HILTON HEAD,S.C.(AP)-- A man who received a heart transplant 12 years ago and later married the donor's widow died the same way the donor did, authorities said:of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

 

No foul play was suspected in 69 year-old Sonny Graham's death at his Vidalia, Ga. home, investigators said. He was found Tuesday in a utility building in his backyard with a single gunshot wound to the throat, said Greg Harvey, a special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigaton.

 

Graham, who was director of the Heritage golf tournament at Sea Pines from 1979 to 1983, was on the verge of congestive heart failure in 1995 when he got a call that a heart was available in Charleston.

 

That heart was from Terry Cottle, 33, who had shot himself, Berkely County Coroner Glenn Rhoad said.

 

Grateful for his new heart, Graham began writing letters to the donor's family to thank them. In January 1997, Graham met his donor's widow, Cheryl Cottle, then 28, in Charleston.

 

"I felt like I had known her for years," Graham told The (Hilton Head) Island Packet for a story in 2006. "I couldn't keep my eyes off her. I just stared."

 

In 2001, Graham bought a home for Cottle and her four children in Vidalia. Three years later, they were married after Graham retired fro his job as plant manager for Hargray Communications in Hilton Head.

 

From their previous marriages, the couple had six children and six grand-children scattered across South Carolina and Georgia.

Goodness, what an unbelievable story.

I saw this earlier in the week. It makes me suspect the widow, in some way or another. To have 2 husbands commit suicide the same way, alone with a shotgun, is a little over the top for me. At the very least, she must be such a bear to be married to, husband #2 decided husband #1 had the right idea. Either way, she was involved.

My father received a heart transplant and immediately his taste for certain foods changed. He has talked to other heart transplant patients and they have said the same thing. Food that they hated their whole life, they now love.

This whole thing is a little too Edgar Allen Poe for me. :creepy:

I wonder if he was an organ donor, and if the heart will now go to a 3rd person.

This whole thing is a little too Edgar Allen Poe for me. :creepy:

 

I agree, though I was initially thinking it sounded like an episode of The Twilight Zone. At the risk of sounding disrespectful, she must have been one tough cookie to be married to!

I wonder if he was an organ donor, and if the heart will now go to a 3rd person.

 

Not likely his heart would be re-donated. Hopefully his other parts will.

I wonder if he was an organ donor, and if the heart will now go to a 3rd person.

 

My understanding from my dad is that it cannot.

 

Also, another tidbit, if they have a heart attack with the new heart, they will never feel it. The nerves to the heart have to be severed and while they can put the heart into function, they cannot reattach the nerve endings. Thus, they told my dad that if he ever had a heart attack he would never feel it.

 

Also, he takes about 64 pills a day. They literally have to turn off his immune system or it would constantly be attacking the heart and trying to rid the body of it. So, obviously, he catches everything. The Reds should put him in CF.

Lets hope the wife,doesnt ever and I mean ever re-marry.

I have to agree with BF.....this seems just too unreal. Wow is all I can think to say.

Couldn't stop thinking of the movie "21 Grams" while reading this...

My father received a heart transplant and immediately his taste for certain foods changed. He has talked to other heart transplant patients and they have said the same thing. Food that they hated their whole life, they now love.

 

We had a discussion in my Anatomy class last semester regarding donor organs. The question was: if someone receives a heart transplant, do they "feel" their feelings or those of the donor? If someone has an eye transplant, how does it effect what the "see"? (eye transplants are only experimental in monkeys as of now.) Very interesting lecture and in the end, no one knows what changes may take place. Some say their recipeint's personalities change, their like and dislikes change, etc. How much impact this places on a person's mind and psyche is still to be determined. I wouldn't necessarily start blaming the wife tho.

My understanding from my dad is that it cannot.

 

Also, another tidbit, if they have a heart attack with the new heart, they will never feel it. The nerves to the heart have to be severed and while they can put the heart into function, they cannot reattach the nerve endings. Thus, they told my dad that if he ever had a heart attack he would never feel it.

 

Also, he takes about 64 pills a day. They literally have to turn off his immune system or it would constantly be attacking the heart and trying to rid the body of it. So, obviously, he catches everything. The Reds should put him in CF.

 

Actually ... (and maybe not with the heart) ... but ECD/O (extended criteria donor/organs) could possibly be reutilized for transplant if the organ meets the criteria (which has been boardened significantly at a few transplant centers). Matter of fact ... the critieria has been widened so much at University (Cincinnati) they have very few people on their lists. Even a few years ago .. .they were down to transplanting people with very low meld scores (criteria used to determine transplants). Extended criteria transplants use what is considered imperfect organs (too much fat content in the organ, organ came from very old donor, etc). Also .. immuno-suppressent drugs are very good now--to the point where perfect matches are no longer necessary.

 

I have a family member who has a transplanted organ. Originally, there were approximately 80 pills per day that were laid out. Now, after 5 years, we are down to 14 or less.

 

To the point, I would say that one thing that we learned through that mess--is that a person (I have never seen an exception) has such an appreciation for their transplanted organ .. that they would never do anything to that would disrepect that gift. (I have heard of liver transplant patients who go back to drinking ... but we are talking about 2 out of approximately 1000 people I have met).

 

So ... long story short ... someone needs to see what is up with the wife. I can't see a heart transplant patient taking that kind of gift for granted. After a transplant, people do change ... and 999 times out of 1000--it is for the better. I can't see this guy offing himself ... knowing that he is married to the wife of the person who provided their transplanted organ.

In honor of the author of this thread, my question concerning this happening twice to the same heart and the same wife is:

 

 

What are the odds?