‘I survived’: 4 days after receiving heart transplant, teen thanks Las Cruces for love and support in video from hospital bed

STANFORD, California -- Just four days after his heart transplant surgery, a Las Cruces teen thanked the Borderland for prayers and support during his journey.

"I'm alive," said Brannden Fernandez on Saturday morning in an iPhone video recorded from his hospital bed. "I survived." (You can watch the entire video in the video player at the top of this article).

His first request? A bag of Takis.

"We're very humble and we're very grateful to the person who gave Brannden a second chance at life," said his aunt, Trine Lane, on Friday from Stanford Children's Health Center in California.

Fernandez admitted that he was tired, but that he was excited to go home and "eat food."

"What kind of food?" His aunt asked in the video. "Tell me! Enchiladas, tacos, what?"

"All of it," Fernandez replied, telling his aunt that the first restaurant he wants to visit when he gets home is Los Compas.

"He's excited to get back home and go to school," Lane said.

Fernandez does not know the identity of the person who donated their heart. However, his family does know that the heart belonged to a person younger than 30 years old.

"It's amazing that people donate their organs," Lane said. "It's such an awesome blessing to continue to allow your life to live on."

The two families are now "bonded by an organ," Lane said. She wrote the donor's family a six-page letter expressing her gratitude.

"In my letter, I said, 'Welcome home.'" She explained. "They are essentially part of our family now."

To support the family, click here for their GoFundMe.