BEFORE MY 19-YEAR-OLD SON DIED, HE DONATED HIS HEART TO AN 18-YEAR-OLD GIRL. AT HIS FUNERAL, HER MOTHER HANDED ME HIS LETTER.
IT BEGAN, “MOM, THERE’S SOMETHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HER” — AND IT MADE SURE I WOULD NEVER BE ALONE.
Chapter 1: The Letter at the Funeral
Before my 19-year-old son died, he donated his heart to an 18-year-old girl — after the transplant, her mother handed me a letter from my son that began, “Mom, there’s something you need to know about her.”
My name is Grace. My husband died years ago, so I raised our son alone. He was all I had. Then a rare, incurable disease took him from me at nineteen, and I sold everything I owned trying and failing to save him.
In the hospital, he asked to donate his heart. “Let this be my last wish.” I nodded through my tears.
At his
