A father’s love that lives on in a heartbeat
Dad who lost his girl, nine, hears her heart inside transplant boy
‘I cannot thank you enough’
WHEN his nine-year- old daughter was killed in a car crash, Joe Ball decided the best way for her memory to live on would be to donate her organs and spare other parents the agony of losing a child.
And this week he heard his ‘little princess’ Keira’s heart beat for the first time since her death – inside the chest of the ten-year-old boy whose life she helped to save.
In an emotional first meeting, Mr Ball, 35, wiped away tears and embraced Max Johnson after holding a stethoscope to his heart.
Max, who had been at risk of ‘imminent death’ after 196 days on a transplant waiting list, told Mr Ball: ‘I cannot thank you enough. You have saved my life and it is very hard to put that into words.
‘ Words aren’t enough. It is special to be able to say thank you in person.’
Keira’s mother Loanna and siblings Bradley, eight, Katelyn, 12, and Keely, 13, also listened to the heart beating.
The family made a 500- mile round trip from their home in Barnstaple, Devon, for the meeting with Max and his parents Emma, 47, Paul, 44, and brother Harry, 12, in Winsford, Cheshire.
Max had waited more than six months for a transplant to replace his heart, which was severely damaged by cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle that affects its size, shape and structure.
As Max was lying in hospital last July, Keira suffered serious head injuries in a car crash near her home which also left her mother and brother fighting for their lives. After three days, doctors told Mr Ball that Keira’s injuries were not survivable and she died.
With Mrs Ball still in a critical condition, on August 2 the little girl’s father took the decision to allow her to become an organ donor – inspired by the desire of his ‘little princess’ to help others.
It was a decision that provided a lifeline for Max and his family. His father told Mr Ball: ‘Keira is part of our family now, and always will be. She will be remembered by our family for ever.
‘She will live on, and not just for us. Thank you feels wholly inadequate. To be able to see you and talk to you means so much.’
Mrs Johnson, a market researcher, added: ‘You did not just save Max. You gave Harry his brother. You gave our parents their grandson. You gave his teachers their pupil. You gave his friends their pal back. The difference you made is not just to one life, but to all their lives.’
Speaking of the moment he met Max and listened to Keira’s heart beating in the schoolboy’s chest, Mr Ball told the Daily Mirror: ‘It was amazing. It was bizarre coming through that door and seeing the faces of Max and his family for the first time.
‘Now I know what the donation has done for him, it brings it all home, this is the real person. It feels like such a big part of Keira is in Max now. He is a legend.’
Keira’s sister Katelyn added: ‘It is so nice to hear Keira’s heart again. It’s very fast. It was lovely to meet Max. He told us he calls his heart “Kax”, after Keira and Max. We are going to call it “Meira”.’ Keira’s organs saved four lives, including that of another little boy who received her pancreas and liver, according to the Mirror.
Her parents have set up a charity in her memory called Inspired By Keira, which helps other parents who have lost children.
At the time of Keira’s death, Max was in a critical condition in the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle with his only chance of survival being a transplant.
When the call to say a matching organ had been found to save his life finally came in the early hours of the morning, he was rushed into theatre.
Mrs Johnson told the Ball family: ‘When the call came to say the heart your own was for the there, child, donor you but family. are really happy devastated for ‘There are such conflicting emotions. We thought of you at Christmas, and we will think of you when the anniversary of the operation comes around.’ It is rare for a donor family to meet the recipient, but Mr Johnson hopes that will change after their meeting with the Balls. Max has been the face of a campaign to change the law on organ
donation to an opt-out system. MPs have voted in favour of replacing the current system of organ donation with an opt- out scheme, in which everyone is considered a donor unless they specifically say otherwise. It is hoped the new legislation will be called Max’s Law once it is in place.