A woman has gone viral on TikTok after sharing her ordeal of being born with half a heart – undergoing 200 surgeries since she was just three years old.

Jessica Manning, 28, from New Zealand, was diagnosed with several heart defects from birth, including having only half a heart, describing the organ as "cookie dough".

She also suffered holes throughout her body, twisted arteries and multiple leaks in her valves, which was considered life-threatening and as a result, the then child was given just a few years to live.

Aged three, she had already had two open heart surgeries, with a small hole closure by the time she was six – and claims she's had over 200 minor procedures to date.

Now, Jessica has gone viral sharing her shocking story on TikTok, as well as showing off her old heart to social media users.

"My biggest heart surgery was my fontan, which connects the heart to the pulmonary artery using a tube, that was almost like a reconstruction of my heart," Jessica told Jam Press.

"This led me to have an amazing life [until my late teens] but over time, caused issues to my liver.

"While my friends were living their best lives, it was super hard for me to process and a lot for my body to go through.

"I spent my 19th birthday in the hospital, where I recovered at home for four weeks and then unfortunately went into heart failure.

"I spent the next three months in hospital fighting for my life, with only five percent heart function.

"At 25, I had a heart and liver transplant, with pacemaker surgery and emergency lung surgery [a few years prior].

"I waited [over a year] as I was the first heart and liver transplant to be performed on someone born with heart disease in NZ and Australia.

"I had both organs done together and recovery was super hard as I lost all my muscle memory and had to learn how to move again.

"I had a cardiac arrest four weeks post-transplant, where CPR and a defibrillator didn't work - so the surgeon had to re-open my chest and manually massage my heart.

"I was placed back into a coma for three days and lost all my muscle memory again.

"I also had septic shock, where all my organs shut down and basically restarted.

"I recovered really well after that and have had no issues since."

As her surgery was a success, Jessica offered for her heart and liver to go to a university in New Zealand for research but two months later, she was told that her heart was ready to collect.

Jessica said: "They called saying they still have my heart as they only needed a small portion of it and asked if I wanted the rest.

"I said yes, because at that time, I was doing a few talks for heart kids and I took it for 'show and tell' so they could see what a diseased heart looked like.

"When I'm ready to let go, I will be burying it somewhere sentimental to me – but for now, I use it on TikTok."

Jessica has received free healthcare in New Zealand but estimates her transplants alone have cost $3 million NZD (£1.5 million) due to the complications suffered and aftercare.

Now, she says that her heart and liver are doing "amazing" and she hasn't suffered organ rejection, which is very rare.

She said: "It's common to suffer a type of rejection within your first [year] post-transplant.

"I'm still in the process of building up my fitness, but that's a work in progress.

"I have had a huge amount of support from my family and friends – I wouldn't have been able to do it without them.

"My parents raised me just how they raised my siblings, so I was able to grow up with as much of a 'normal' life as possible.

"Through every surgery and procedure, they have stuck by my side every step of the way."

Jessica has shared her ordeal on TikTok, where one clip has racked up over 1.3 million views and 164,000 likes.

In the video, she begins by giving a trigger warning and speaks about her situation.

As she compares the look of her heart to "cookie dough" she brings a bag up to the camera – which contains her heart.

Jessica explains how the dark spots are dead tissue and that a wire still attached was her old pacemaker.

She continues: "Your heart is the size of your fist, I was only born with half a heart, so my heart should initially be smaller than my fist.

"But due to it being so damaged it was actually really swollen and took up my entire chest cavity."

Users took to the comments to share their reactions, with many shocked at the sight of a real human heart.

One viewer said: "I was expecting a photo of it after or during surgery, not for it to be in a plastic bag."

While another said: "Idk what cookie dough you're eating sis..." [sic]

Someone else wrote: "SHE TOLD ME PUT MY HEART IN A BAG."

"Not me expecting it to be red LOL," said another viewer. [sic]

Another viewer said: "Woah woah I wasn’t expecting it to be THAT big," to which Jessica replied: "It’s only half a heart too."

While she's suffered no complications since her transplants, Jessica will have to take medication for the rest of her life to prevent any issues.

She added: "I have to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of my life to prevent organ rejection.

"My donor was a lot older than me, around twice my age, so I also take medication for cholesterol and blood thinner.

"I only have a couple of scans I'm waiting on, as [the drugs] can affect other parts of your body, such as your bones."