A Cleveland mom got the chance to hear her daughter’s heart again a year after the 7-year-old’s death.
Amber Travaglio met the child who received a heart transplant from her daughter, Melody, who died in July 2015 of a sudden asphyxic asthma attack.
Travaglio rushed Melody to the hospital, but it was too late to save her. To honor her memory, Travaglio donated her daughter’s organs to carry on Melody’s legacy of giving.
Peyton Richardson, who was then age 4, had been on a transplant list for months after a cold virus attacked her heart. She was in an Atlanta hospital, where machines helped keep her heart pumping, when her family learned Peyton was a match for Melody’s heart.
“I just cried,” her mother Ashlyn Richardson told news station WJW. “And I kept thinking of that person that lost their child.”
More than a year after the transplant, Travaglio was able to travel on Tuesday to Atlanta to meet Peyton.
She said the opportunity to hug Peyton was surreal, according to WJW.
“I mean, I grew that heart inside of me,” she said.
According to Travaglio, knowing Peyton could live a healthy life has given her peace.
“I always say two beautiful girls, one beating heart,” Travaglio said.
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