After being diagnosed with Myocarditis, a condition that inflames the heart muscle, at 14 years old, Taylor Rand, an NBC page , didn't think she would live to see another day.

The 23-year-old Atlanta, Georgia, native learned she needed a heart transplant after she suddenly became ill following an eighth grade school trip to the Grand Canyon.

"It was a really dark time in my life," Rand tells TODAY.com in an exclusive interview.

"I ended up getting diagnosed with Myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the middle layer of the heart," she explains. "I had organ failure, heart failure, and needed a heart transplant due to this virus that just attacked my heart. Doctors thought that maybe I could've contracted it at the Grand Canyon."

According to the Mayo Clinic , Myocarditis, which

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