Out of despair and sadness comes new life
THE most touching story of the week for me was when a mum had the chance to hear the heart of her dead daughter beating inside another little girl.
After seven-year-old Jade Stoner died when she was knocked off her bike by a car in Christchurch, Dorset, her heartbroken mum and dad decided to offer her organs to help save the lives of others.
In 2006, baby Nellie-Mae was born with the heart defect cardiomyopathy and doctors feared for her life.
Nellie-Mae had been abandoned by her parents so doctors asked volunteer foster parents Jeff and Sarah Evans, from Cumbria, if they would sit with the little baby in hospital so that she didn’t face dying alone.
Without any family, doctors couldn’t put NellieMae on the transplant list, so the big-hearted couple immediately offered to foster her.
The severely ill baby was given Jade’s heart and soon started to thrive. Mr Evans traced Jade’s parents and now, 10 years on, the families have met while Jade’s mum, Debbie, had the chance to listen to her daughter’s heart beating in Nellie-Mae’s body.
What a life-affirming story. Goodness still exists. Out of death and despair, hope and new life can come.