Photos: Woman Finally Meets Boy Who Received Her Late Son’s Heart After 6 Years

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Freda Carter, 66, from Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, was told her son John's heart had gone to a teenager called Scott, but had no idea where he lived, or who he was.

When Freda Carter’s (left) son John (inset) died, the 66-year-old from Sunderland, Tyne and Wear agreed his organs should be donated so that someone else should live. She was told his heart had gone to a teenager called Scott, but had no idea where the boy lived or who he was. Years later, Mrs Carter saw Scott Rutherford (right) tell a memorial service that as a 14-year-old he had undergone a heart transplant (middle), and instinctively knew her son’s heart was beating inside him. John a spray painter at construction firm Caterpillar, died from a brain tumour in 2008, and after his death Mrs Carter, her 70-year-old husband, John’s wife Andrea, 37, and sister Julie, 43, decided that his kidneys, liver and heart should be donated. Then in an incredible coincidence, at the memorial service in November, Mr and Mrs Carter met Scott, who was singing and performing a reading in the church. More after the break …

 

Mother and son: Mrs Carter with her son John before his death at the age of 33. She says her ‘dying wish’ was to feel his heart beat again
Tragedy: John’s family had always wanted to meet the person who had been given his heart but hospital rules forbid this unless the recipient requests it of their own accord
Life saving: Scott, pictured as a 14-year-old in hospital was born with a disorder called transposition of the great arteries and when he received John’s heart he was just hours away from death
New Heart
New opportunities: Following his operation Scott says the difference in his health was ‘amazing’, and as he got older he was able to pursue his dream of studying performing arts and becoming an actor
Family: The Carters, pictured with John before his death, said their son lives on through Scott, and they are ‘over the moon’, to have been able to help the teenager