Losing a child must be one of the most difficult things to experience in life. Thankfully, an infant boy's death has become more than just a tragedy -- it has also become a heart transplant miracle story.
According to Fox 10 News, the life of 4-year-old girl Jordan Drake from Arizona was saved when the mother of baby boy Lukas from California donated her son's heart to the little girl. An emotional encounter occurred when the mother finally heard his son's heart beating again inside the girl's body.
Lukas' mother, Heather Clark, described her only child as outgoing -- always smiling and sticking out his tongue in front of a camera. The boy tragically passed away in 2013 when his babysitter's boyfriend physically abused him. Fortunately, Clark was determined to turn this great tragedy into something good by donating her son's organs.
"There is another family out there, somewhere, you know who's feeling something of what I'm feeling, somewhat, and I have the chance to make them not go through what I'm about to go through," Clark told Fox 10 News. Lukas' donated organs saved a total of three lives, including Jordan who received the boy's heart on June 2013.
"It's hard to describe... that she would be so selfless to be able to think of another family while she's going through her grief," Jordan's mother Esther Gonzalez said about Clark.
Lukas' family and Jordan's family gathered at Phoenix Children's Hospital recently to meet each other for the first time since the heart transplant surgery. Today, the two families consider each other as friends and extended families.
During the gathering, an emotional Clark even got the chance to listen to her son's heart beating again inside the girl's chest and received a stuffed toy with an audio recording of Lukas' heart beats. Clark and Gonzales also decided that they should meet each other on a regular basis.
Many children in the U.S. are in need of heart transplant surgeries and that is why parents are being encouraged to donate their deceased children's organs for the other children who need them, according to Huffington Post. "I think people just have to understand that there are not enough organs, period... The biggest thing we can do is get the word out," said Melissa Dunbar-Forrest, chairwoman of the Transplant Coordinators Committee at OPTN/UNOS.
