LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- Hannah Clark is a 16-year-old with a shy laugh and a love of animals . She likes to go shopping with friends and dreams of a career working with children . Teenager Hannah Clark 's heart has healed itself more than a decade after she received a donor heart . But Hannah Clark is no ordinary teenager and her normal life today could not have been possible without a unique , life-changing heart surgery . In 1994 when she was eight-months-old , Hannah was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy -- an inflammation of the heart muscle that impairs the heart 's ability to work properly . Hannah 's heart was failing and she needed a transplant . But instead of taking her own heart out , doctors added a new donated heart to her own when she was just two-years-old . The so-called `` piggyback '' operation allowed the donor heart to do the work while Hannah 's heart rested . But Hannah was not in the clear yet . As with any organ transplant , Hannah 's body was likely to reject her new heart and she had to take powerful immune suppression drugs . Those drugs allowed her body to accept the donor heart but also led to cancer and yet another medical battle for Hannah that lasted for years . Nearly 11 years after receiving the extra heart , there was more bad news : The immuno-suppression drugs were no longer working . Hannah 's body was rejecting the donor heart . In February 2006 , her doctors tried something that had never been done before : They took out the donor heart . Doctors theorized that the donor heart had allowed Hannah 's heart to rest , recover and grow back stronger . Now for the first time Hannah 's father , Paul Clark , describes the agonizing decision the family had to make at the time : `` If she 'd never had it done , she would n't be here . Watch a report about Hannah 's amazing recovery » . `` In the very beginning it was a 50/50 chance she was n't going to make the operation . But in the next one it was even greater because it had never been done before . But we had to take that risk , '' he told CNN . The doctors were right . Three years later , Hannah has no need for any drugs and has been given a clean bill of health . The operation was a success . `` It means everything to me , '' Hannah told CNN after the pioneering operation . `` I thought I 'd still have problems when I had this operation done . I thought after the heart had been removed I thought I 'd have to visit hospitals . But now I 'm just free , '' she said , smiling . Dr. Magdi Yacoub performed Hannah 's original transplant and came out of retirement to perform the second . `` The possibility of recovery of the heart is just like magic . '' Dr. Yacoub said at a media conference . `` [ We had ] a heart which was not contracting at all at the time . We put the new heart to be pumping next to it and take its work , now [ it ] is functioning normally . '' The findings have been published in the British medical journal , the Lancet . Hannah 's amazing recovery would not have been possible without a donor . Both Hannah 's doctors and her family made an appeal for more people to consider organ donation . `` When it happens to someone close to you or yourself , you do n't realize until then how important it is to be a donor and not to be selfish like , I need that part . You do n't need that part . Give it to somebody else that needs it , '' said Clark . `` It just proves that if you can , be a donor . This can happen . '' Dr. Yacoub now advocates `` presumed consent '' -- a policy by which anyone can be considered an organ donor unless they specifically request to opt out . `` All you are asking is please make up your own mind . Do you or do you not want to be a donor ? My own family , my kids , everybody wants to be a donor . But if you do n't , then say so , '' he said . `` Just please tell us what you want to do . So , presumed consent is a good thing . '' Hannah has made a full recovery and looks forward to doing what many teenagers do during the summer holidays : Work at a summer job . Her family jokes that it 's difficult to keep her from racing out the door now that she has so much energy . For Hannah , it took the strength of two to help heal a broken heart , something she could have never done alone .
Hannah Clark suffered from a rare heart condition when she was a baby . Doctors added a donor heart to her own in a unique surgery when she was two . Doctors later removed donor heart and found her own heart had healed itself . Hannah is now a healthy 16-year-old with normal teenage aspirations .