A family in Iowa recently suffered the loss of their one-year-old child. However, the family can take solace in the fact the little girl’s life has saved the life of two other children and an adult.
Meagan Sobolik and her husband Paul were brave enough to share with the world video of the moment their baby girl was taken into surgery to donate the organs that would save the lives of others.
Cora was declared braindead by doctors the day before after her small body was unable to fight off a virus.
The video shows the hospital staff lining the hallways as the young girl was taken into the operating room. Some of the staff sang ‘Amazing Grace’ in tribute to Coralynn. Meagan whispered softly into her daughter’s ear. She told her she was on her way to save three lives. She told her daughter also that her mother would love her forever.
Coralynn began having trouble breathing on April 19. This was the first sign of illness. The Sobolik’s took their daughter to Cresco Medical hospital in Iowa but doctors thought she would be more likely to receive the help she needed in Rochester, Minnesota at the Mayo Clinic.
The Mayo Clinic was approximately an hour away and Coralynn had to be sedated and intubated before she could be transferred. During the procedure, her heart stopped beating. It took the medical staff at Cresco 25 minutes to restart the young girl’s heart. She was then transported to Minnesota.
The family was told by doctors in Rochester the girl’s heart was fine. To their dismay, however, Coralynn had suffered brain damage. The prognosis was grim. It was unlikely she would wake up and if she did, she would not be the Coralynn that went to sleep.
Matters got worse later that night. Coralynn’s brain began to swell and a CAT scan was conclusive in finding little Coralynn would not come back. Coralynn Sobolik was pronounced dead on April 21.
“When we knew that she wasn’t ever going to wake and that she was gone mentally, we knew that she would want her organs to help people in need,” Meagan Sobolik told People.
Once they were aware that she would not return mentally, they knew they wanted her organs to help people who needed them. Meagan says her reason for filming the moments leading up to the procedure was for the benefit of family members who were unable to attend.
Coralynn’s heart saved a one-year-old boy and her liver was given to a one-year-old girl. Coralynn’s kidney was used to save the life of a 41-year-old woman.
“Even though Coralynn was so young, she made a huge impact on the world,” her obituary read.
How did this story make you feel? Were you moved by the Sobolik family’s gesture? Let us know in the comments and be sure to pass this article along to let Coralynn’s story live on!