Mom hears heartbeat of late daughter in 8-year-old organ donation recipient

CLEVELAND (WOIO/Gray News) - One heart that has beat within two daughters united families forever when a grieving mother got to meet the girl her child saved with an organ donation.

Maddy Schein was just 8 years old when she died in an ATV accident on April 1, 2022.

After losing her young daughter, Lisa Schein made the decision to donate Maddy’s organs to another child in need.

Cleveland Clinic said Maddy’s heart was a perfect match for Mireya Moody, who was diagnosed with left ventricular non-compaction (LVNC) cardiomyopathy, which is a rare and serious form of heart failure.

Mireya was 4 years old when the unforeseen illness took over her body on Jan. 25, 2022, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

She was reportedly itted to the hospital that day and moved to the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital after three weeks of treatments to control her worsening condition.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, LVNC cannot be cured. In Mireya’s case, the only option available to her was a heart transplant.

“Because donor hearts, especially those suitable for young children, are rare, patients can wait up to a year or more to receive a heart,” the Cleveland Clinic said.

The clinic said Mireya’s care team told her and her family at Ronald McDonald House that a heart had been found at 6 a.m. on April 2, 2022.

Two days later, Mireya underwent an eight-hour heart transplant before quickly recovering in the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital for Rehabilitation.

Mireya’s mother, Bianca Robinson, was ecstatic that a match had been found for her critically ill daughter. However, the Cleveland Clinic shared she was also conflicted with sadness for the other family who lost their child.

“The most painful aspect of heart transplantation is that someone must away for another person to live," the Cleveland Clinic said.

This was a fact that Mireya did not quite understand when she went to meet Lisa Schein in the summer of 2024.

Robinson told the Cleveland Clinic that up until the moment Mireya met the family, she believed she would get to see Maddy and thank her.

Once she realized Maddy was not here anymore, Mireya embraced Schein with a hug, Robinson shared with the Cleveland Clinic.

Schein gave Mireya an avocado plushie, according to the clinic. The girl now sleeps with the plushie, which she named Maddy, every night.

Schein was also given a special stethoscope that recorded Maddy’s heart steadily beating inside Mireya’s chest, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

“I wanted to run up to Mireya, squeeze her and never let her go because that was all I had left of my girl,” Schein said.. “Meeting Mireya’s mom, Bianca, talking with her and hearing her story about Mireya’s illness was hard, but it helps to know a piece of Maddy lives on.”

The Cleveland Clinic said Maddy’s legacy lives on in the four lives she saved through organ donation.

This includes the life of Mireya, who Robinson told Cleveland Clinic is just like a normal 8-year-old kid, thanks to Maddy.

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