‘She knew she was going to die young’: Woman killed in crash after surviving liver transplant

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ind. (WXIX/Gray News) – A 20-year-old woman in Indiana was killed in a car crash on the way to an appointment at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in connection to a liver transplant she had two years ago.

Makenzie Howell was the passenger in a truck that crossed the centerline of the highway, hitting another truck and then sliding sideways into the path of a semi-truck that hit the passenger side of the vehicle she was in.

“She knew she was going to die young,” Danielle Howell, Makenzie’s mother, told WXIX. “My heart never wanted to believe that.”

Danielle explained her daughter had a rare genetic condition that caused growths on her liver.

“They would just get bigger and bigger and fill up to the point that her liver was three times the size it was supposed to be,” Danielle said. “It was intense and scary.”

Danielle is heartbroken because they thought Makenzie was in the clear after her transplant, adding she was the happiest she’d ever seen her daughter.

Two other people involved in the crash were taken to the hospital for treatment of their injuries.

The crash investigation is ongoing.

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