HEART-TO-HEART RUNNERS

Many of you have seen John Braden running around Monticello over the last 10 years. Some of you may not know that he received a heart transplant on November 2, 2009.

Both John and his wife Missy wrote letters thanking the donor’s family for their amazing gift of life, hoping for but not really expecting a response. Both of them understood that what was a blessing for them came at the expense of someone else’s loss. However, not only did they receive a response from the donor family but over the past six years friendship and a new family developed.

This 4th of July the donor’s daughter, Kay Lynn Young, and her husband Jamie came to Georgia from Ohio to run the Peachtree Road Race with John. When Kay Lynn’s father, Jim Sorber, passed away she said his wish to be an organ donor was respected by his family and John Braden was the heart recipient. All communication between families is screened and identities are kept secret for at least the first year. For families to have this type of contact and friendship is extremely rare but is much appreciated by both sets of families.