Photo: Woman Holding Her Own Heart in Her Hands

(Photo: Penny Smith)

Although it doesn’t have the same effect as holding up the heart of one your enemies, this is still pretty badass. But dealing with hardship with good spirits has always been Penny Smith’s strength. She had cancer when she was 3 years old and developed heart problems in 1994. Last year, she had a heart transplant.

Here she is holding up her old heart while her new one keeps her alive. This photo was taken a few months after her transplant:

"That was in the hospital in the pathology lab," Smith said. "I was saying goodbye to my heart, actually, because I felt like it got me through half of my life and I needed to say goodbye to it. So I was saying goodbye, and getting to know my new heart.

"My doctors made me wait because they didn't think I was ready. I wanted to be able to hold it, and they didn't want me to drop it.

"I was happy to see it again-well, see it for the first time, I guess.

"My husband even got to hold it. It felt really weird for both of us, but it was amazing to get to hold something that was once in someone."

You may think you're tough, but are you "Holding your own heart in your hand" tough? pic.twitter.com/rgJYZKeZg4

— Robb Allen (@ItsRobbAllen) October 23, 2013

I found this story while searching for information about the above photo, which is also impressive to an almost Ron Swanson level.