Man, who received heart from suicide victim and married widow, succumbs to same fate years later

In a poignant and tragic narrative, a man who received a heart transplant from a suicide victim, eventually marrying the donor’s widow, met a chilling fate as he took his own life in a hauntingly similar manner.

In 1995, Sonny Graham, a 57-year-old resident of Vidalia, Georgia, was on the brink of congestive heart failure. Fate intervened, and he received the heart of Terry Cottle, a suicide victim.

Post-surgery, Sonny, an Air Force veteran, began writing letters to Terry’s family, a customary practice for organ recipients. In 1997, he crossed paths with Cheryl Sweat, Terry’s widow, who was then 28. The connection between Sonny and Cheryl was immediate, and they soon became a couple.

Sonny admitted falling in love with Cheryl from the moment they met. Despite the unconventional circumstances, their relationship flourished, leading to marriage nearly a decade after the transplant.

In a tragic twist of fate, at the age of 69 in 2008, precisely 13 years after Terry’s death, Sonny took his own life using the same method – a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Speculation arose, suggesting the presence of a ‘suicide gene’ in the transplanted organ. However, Terry’s sister strongly refuted these claims, emphasizing that consciousness resides in the brain, not the heart.

The heart-wrenching story resurfaced on social media, prompting a mix of disbelief and sorrow. Users expressed their inability to comprehend the interconnected lives and the devastating turn of events.