Transplant recipient gives donor family recording of heartbeat
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jennifer Leekley listened to a recording of her daughter's heartbeat inside of the teddy bear. (Fox 35 )
A Minnesota family who lost their 20-year-old daughter in a 2013 drunk driving crash was given a precious gift by the woman who received her heart. Aylssa Sandeen, 27, received Kate Leekley’s heart, and had staff at Mayo Clinic Health System in Makato record her heartbeat using a special stethoscope, speaker and recording device, the Makato Free Press reported.
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Sandeen then placed the recording inside of a teddy bear, and gave it to Leekley’s mother on Saturday. The pair also walked in Leekley’s honor together at a Mothers Against Drunk Driving fundraiser held in Illinois.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Just to have this heartbeat with you at all times, you still have that piece of your daughter with you,” Sandeen’s mother, Lisa, said, according to the Makato Free Press.
Sandeen’s father reportedly came up with the idea.
“She can hold her little angel close to her, sleep with her at night,” Sandeen said.