He even married the donor's widow after the transplant 12 years ago (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23984857/)


HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - A man who received a heart transplant 12 years ago and later married the donor's widow died the same way the donor did, authorities said: of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

No foul play was suspected in 69-year-old Sonny Graham's death at his Vidalia, Ga., home, investigators said. He was found Tuesday in a utility building in his backyard with a single shotgun wound to the throat, said Greg Harvey, a special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Graham, who was director of the Heritage golf tournament at Sea Pines from 1979 to 1983, was on the verge of congestive heart failure in 1995 when he got a call that a heart was available in Charleston.

That heart was from Terry Cottle, 33, who had shot himself, Berkeley County Coroner Glenn Rhoad said.

Grateful for his new heart, Graham began writing letters to the donor's family to thank them. In January 1997, Graham met his donor's widow, Cheryl Cottle, then 28, in Charleston.
"
I felt like I had known her for years," Graham told The (Hilton Head) Island Packet for a story in 2006. "I couldn't keep my eyes off her. I just stared."
In 2001, Graham bought a home for Cottle and her four children in Vidalia. Three years later, they were married after Graham retired from his job as a plant manager for Hargray Communications in Hilton Head.


From their previous marriages, the couple had six children and six grandchildren scattered across South Carolina and Georgia.


Cheryl Graham, now 39, has worked at several hospices in Vidalia. A telephone message left Sunday at a listing for Cheryl and Sonny Graham in Vidalia was not immediately returned.


Sonny Graham's friends said he would be remembered for his willingness to help people.


"Any time someone had a problem, the first reaction was, 'Call Sonny Graham,' " said Bill Carson, Graham's friend for more than 40 years. "It didn't matter whether you had a flat tire on the side of the road or your washing machine didn't work. He didn't even have to know you to help you."






*************************************************



Haha, what are the odds? I'm wondering if it was in the heart, or just living with the wife.



Uncanny nevertheless.

He even married the donor's widow after the transplant 12 years ago (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23984857/)


HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - A man who received a heart transplant 12 years ago and later married the donor's widow died the same way the donor did, authorities said: of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

No foul play was suspected in 69-year-old Sonny Graham's death at his Vidalia, Ga., home, investigators said. He was found Tuesday in a utility building in his backyard with a single shotgun wound to the throat, said Greg Harvey, a special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Graham, who was director of the Heritage golf tournament at Sea Pines from 1979 to 1983, was on the verge of congestive heart failure in 1995 when he got a call that a heart was available in Charleston.

That heart was from Terry Cottle, 33, who had shot himself, Berkeley County Coroner Glenn Rhoad said.

Grateful for his new heart, Graham began writing letters to the donor's family to thank them. In January 1997, Graham met his donor's widow, Cheryl Cottle, then 28, in Charleston.
"
I felt like I had known her for years," Graham told The (Hilton Head) Island Packet for a story in 2006. "I couldn't keep my eyes off her. I just stared."
In 2001, Graham bought a home for Cottle and her four children in Vidalia. Three years later, they were married after Graham retired from his job as a plant manager for Hargray Communications in Hilton Head.


From their previous marriages, the couple had six children and six grandchildren scattered across South Carolina and Georgia.


Cheryl Graham, now 39, has worked at several hospices in Vidalia. A telephone message left Sunday at a listing for Cheryl and Sonny Graham in Vidalia was not immediately returned.


Sonny Graham's friends said he would be remembered for his willingness to help people.


"Any time someone had a problem, the first reaction was, 'Call Sonny Graham,' " said Bill Carson, Graham's friend for more than 40 years. "It didn't matter whether you had a flat tire on the side of the road or your washing machine didn't work. He didn't even have to know you to help you."






*************************************************



Haha, what are the odds? I'm wondering if it was in the heart, or just living with the wife.



Uncanny nevertheless.


I remember seeing a special on people who got "new" hearts. Some of them said that they did things and loved things they have never loved before getting the heart.

Does it mean anything...maybe. It is interesting that's for sure.

He even married the donor's widow after the transplant 12 years ago (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23984857/)


HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - A man who received a heart transplant 12 years ago and later married the donor's widow died the same way the donor did, authorities said: of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

No foul play was suspected in 69-year-old Sonny Graham's death at his Vidalia, Ga., home, investigators said. He was found Tuesday in a utility building in his backyard with a single shotgun wound to the throat, said Greg Harvey, a special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Graham, who was director of the Heritage golf tournament at Sea Pines from 1979 to 1983, was on the verge of congestive heart failure in 1995 when he got a call that a heart was available in Charleston.

That heart was from Terry Cottle, 33, who had shot himself, Berkeley County Coroner Glenn Rhoad said.

Grateful for his new heart, Graham began writing letters to the donor's family to thank them. In January 1997, Graham met his donor's widow, Cheryl Cottle, then 28, in Charleston.
"
I felt like I had known her for years," Graham told The (Hilton Head) Island Packet for a story in 2006. "I couldn't keep my eyes off her. I just stared."
In 2001, Graham bought a home for Cottle and her four children in Vidalia. Three years later, they were married after Graham retired from his job as a plant manager for Hargray Communications in Hilton Head.


