Our sister’s heart lives in Max
Transplant lad & donor family’s emotional meeting
MAX Johnson has met the family of the little girl who saved his life for the first time.
Keira Ball’s sisters Keely, 12, Katelyn, 13, and brother Bradley, eight, listened to her donor heart beating inside the brave 10-year-old.
Katelyn said: “It was so lovely to hear her heart.”
HOLDING a stethoscope to little Max Johnson’s chest, Joe Ball wiped away tears as he heard his tragic daughter Keira’s heart beat for the first time since her death.
The 35-year-old then embraced the Mirror boy whose life his youngster saved with a transplant – to seal a bond that will never be broken.
As the pair hugged, Max told him: “I cannot thank you enough.”
Joe, wife Loanna and children Bradley, eight, Katelyn, 12, and 13-year-old Keely also got to hear Keira’s heart.
They had made a 500-mile round trip for the highly emotional first meeting with Max, 10, and his parents Emma, 47, Paul, 44, and 12-year-old brother Harry.
And the Johnsons thanked the Balls for their selfless decision to donate Keira’s organs after she died in a car crash. Paul told them: “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 somehow. To be able to see you and talk to you means so much. It is important for you to see what a difference you made to all our lives. It will never, ever come close to replacing what you have lost.
“But if it gives you comfort then for me, it is the least we can do.”
Market researcher Emma 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.”
Max told Joe and Loanna he had wanted to meet them before he even knew their names – when he first wrote a thank you card to his then anonymous donor family last year.
Displaying a wisdom beyond his years, he said: “You have saved my life and it is very hard to put that into words. Words are not enough. It is special to be able to say thank you in person.”
Joe and his family were flown by the Mirror from their home in Barnstaple, Devon, to meet the Johnsons in Winsford, Cheshire, where they live.
Speaking of the moment he met Max and listened to Keira’s heart, Joe said: “It was amazing. It was bizarre coming through that door and seeing the faces of Max, and his family for the first time. Before we had only seen him in your paper, a picture on a page.
“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.
“I just want to say a massive thank you to the Mirror for bringing us all together. It really means so much to all of us.”
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.”
Keely told Max, who was the poster boy for the Mirror campaign to change the law on organ donation to an opt-out system: “I had never heard Keira’s heart before, apart from in hospital.”
She said later: “Max is so much fun. When we said we were coming back again he said, ‘I can’t wait’. We are going to see if he can move in next door.” The
girls giggled as Max showed them the scar on his sternum from the operation he had last year.
He had fronted our Change the Law for Life campaign as he waited 196 days for a transplant to replace his organ that was severely damaged by cardiomyopathy.
MPs voted to ditch the current system, where doctors can only use organs from registered donors, to the opt-out scheme in which everyone is considered a donor unless they state otherwise. Labour MP Geoffrey Robinson had brought in a private member’s bill to get things moving.
Theresa May pledged to call it Max’s Law when it goes through.
Keira was nine when she was involved in a horrific car crash last July near her home that left her with serious head injuries. Loanna and Bradley were both left fighting for life as Joe dashed from a charity motorbike ride to their sides. After three days, doctors finally told Joe there was nothing more they could do and Keira passed away. With Loanna still very ill, he took the agonising decision on August 2 last year to allow her to become an organ donor – inspired by his “Little Princess” and her desire to help others. Keira saved four lives, including another little boy who received her pancreas and liver. At the time of her death, Max was gravely ill in the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle – with only a transplant able to save him. The call finally came in the early hours of the morning that an organ had been found and matched.
As he was taken into theatre, Max told his parents, who looked on anxiously: “I love you so much.”
Emma revealed that after the successful operation, Keira’s heart “could not wait to start beating”.
She added: “Max was in danger of imminent death. You know it is precarious.
“He was so lucky to have a second chance.”
Now back at school, the youngster is enjoying life to the full.
Emma told the Ball family: “When the call came to say the heart was there, you are happy for your own child, but really devastated for the donor family.
“There are such conflicting emotions. We thought of you at Christmas, and we will think of you when the anniversary
It was so nice to hear Keira’s heart again. We’ll call it Meira KATELYN AFTER MEETING MAX AND HIS FAMILY
of the operation comes around.” It is rare for a donor family to meet the recipient, but Paul hopes that will change after their meeting with Keira’s parents and siblings. He said of the current situation: “I find that difficult to understand.”
Keira is buried near Ilfracombe, Devon, on land where Loanna’s family has farmed since the 1300s.
She lies next to her beloved pony Trojan, and gran Marian Martin, who died in 2009 aged 69.
An inquest is yet to be held into the cause of the fatal accident. A charity, called InspiredbyKeira, is helping other families who have lost children. It can be found on facebook. com/inspiredbykeira/.