The story of a heart

two families, one heart, and the medical miracle that saved a child's life

"One summer day, nine-year-old Keira Ball was in a terrible car accident and suffered catastrophic brain injuries. As the rest of her body began to shut down, her heart continued to beat. In an act of extraordinary generosity, Keira's parents and siblings immediately agreed that she would have wanted to be an organ donor. Meanwhile nine-year-old Max Johnson had been in a hospital for nearly a year, valiantly fighting the virus that was causing his young heart to fail. When Max's parents received the call they had been hoping for, they knew it came at a terrible cost to another family-in what Clarke calls "the brutal arithmetic of transplant surgery." The act of Keira's heart resuming its rhythm inside Max's body was a medical miracle. But this was only part of the story. While waiting on the transplant list, Max had become the hopeful face of a campaign to change the UK's laws around organ donation. Following his successful surgery, Keira's mother saw the little boy beaming on the front page of the newspaper and knew it was the same boy whose parents had recently sent her an anonymous letter overflowing with gratitude for her daughter's heart. The two mothers began to exchange messages and eventually decided to meet"--Provided by publisher.

9781668045435
book
Cover image of The story of a heart

Holdings

hidmidmiidnidwidlocation_codelocationbarcodecallnumdeweycreatedupdated
3951671722558523878788581001578GEH226GVS0081762617.41 CLA617.4117368009911736800991
3988966726066524148788581001578PYH373PYS0051967B CLA92017368009911736800991
4050143728637624388788581001578CCHS138CCHS410554BIO CLARKE92017425694091742569409