‘It Was a God-Orchestrated Miracle’: How a 2-Year-Old’s Heart Connected Two Moms Forever
One mother’s tragic loss became another’s answered prayer—now their families are inseparable
Key Takeaways
- A miracle turned a family's loss into a life-saving gift for a baby in need.
- The "Heartins" bond proves that organ donation creates a beautiful, lasting legacy.
- National Donate Life Month highlights how a donor offers hope to those on transplant lists.
As April marks National Donate Life Month, stories like Jamie Heard and Amie Martin’s serve as powerful reminders of hope in the midst of heartbreak. What began as an unimaginable loss for the Heard family became a God-orchestrated miracle that saved baby Ava Martin’s life hundreds of miles away.
Through the blessing of organ donation, William’s heart became the answer to another family’s desperate prayers, bringing two mothers together in a way only faith can explain. Now, they share their deeply moving journey with Woman’s World, reflecting on how God brought beauty from sorrow and turned tragedy into a life-saving miracle.
“Something happened to William,” two co-workers said as they appeared in Jamie Heard’s office doorway one Friday afternoon, as they gave her the news of her two-year-old little boy. “He choked at lunch, and he’s not breathing.”
Jamie’s heart sank as she tried to process their words. Immediately, her mind flashed back to the prayer she had prayed just hours earlier that same morning, God, may Your will be done. Her faith had been growing over the previous months, and she was ready and willing to commit to whatever God had in store for her.
She began praying once again as an unexplainable peace washed over her, Lord. I know that You have this. I know it’s not going to be good, but it is going to be okay.
Jamie rushed to the hospital and watched as the paramedics pulled William’s tiny body out of the ambulance on a stretcher. Looking at his face, she knew he wasn’t going to make it.
No matter what, I will proclaim God’s faithfulness in this, she vowed to herself in that moment.
A mother’s faith amidst unthinkable loss
“We were able to restart his heart, but there’s no brain activity,” the doctor somberly told Jamie and her husband, Daniel. “He’s gone.”
Despite the devastating news, the duo felt surrounded by love as the waiting room was filled with loved ones and their community praying prayers of comfort over them.
The next morning, Jamie and Daniel met with Donor Services to discuss the possibility of saving William’s organs that were still functioning. “This is why his heart started beating again,” Jamie realized, telling Daniel. “This is the answer to my prayers!”
Jamie and Daniel ecstatically agreed to donate any part of William that could potentially help someone else. William was kept on a ventilator for several more days for a transplant surgery that would take place the following Monday.
In the midst of the Heard’s greatest nightmare in Nashville, Tennessee, 500 miles away, in Chicago, Illinois, another family was praying for their own miracle.
The 500-mile miracle: from Nashville to Chicago
After being born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and enduring several surgeries, Ava Martin was fighting for her life. Her parents, Amie and Brian, discovered her heart defect before her birth and had spent her entire life desperately trying to save her.
But at 13 months old on August 18th, Ava’s heart gave out and she went into complete heart failure, which made her eligible for a heart transplant.
Friends and family came to visit the Martins and Ava in the hospital as she waited for months to be matched with a donor.
I just hope she’s not suffering, Amie prayed a heart-wrenching prayer, Lord, if she is…just take her home.
But four months later, on December 14th, Amie and Brian got a message that a heart was available for Ava.
Amie sent out a message through Ava’s Facebook page, Hope for Amazing Ava: Everyone, pray! Today is the day!
The transplant was performed and Ava’s body took well to the new heart. “It sounds beautiful,” Amie said through tears as she listened to it beating through a stethoscope once Ava was stable after the surgery.
The following day as Ava stayed in the hospital to recover, Amie and Brian headed to the nearby Ronald McDonald hospital suite to get a few minutes of rest. Before lying down, Amie was hit with the realization that for Ava’s life to be saved, the heart had to come from a child. She knelt beside the bed and prayed, There’s a mom and a dad in pieces because their baby isn’t here. I pray You give them peace and calm.
Then, just moments later, Amie’s phone chimed. It was a Facebook message: Hey Amie! I heard about your sweet daughter from a friend and my body felt weak. Our son William, a two-year-old from Nashville, donated his heart yesterday…
An instant connection formed between the two mothers as they went on to connect the dots and discover that it was William’s heart that saved Ava.
The ‘Heartins’: How two families became one
The next week, Amie and Brian sent Jamie and Daniel flowers on the day of William’s memorial service, and the two families stayed in touch.
Several months later, the Martins planned a fundraiser for Ava, and the Heard’s flew in from Tennessee to attend. As soon as they drove in the driveway, Jamie’s older daughter, Madeline, jumped out of the car and ran inside to play with Amie’s older daughter, Ella.
“Where’s Madeline?” Jamie asked as she unloaded their bags.
“She’s already in the playroom!” Amie laughed.
“It’s like we’re family already,” Jamie said as she embraced Amie for the first time.
Jamie and Daniel went on to have another daughter, Annie, and the two families make visits and go on trips together at least four times a year still to this day. The four girls — Madeline, 14, Ella, 13, Ava, 12, and Annie, 8 — nicknamed themselves the Heartins, a combination of their last names, and remain the best of friends.
As for their parents, they are overwhelmingly grateful for God’s hand in their story. They both receive messages from strangers through social media thanking them for inspiring them to have a greater faith.
I’m struggling with motherhood, and hearing Ava’s story puts everything into perspective and makes me so grateful, one mother wrote to Amie.
Now, 10 years since William’s passing, Jamie has created an organization called Faithfully Restored that commits to praying for women going through hard times and serves them through care packages, gift cards, financial relief, handwritten notes, and other special projects.
Celebrating National Donate Life Month
The two women remain humbled and thankful that their story has made an impact on so many lives, and for the chance to advocate for the blessing of organ donation.
“With organ donation, it usually only gets called a ‘gift’ from the side of the recipient, but not so much on the donor side. But it has been a gift to us too,” Jamie says. “And it was such an answered prayer for us to be able to say yes to organ donation,” says Jamie. “There is such a ripple effect that truly affects more people than we even know.”
“If you are feeling called to be a living donor, consider prayerfully what the Lord’s calling you to do, and in faith, just trust Him. I couldn’t even write down all the blessings that we’ve had from this one decision to donate — Ava being the number one.”
Amie agrees wholeheartedly. “William’s heart was meant for Ava,” she says. “When someone has any sort of questions or hesitation about being an organ donor, I just always say what a gift that you are, and the legacy that you could leave behind. Only God knows what Ava is going to do in her life, and it’s only made possible through William and through organ donation.”
Become a donor
Signing up to be a donor is a simple but meaningful step that can one day save lives and create a legacy of hope! You can register through Donate Life America at RegisterMe.org, or indicate your decision when renewing your driver’s license. As Jamie and Amie’s story shows, one “yes” can ripple far beyond what we can see and offer healing, faith, and new life to families in need.
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