Mom listens to late daughter's heart beat after little girl died in ATV crash and donated it to another child
The heart of eight-year-old Maddy Schein is now beating inside the chest of Mireya Moody, another eight-year-old girl, after Maddy was tragically killed in an unexpected ATV accident in 2022.
Last summer, Maddy's mother met the little girl her daughter saved with her donated organs and, filled with tears, listened to her pulsing heart through a stethoscope.
In a touching video shared by the Cleveland Clinic on Tuesday, Lisa Schein tearfully bowed her head and nodded in acceptance moments before the two shared a long, heartfelt embrace.
'I wanted to run up to Mireya, squeeze her and never let her go because that was all I had left of my girl,' Lisa told Cleveland Clinic.
'Meeting Mireya's mom, Bianca, talking with her and hearing her story about Mireya's illness was hard,' she added. 'But it helps to know a piece of Maddy lives on.'
Mireya was your typical, energetic second-grader until her life abruptly changed on January 25, 2022.
As her mother worked as an HR manager for a medical transportation company, the eight-year-old girl was in the care of her grandmother, who grew concerned when her granddaughter became unusually sluggish.
'By the time I picked her up, she had gotten worse,' Bianca Robinson told Cleveland Clinic. 'She didn't even have energy to walk to the car.'
Her daughter couldn't keep anything down - not even water - without vomiting, leaving Bianca frantic over what could be wrong with her otherwise healthy child.
'She was completely normal - happy, healthy, going to see her pediatrician on a regular basis,' Mireya's mother told WKYC News.
'It honestly came out of nowhere for us. The day before she got sick, she was playing in the snow with her dad, making snow angels.'
It was when Bianca rushed her little girl to the hospital that her worst nightmare unfolded - Mireya's heart was failing.
'We were in shock,' Bianca told Cleveland Clinic. 'We couldn't comprehend, at the time, how it was possible. She had almost never been sick before.'
Doctors determined that Mireya was suffering from left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy (LVNC) - a rare and serious form of heart failure.
Immediately, the second-grader was given multiple rounds of medications to control severe symptoms of the disease, including rapid heartbeats and other heart arrhythmias.
Within three weeks, Mireya's condition worsened - she slept all day and couldn't tolerate the medications - prompting the medical team to seek specialty cardiovascular treatment at Cleveland Clinic Children's.
Though LVNC is treatable, it can't be cured. In certain cases, such as Mireya's, a heart transplant is the only chance at a second life - but the process of obtaining one can take well over a year.
'You can't do anything but rely on your faith and the healthcare professionals,' Bianca said. 'I felt helpless and angry, not understanding why this was going on and why it had to happen to her.'
As Mireya's condition rapidly declined, the medical team put her on a Berlin heart - a large machine that assists in pumping the heart, helping to maintain her strength and stabilize her condition.
However, unexpected news came in April 2022 - a suitable heart was found.
'My mom called me crying and screaming: "They found a heart! They found a heart!"' Bianca told WKYC.
'It's very conflicting, because obviously this is my child, and then there's this family that is going to have to live out your worst nightmare,' she added.
The heart belonged to eight-year-old Maddy, who lost her life following a sudden and tragic accident.
Just two days later, Mireya underwent an eight-hour, successful heart transplant operation.
From the first moment in rehabilitation, Bianca described that her daughter 'took off like a rocket', Cleveland Clinic reported.
In a matter of no time, Mireya was walking and talking again. Her eight-week stay in the hospital was swiftly reduced to three weeks.
Throughout the entirety of Mireya's terrifying health journey, Bianca made it clear that she would be open to meeting the donor's family - if they were willing.
One year later, Bianca received a letter from Lisa, Maddy's mother.
The pair shared touching stories about Mireya and Maddy, and were deeply moved to discover just how similar their eight-year-old daughters were.
'The way Lisa described Maddy, she and Mireya sounded like they were practically the same child,' Bianca told Cleveland Clinic, adding that the girls both loved the same movies and singing.
Lisa agreed, and said: 'We learned the girls even shared some of the same phrases. I also loved being able to tell them stories about who Maddy was - about her infectious laugh and bubbly personality. I think that's when my heart began to start healing.'
Finally, in the summer of 2024, both families met face-to-face at a park near Mireya's University Heights home.
In an deeply emotional moment shared by the Cleveland Clinic, Lisa put on a special stethoscope and listened to the sound of her young daughter's heartbeat once more.
