A Illinois mom who donated her two-year-old son’s heart after he accidentally drowned in a swimming pool met the little girl whose life he saved last year, giving her the chance to listen to her child’s heart beating once again.
When Brooke Eaton’s two-year-old son, Cazmirr ‘Cash’ Landers died after a swimming pool accident in August 2018, she decided to donate his organs to the Illinois nonprofit organization Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network, in hopes of saving another child’s life.
Cash’s heart wound up being transplanted in then-five-month-old Lola Bond, who had been born with cardiomyopthy, a disease which can lead to heart failure, at University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Brooke Eaton (far left) holds back tears as she listens to the sound of her son Cash’s heart beating in transplant patient Lola Bond’s (in pink) chest for the first time
After two-year-old Cash Landers (left) drowned in a swimming pool accident in August 2018, Eaton decided to donate his organs. His heart went to Lola (right) who had cardiomyopthy
On July 31, Eaton, of Pekin, Illinois, traveled to Minneapolis to meet Lola for the first time and listen to Cash’s heart beating in her chest. The hospital captured the touching moment on video and shared it on Facebook.
In the video, Eaton can be seen holding back tears as she cradles Lola in her lap and uses a stethoscope to listen to Cash’s heart.
‘He loved to give to people, he loved to play with other children, he loved to share, so part of his life, giving some of it to Lola and other children is just part of who he was, part of who he is and he’s still with us, even tough he’s gone,’ Eaton says in the video.
‘There’s no doubt we wouldn’t have Lola if it wasn’t for the miracle that we received in his heart,’ Lola’s grandmother, Margaret Bond Vorel says. ‘Knowing there’s a whole ‘nother family that loves her as much as we do is amazing. We have the rest of her life to celebrate every day.’
Eaton told WCCO that ‘I walked into the room and broke down and immediately cried’ as soon as she saw Lola, adding that ‘I fell in love with her. She’s just precious and that’s also my boy.’
While at the hospital, Eaton (center), was able to meet Lola’s grandparents, Margaret Bond Vorel (in red) and Jeffrey Vorel (in blue). Eaton is seen holding Lola here
Eaton said that she will always have a connection to her son, Cash (pictured), through Lola
Eaton (pictured with Cash) said that her son loved to play with other children and share, noting that giving part of his life to Lola was ‘just part of who he was’
A music therapist created a song incorporating the sound of Cash’s (pictured) heart beating in Lola’s chest, which Eaton can listen to at any time
Lola’s (pictured) grandparents said that it was ‘amazing’ to know that Eaton and her family loved Lola as much as they did, as a result of the transplant connection
Lola (pictured) is said to be still growing into Cash’s heart since there was a big difference in age between them, but that she is not showing any signs of rejecting his tissue
She said that hearing Cash’s heartbeat again was ‘really beautiful’ and that she and Lola would ‘have a connection the rest of our lives.’
Vorel, who shares custody of Lola with her husband, Jeffrey Vorel, and the baby’s mother, told the Star Tribune that when she first heard that Lola was getting Cash’s heart, ‘all I could do was mourn [Eaton’s] loss, knowing that had to be the worst day of her life just as it turned out to be probably the best of ours.’
Lola is said to be growing into her heart due to the almost year and a half difference in age between herself and Cash, but is said to be more active now than she was before the September 2018 transplant and is not showing any signs of tissue rejection.
A hospital music therapist incorporated the sound of Cash’s heart beating in Lola’s chest into a song, which was given to Eaton, who hopes to find a way to put the song into a necklace which she can wear over her own chest.
‘[Organ donation] is a beautiful gift to give to another child to live on and to still have a connection with your baby,’ Eaton told the newspaper.
Cash’s other donated organs helped save the lives of three other children, too.