Rachel Clarke
The Story of a Heart
Organ transplantation is both a marvel of modern medicine and one of the purest expressions of human altruism.
The first of our organs to form, the last to die, the heart is both a simple pump and the symbol of all that makes us human: as long as it continues to beat, we hope.
One summer day, nine-year-old Keira suffered catastrophic injuries in a car accident. Though her brain and the rest of her body began to shut down, her heart continued to beat. In an act of extraordinary generosity, Keira’s parents and siblings agreed that she would have wanted to be an organ donor. Meanwhile nine-year-old Max had been hospitalised for nearly a year with a virus that was causing his young heart to fail. When Max’s parents received the call they had been hoping for, they knew it came at a terrible cost to another family.
The new book by writer and physician Dr Rachel Clarke is the unforgettable – and ultimately uplifting – story of one human heart; and how one family’s grief transformed into a lifesaving gift. She joins us to discuss life, death and how the worst of times can sometimes bring out the very best in us.