When Heather Clarke lost seven-month-old son Lukas in an accident, she decided to donate his organs to save the lives of three people. One of them was four-year-old Jordan Drake.
In November, she got in touch for the first time with Jordan’s family.
“I would like to share something with all the amazing Lukas supporters. Today I have been in contact with a beautiful family,” Heather said in a Facebook post.
“This beauty is the girl who has Lukas heart beating in her. One day I will meet her and squeeze her so tightly! Thank you to her mom and dad who allow me to be a part of their lives. This is the best Christmas present I could have asked for.”
On January 29 she finally had the chance to see Jordan in person.
Esther Gonzalez, Jordan’s mother, was anxious about meeting heather for the first time.
“I’m not going to say anything,” she said before the encounter. “I’m just going to hug her. I think I have run out of words at this point. Hugging…I don’t have anything else to say.”
Still beating
When the meeting finally happened, Heather placed a stethoscope against Jordan’s heart and began to tear up. “It’s so strong,” Heather said, crying.
“That’s the first thing the doctors said when they put [the heart] in,” Esther replied. “I was beating so strong.”
It was a touching moment seeing heather hear the heart of her lost child still beating.
“Amid the unthinkable grief of losing her son Lukas, Heather made a decision that saved three lives,” the nonprofit organization Donate Life Arizona said in a statement. “Jordan received Lukas’ precious heart when she was just 18 months old. Yesterday, Heather heard her son’s heartbeat for the first time in nearly three years.”
The doctor who performed the transplant, Dr. John Nigro of Phoenix Children’s Hospital, was at the event to witness the touching encounter.
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