This dad couldn’t contain his emotions when he heard his daughter’s heartbeat for the first time in six months.
That’s because 21-year-old Loumonth Jack Jr. was first diagnosed with a rare heart defect in January, and he was only given ten days to live unless he underwent a heart transplant.
In the very same week, Abbey Connor was found unconscious at the bottom of a hotel pool while on vacation in Cancun, Mexico. Connor was then taken into a Fort Lauderdale hospital where doctors discovered that she had irreparable brain damage.
Connor’s organs were harvested and Jack Jr. became the lucky recipient of her heart.
After the successful surgery, Jack Jr. was contacted by Abbey’s father, Bill Connor. He had reached out to several of the patients who had received his daughter’s organs, but none of them had responded – except Jack Jr.
The two stayed in correspondence and agreed to meet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Father’s Day so Bill could hear his daughter’s heart one more time.
Then, in order to raise awareness for organ donation, Bill biked over 2,000 miles from his home in Madison, Wisconsin, to Baton Rouge.
When the two finally met, they couldn’t contain their emotions. The father and youth shared a one minute hug in silence before Jack Jr. brought out a stethoscope and let Connor listen to his heart.
After a long meaningful silence, Connor said with a tearful smile: “Well, it sounds like it’s working.”