Ian Sanchez, Heart Recipient

Stacy and Harold Sanchez welcomed their third child - a baby boy named Ian - into the world January 11, 2006. The Sanchez household was busy with activity, and three healthy children, until late March 2006. Just two months old, Ian stopped eating well and Stacy became worried. After talking to the family's pediatrician, Stacy and Harold took Ian to Nationwide Children's Hospital. Soon after arriving in the ER, the Sanchez's learned that a virus had likely attacked Ian's heart and he was in congestive heart failure. Little Ian would not be going home to his two older sisters in Washington Court House until his heart healed. Stacy prayed for a miracle - that Ian's heart would get better - but after four weeks in the pediatric intensive care unit, she was told Ian's only hope for survival was a heart transplant. Ian was listed for a transplant April 21, and six days later, on April 27, he received his second chance at life. Stacy says she got the miracle she prayed for when her baby returned home just in time for Mother's Day, but adds not a day goes by that she doesn't think of the donor's family. "They were so brave. Saying yes to organ donation in their time of grief saved my son's life." Now, Ian is a healthy, active preschooler, who enjoys playing superheroes with his three sisters. Watch the Public Service Announcement

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