From their previous marriages, the couple had six children and six grandchildren scattered across South Carolina and Georgia.


Cheryl Graham, now 39, has worked at several hospices in Vidalia. A telephone message left Sunday at a listing for Cheryl and Sonny Graham in Vidalia was not immediately returned.


Sonny Graham's friends said he would be remembered for his willingness to help people.


"Any time someone had a problem, the first reaction was, 'Call Sonny Graham,' " said Bill Carson, Graham's friend for more than 40 years. "It didn't matter whether you had a flat tire on the side of the road or your washing machine didn't work. He didn't even have to know you to help you."






*************************************************



Haha, what are the odds? I'm wondering if it was in the heart, or just living with the wife.



Uncanny nevertheless.

It HAD to be the wife :@@:

That is really some food for thought. Makes you wonder!!!

Very sad :(

That is really some food for thought. Makes you wonder!!!
Actually, it might be a case of 'cellular memory'.

Cellular memory is the hypothesis that such things as memories (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory), habits (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habituation), interests, and tastes may somehow be stored in all the cells (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_%28biology%29) of human bodies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_body), i.e. not only in the brain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain).

The academic organ transplant community accepts this notion as pseudoscientific (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscience) and absurd, as it has never been demonstrated in a scientific manner. There is also the fear that such notions may hinder organ donation.



The suggestion arose following a number of organ transplants (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_transplant) in which the recipient was reported to have developed new habits or memories.



An article, "Changes in Heart Transplant Recipients That Parallel the Personalities of Their Donors" (http://www.med.unc.edu/wellness/main/links/cellular%20memory.htm), published in the Spring 2002 issue of the Journal of Near-Death Studies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_Near-Death_Studies), reported claims of organ recipients "inherited" a love for classical music, a change of sexual orientation, changes in diet and vocabulary, and, in one case an identification of the donor's murderer.


It is unclear if this article was peer reviewed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_review) or had references.






How cool is that!!!???!!! :thumbs:

I think cellular memory may indeed be a real phenomenon. It's a very interesting theory.

Actually, it might be a case of 'cellular memory'.

How cool is that!!!???!!! :thumbs:
Fucking Christ. Why people believe pseudoscientific garbage like "cellular memory" is beyond me.
I think cellular memory may indeed be a real phenomenon. It's a very interesting theory.
It's not a theory. It's an unsubstantiated hypothesis with no scientific backing and no explanation as to the mechanisms behind it. The most reliable source I could find about it...the most reliable source...is a fruity-looking site written by a physical therapist's assistant with a BA in something unspecified and from an unspecified institution. There is absolutely no evidence for it beyond the anecdotal.

O. Cram it up your ass Borg!

O. Cram it up your ass Borg!
Is that a scientific study on cellular memory? If not, I am not interested.

Is that a scientific study on cellular memory? If not, I am not interested.

You're telling me you don't think cells are what make each person unique? What does then if not something so minut and unique as those?

No, I haven't had a chance to study it scientifically though, but I sure wouldn't slam the door shut so fast like you did.

You're telling me you don't think cells are what make each person unique? What does then if not something so minut and unique as those?
DNA. Individual cells are not really unique.
No, I haven't had a chance to study it scientifically though, but I sure wouldn't slam the door shut so fast like you did.
Lots of things make my bullshit detector go off on this idea of cellular memory. A lack of peer-reviewed studies, a surfeit of fruity web sites touting it, and the fact that it advances a specific agenda (anti-organ donation) all make me believe it was simply invented, rather than hypothesized through observation.

DNA. Individual cells are not really unique.

Ok then. If I changed it to 'chromosome' instead of 'cells' would it make a difference in your thoughts?

Lots of things make my bullshit detector go off on this idea of cellular memory.

That's cool, and I like to hear them, you still have me thinking over things you said years ago.

A lack of peer-reviewed studies, a surfeit of fruity web sites touting it, and the fact that it advances a specific agenda (anti-organ donation) all make me believe it was simply invented, rather than hypothesized through observation.

I'm not pushing any agenda, I am all for organ donation.

I'm curious as to the possibility of 'something, either cellular, DNA, whatever', being able to be transported into it's recipient from the original.

I guess I am suspect able to easily believe anything is possible in this world.

Ok then. If I changed it to 'chromosome' instead of 'cells' would it make a difference in your thoughts?
Chromosomes are comprised of DNA. Doesn't really make a difference, to be honest.
I'm not pushing any agenda, I am all for organ donation.
I wasn't suggesting that you were pushing an agenda. I think the people who dreamed up cellular memory were pushing an agenda.
I'm curious as to the possibility of 'something, either cellular, DNA, whatever', being able to be transported into it's recipient from the original.

I guess I am suspect able to easily believe anything is possible in this world.
It's a fun topic for science fiction and the like, but don't mistake this topic for actual science.

I don't know about all that, but I do know this much;

That Cheryl Cottle is a black widow!!
You gotta stay away from her, man.

:( :eek: