never been able to have before.'"

A few months later, she wrote a letter to her heart donor’s family — and while she was getting ready for her rehearsal dinner, she learned they were willing to meet her.

“I just immediately started bawling,” she says. “For me, it was a sign of a blessing. I knew this was what's meant to be.”

Related: Paramedic Saves Man’s Life, Donates Kidney to His Daughter Years Later: 'Like Having a Guardian Angel'

She got married on May 20 at her home church, Church of the Lakes in Jackson, Ohio, surrounded by friends and family.

“It truly was a celebration, not only of a beautiful marriage – but also a celebration of life and being able to get to the wedding was a huge thing,” she says. “I thought of my donor as I walked down the aisle, because I knew that I was walking down because of them.”

Additionally, there was a memorial in honor of the woman who literally gave her a heart. “Desirée's life was short-lived, but there's a way that it is continuing on,” she says.

As she danced at her wedding reception, she says she realized it was something she never would have been able to do her transplant. Since then, she's continued doing things that would have previously been unthinkable, like taking part in a 5K run.

“My husband was at the finish line,” she says, “cheering me on.”

Related: Bride Says It Was a 'Dream Come True' to Walk Down the Aisle with Her Doctor After Surgery

The next day, on June 24, she met her donor’s father and stepmother and learned more about the 39-year-old woman from Moundsville, West Virginia.

“They're both very sweet and amazing people and love to share about her and tell me about her. And they're very invested also in how I'm doing. Their church has been praying for me and they didn't know about me at the time, specifically," she says. "All they knew is that a 21-year-old female received Desiree's heart."

She has stayed in touch with Burge’s family and they even attended her one-year heart-a-versary party.

“We are very big on just making sure that we honor Desiree in a lot of ways and do as much as we can. For one, to live for me, but also to make sure that I'm using this heart to the best of my ability,” she says.

Herrmann, who now works as an emergency dispatcher, says she's "very grateful" for her job.

“I'm grateful that I can also be there for someone in their worst moment or on their worst day and help be that calm for them and get them the help that they need," she says.

She is also a full-time graduate student studying to be a pediatric mental health counselor. “I want to teach other kids how to be resilient, and how to persevere and learn that a diagnosis does not define you,” she says. “You are not defined by your medical condition. You are defined by what you make of it.”

She hopes that in sharing her story she can encourage others to become organ donors and save lives. “I will tell everyone and anyone: Become a registered organ donor,” she says.

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