Two mums have met after one donated her beloved daughter’s heart to save the other’s little girl. Amy Anderson heard Mia’s heart beat in Grace Westwood and said: “It was so special.”
Hearing the gentle beating of your child’s heart is precious for every mum.
But when Amy listens to her daughter’s heart beating, it is in another little girl’s chest. Speaking of the magical moment, Amy, 35, says: “It was just so special.” Seeing her with five-year-old Grace and her mum Becci, 41, on a chilly winter’s day, they look like one happy extended family enjoying a stroll together in the park.
But the story behind this little gathering – where they were joined by Amy’s son Mason, nine, and Becci’s son Josh, eight – is very far from everyday. For Grace is alive thanks to Amy’s decision to donate the heart of their 10-year-old daughter Mia Hicks.
Their pre-Christmas get-together is the second time Amy has met Grace but the first time they have gone public. And it is all the more special as Grace has brought a belated gift to mark what would have been Mia’s 13th birthday on October 22. Turning to Amy, she beams as she hands her a bronze medal she won for cup stacking at the British Transplant Games.
It is something her mum Becci and dad Darren, 40, regard as nothing short of a miracle. Shaking her head in astonishment, Becci says: “Grace couldn’t even have a bath before her transplant.” As Grace leaps around in the park with the two boys, her blonde hair catching the winter sunlight, Amy’s delight is clear.
“It’s lovely to see how happy Grace and her family are thanks to Mia after they waited so long and have been through so much,” she says. “Watching Grace play and knowing that Mia’s heart went to such a lovely little girl makes it extra special.” Both families have been to hell and back in the build-up to this happy reunion.
Mia died aged 10 a few days after an asthma attack and cardiac arrest in May 2022. Just two when her asthma was diagnosed, Mia was prescribed a steroid inhaler, which her family, from Witham, Essex, used to manage her illness. On May 21, 2022, she woke up wheezing and her medicine did not help. Stoically, she got dressed, brushed her hair and teeth and got into the car with her dad Carl before her heart suddenly stopped.
Amy came outside to find Carl performing CPR on Mia in front of the house. Paramedics took over when they arrived and 15 minutes later Mia’s heart was beating again. Taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, doctors battled to save her life. But the next day they told Amy and Carl that Mia’s brain stem had died after being starved of oxygen when her heart stopped. She would never recover.
In their darkest moment, Amy and Carl made the selfless decision to donate her heart, liver, pancreas and kidneys to save the lives of four people who needed urgent transplants. Amy says: “I had never thought about it before but something immediately made me ask if she could be a donor.
“Mia was such a happy and kind little girl. She only saw the good in the world. I knew she would be really angry with me if I didn’t use that opportunity to help other people. Everyone fell in love with Mia the moment they met her – even after she died. The donor team were crying when they walked in and saw her. After the operation, they rang the funeral directors three times to make sure she got there safely.”
Grace was just four months old when she suffered eight cardiac arrests in a single day. Diagnosed with cardiomyopathy – a disease of the heart muscle – she spent more than two years in the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne waiting for a transplant. NHS figures show that 7,500 people are currently waiting for an organ transplant, including 250 children. Three hundred need a new heart, including 38 kids. Over 400 people died waiting for a transplant last year.
Grace was very nearly one of them. She also suffered a stroke that temporarily paralysed the right side of her body. As time ran out, she was fitted with the UK’s first mobile Berlin Heart – a machine that pumped blood around her body – because her own heart was too weak. Becci says: “Thankfully, she made a very good recovery but it was terrifying. We knew that she couldn’t afford to wait much longer for a new heart.
“She could’ve had another stroke at any time and next time she might not have been so lucky. But we knew the only way she would get a transplant was if another family lost their child. It was hard to live with that.” Grace received her transplant on May 27, 2022 and made an incredible recovery. One year later, she and Amy met for the first time when the grieving mum, who also has 18-year-old daughter Bella, first heard Mia’s heart beating in Amy’s chest.
Amy read an article about Grace’s transplant in the Mirror and says: “I just knew it was Mia that saved her. “A few weeks later we received a letter from Becci. When she said they would like to meet, I broke down in tears because I wasn’t sure if that would ever happen.”
Mia’s liver was divided in two, with half saving a baby girl who needed an urgent transplant and the rest used for medical research. One of her kidneys and her pancreas went to a man in his 40s who had been waiting for two years. The other kidney was given to a young man who had been waiting for three years.
“Knowing that Mia made so many lives better – not just the ones she saved, but their families’ and friends’ lives too – gave us a glimmer of happiness at a really bad time,” says Amy. “I didn’t understand how rare it was for a child like Mia to be able to donate. She was the first child organ donor in the South East for nearly a year. That’s why it’s so hard for children like Grace to get the heart transplants they need.”
Becci has moved the family from Birmingham to Newcastle where Grace is still under the care of specialists at the Freeman Hospital. She started school in September and this month played a sheep in her first nativity play. “They are the moments many families take for granted but we know how lucky we are to have them,” says Becci. “It’s all thanks to Mia and her parents. She was such a beautiful little girl. “We have a special connection with Amy now. She told us all about Mia, how she loved to dance and swim.
“Now Grace loves to splash around in the swimming pool with her armbands on.” The first time they met Amy – a year after the transplant – she and Grace exchanged teddy bears. Grace’s bear for Amy plays the sound of Mia’s heart beating in her chest when it is squeezed. Amy says: “It’s such a special thing to have. I like to listen to it and watch videos of Mia dancing in her happiest moments when I need a pick-me-up. So does her brother Mason.
“Telling him what had happened to Mia was the hardest thing. He was only seven when she died. “He went to bed with a sister and when he woke up, she was gone. Mia loved to dance. She had no rhythm to begin with but she taught herself by watching TikTok videos in lockdown. “She surprised us because she got really good. She said she wanted to be TikTok famous one day.
“I think she would like to know that her act of kindness made headlines when she saved Grace and could inspire other people to donate. Her life may not have been as long as we wanted but that’s an amazing legacy.”
Learn more about the organ donor register here.
