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Sylvia was unique because she received a substantial amount of | my mom I wanted to take guitar lessons—the same instrument new tissue (heart and lungs), she was health conscious and she Paul [the donor] had played. His song is in me. I feel it a lot at was emotionally open and sensitive. Schwartz and Russek night and it's like Paul is serenading me." proposed that Claire Sylvia might be the "white crow" of cellular The recipient's father reported: systemic memory.’ "My daughter, she was what you say....a hell-raiser. Until she This paper reports key observations from 10 representative got sick—they say from a dentist, they think—she was the wild cases of transplant recipients who were open to sharing experi- one. Then she became quite quiet. I think it was her illness, but ences of personal changes following their operations that are con- she said she felt more energy, not less. She said she wanted to sistent with the systemic memory prediction. play an instrument and she wanted to sing. When she wrote her To protect the privacy of the donors' families, recipients and first song, she sang about her new heart as her lover's heart. She their families, physicians and hospitals, donors and recipients are said her lover had come to save her life." referred to by number, except when their first names were men- tioned by family members or friends in the transcripts. All recipi- Case 2 ents and family members or friends of the donors were inter- The donor was a 16-month-old boy who drowned in a bathtub. viewed by Pearsall and audiotaped. The transcripts were exam- _—‘ The recipient was a seven-month-old boy diagnosed with ined by Schwartz and Russek and selected tetralogy of Fallot (a hole in the ventricular for inclusion in this report. septum with displacement of the aorta, Each of the 10 cases includes a donor fam- pulmonary stenosis and thickening of the ily member's report (or equivalent), a recipi- right ventricle). ent's report (or equivalent) and a recipient family member's or friend's report. Donor The donor's mother, a physician, noted: family members, recipients and recipient "The first thing is that I could more than family members or friends are quoted direct- "And then, when they hear Jerry's [donor's] heart. I could feel it in Gncluding contoversial conten) arereport | Pkayed me some of Mis | ese an io me and pushed his nose agains ed verbatim. Each case includes two to five music, | could finish me and rubbed and rubbed it. It was just changes observed in the recipients post | the phrases of his songs. | Carter's heart is five years old now, but transplant surgery. | could never play Carter's eyes were Jerry's eyes. When he before, but after my mean {could feel him, nt jst symbol transplant | began to ically. He was there. I felt his energy. love music. "I'm a doctor. I'm trained to be a | felt it in my heart." Case 1 The donor was an 18-year-old boy killed in an automobile accident. The recipient was an 18-year-old girl diag- nosed with endocarditis and subsequent heart failure. The donor's father, a psychiatrist, said: "My son always wrote poetry. We had waited more than a year to clean out his room after he died. We found a book of poems he had never shown us, and we've never told anyone about talking Jerry's baby talk and playing them. One of them has left us shaken with my nose just like Jerry did. emotionally and spiritually. It spoke of his seeing his own sudden "We stayed with the ... [recipient family] that night. In the death. He was a musician, too, and we found a song he titled middle of the night, Carter came in and asked to sleep with my "Danny, My Heart Is Yours"—the words about how my son felt husband and me. He cuddled up between us exactly like Jerry he was destined to die and give his heart to someone. He had did, and we began to cry. Carter told us not to cry because Jerry decided to donate his organs when he was 12 years old. We said everything was okay. My husband and I, our parents and thought it was quite strong, but we thought they were talking those who really knew Jerry have no doubt. Our son's heart about it in school. When we met his recipient, we were so...we contains much of our son and beats in Carter's chest. On some didn't know, like, what it was. We don't know now. We just don't level, our son is still alive." keen observer and have always been a natural-born sceptic. But this was real. I know people will say that I need to believe my son's spirit is alive, and per- haps I do. But I felt it. My husband and my father felt it. And I swear to you, and you can ask my mother, Carter said the same baby-talk words that Jerry said. Carter is six, but he was know." The recipient's mother reported: The recipient reported: "I saw Carter go to her [donor's mother]. He never does that. "When they showed me pictures of their son, I knew him He is very, very shy, but he went to her just like he used to run to directly. I would have picked him out anywhere. He's in me. I me when he was a baby. When he whispered 'It's okay, mama’, I know he is in me and he is in love with me. He was always my broke down. He called her 'Mother', or maybe it was Jerry's heart lover, maybe in another time somewhere. How could he know talking. And one more thing that got to us. We found out talking years before he died that he would die and give his heart to me? to Jerry's mom that Jerry had mild cerebral palsy mostly on his How would he know my name is Danny? And then, when they left side. Carter has stiffness and some shaking on that same side. played me some of his music, I could finish the phrases of his He never did as a baby and it only showed up after the transplant. songs. I could never play before, but after my transplant I began The doctors say it's probably something to do with his medical to love music. I felt it in my heart. My heart had to play it. I told condition, but I really think there's more to it. my mom I wanted to take guitar lessons—the same instrument Paul [the donor] had played. His song is in me. I feel it a lot at night and it's like Paul is serenading me." The recipient's father reported: "My daughter, she was what you say....a hell-raiser. Until she got sick—they say from a dentist, they think—she was the wild one. Then she became quite quiet. I think it was her illness, but she said she felt more energy, not less. She said she wanted to play an instrument and she wanted to sing. When she wrote her first song, she sang about her new heart as her lover's heart. She said her lover had come to save her life." "And then, when they played me some of his music, | could finish 28 = NEXUS APRIL — MAY 2005 | felt it in my heart." www.nexusmagazine.com