A Matter of the Heart?

In 1995, Sonny Graham was given the gift of life.  On the verge of heart failure, Graham received the miracle mixed blessing of organ donation.  The donor, a 33 year old man, fell victim to the selfish lie of suicide.  In what must have been the most confusing and horrifying hours of the donor's family's lives, the friends, family & relatives of Sonny Graham had reason to rejoice and thank God.  Shortly after the successful transplant, Graham began writing letters to the donor's family thanking them for the gift of life he had received.  It was through these letters that he met the acquaintance of the donor's widow.  The two hit it off and were married in 1997.  This weekend, just 12 years after receiving the heart (and oddly enough marrying the widow), Sonny Graham committed suicide... the same way his donor had just more than a decade earlier, by a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head.  A matter of the heart or proof that women have the ability to make men do crazy things?

Comments

[Sarah]

This is unbelievable. Is there some kind of link to this story? If not, kudos to your creativity.

[the Plastic Spoon]

This is a true story with an even truer lesson to be learned

[katie]

There is a scientific theory that the heart may contain some sort of brain mechanism (possibly stemming from the spinal cord, which of course is connected to the brain), that would explain, among other things, why a heart continues to beat while it is not in a human body. It could also explain why heart transplant patients sometimes take on characteristics of their donors. I am currently reading a book about a death row inmate (A Change of Heart, by Jodi Picoult) who wants to donate his heart to his victim's sister...and the girls parents were married after the father comforted the mother in the wake of her first husband's death. I just started reading it, though, so I don't know if it delves into these issues. I don't really think its fair to blame the widow for causing her husbands' deaths....it also could be that she was attracted to men predisposed to depresssion, or that they live in an area like Alaska that rates particularly high in suicide AND gun ownership....and by the way, I before E except after C!!!

[the Plastic Spoon]

For the record, the blame can only fall on the one who pulls the trigger... for the sake of comic relief I suggested that women can (and do) drive men crazy. As for the book you are reading, it is an interesting concept and worth exploration. Finally... a proper spell check has been done on the previous post and all errors have been made right.

[katie]

ok. agreed, understood, I'll look into it and get back to you, and good job/thanks. respectively.

[Ant-Knee]

Some people do not have the capacity for 'life-happiness-love'. Those that do call it depression. Those that do not will do anything to end the misery. Why call it a selfish lie? The common heart was coincidental. Her taste in men is the constant. I wonder if wife kept #1's gun and #2 reapplied its use?

[the Plastic Spoon]

Suicide doesn't solve any problems, but instead perpetuates the old and creates new problems in the lives of those who are left behind.

The selfish lie is that suicide "ends it all" it doesn't!

[Ant-Knee]

Left behind? No one is left behind, they are on the same path at a different rate. It creates no problem except for disposal. It does not solve a problem but, it was not intended too. The person doing the killing is not attempting to solve anything. They are attempting to end something, and if done correctly, they do just that. It does 'end it all' for the one wanting it to end. The selfishness may be in the leaving all the poor bastards behind to keep putting up with this crap.