'It was just joy. Just joy,' Bianca told WKYC about the special moment.
'I can only imagine Lisa being able to hear Maddy's heart again and knowing that it's being well taken care of and that it's living on through Mireya, who is so sweet, so loving, so smart, and just so happy all of the time.'
During their meeting, the Schein family gifted Mireya with an avocado-shaped plushie, which she lovingly named Maddy - and now sleeps with every night.
Now, for Bianca, expressing her gratitude is impossible. Though Maddy's life ended much too short, she saved her daughter.
'Thank you is not enough,' Bianca told WKYC.
'I've seen the video of Lisa having to walk her daughter down that hallway at that hospital for the last time. There is nothing that I could say to tell her how much she changed our lives. She was thinking of others in a time where she was losing something so precious to her.'
Maddy gave four people a second chance at life - adults and children - through her heart, liver, kidneys and pancreas donations.
'I will continue to carry on Maddie's legacy for as long as I can,' Bianca said. 'Any event in honor of Maddie, if we can, we will make it, because I think it's important that we're there to represent this very important thing.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NBC News
6 hours ago
- NBC News
After Cleveland Clinic expanded to Florida, patients say surprise fees followed
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — When the Cleveland Clinic started acquiring hospitals and medical offices in this palm tree-lined region six years ago, many Floridians were excited. The Ohio nonprofit, ranked among the top hospitals in the world, pledged to bring expert care and an infusion of cash to the state's Treasure Coast, an area north of Boca Raton brimming with 55-and-up gated communities. But in the years after the Cleveland Clinic's blue and green signs popped up outside dozens of medical offices, patients began receiving unexpected bills: an additional $95 for a consultation with a neurosurgeon. An extra $112 to see a family medicine physician. And $174 more for a neurologist appointment that previously cost only a $50 co-pay. Baffled, the patients contacted their doctors' offices and insurers and learned that the new costs were 'facility fees' — charges that hospitals have traditionally billed for inpatient stays and emergency room visits but are now increasingly charging for routine appointments in their outpatient clinics. The fees, which are often not fully covered by insurance, are meant to support the higher level of care that these doctors' offices provide, according to hospitals. For blindsided patients, that can mean paying a hospital fee — even if they never set foot in a hospital. 'My heart dropped,' said Brandy Macaluso-Owens, 43, a social worker who lives in Port St. Lucie. She received a $174 facility fee after a visit in March with a Cleveland Clinic gastroenterologist. 'I probably met with the doctor maybe as little as 15 minutes.' The Cleveland Clinic defended facility fees in an email, saying they are an 'appropriate practice' that align 'with government regulations and industry guidelines.' 'These fees help support just some of the costs of maintaining outpatient facilities so that we can continue providing high-quality, compassionate care to all patients,' the Cleveland Clinic said. The Cleveland Clinic is far from the only hospital charging facility fees, which amount to billions of dollars annually for patients across the country. The fees have become pervasive in recent years as major health systems have snapped up doctors' offices, making it harder for patients to find independent practices: More than half of all physicians nationally are now employed by hospitals or health systems, up from just a quarter in 2012. For more on facility fees, watch NBC's 'Nightly News with Tom Llamas' at 6:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. CT and 'Top Story' on NBC News NOW at 7 p.m. ET. At the same time, facility fees have become more noticeable because of a rise in high-deductible health insurance plans, which leave patients paying a larger share of their medical bills before their insurance kicks in. A study last year found that the average deductible for employer-sponsored coverage had risen about 47% in a decade. These factors are affecting many patients who are already teetering financially. About half of adults in the U.S. say they would be unable to pay an unexpected $500 medical bill or would have to go into debt to pay it, according to the health policy group KFF. Facility fees can run into the hundreds of dollars, and even small amounts can quickly add up. 'People are getting really high bills for simple, routine care,' said Christine Monahan, an assistant research professor at the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University who has studied the issue. 'They don't expect to be paying high bills for this. And it's not realistic to expect people to be able to afford this.' Opposition to outpatient facility fees is a rare area of agreement between patient advocates and insurance companies, which argue that hospitals are unnecessarily inflating the cost of care. While efforts to restrict facility fees have drawn bipartisan support at the state and federal levels, the hospital industry has pushed back, arguing that the fees are necessary to help fund core services like 24/7 emergency departments, and that insurers should cover them. These national forces are all colliding in southeast Florida, where 11 patients told NBC News that the Cleveland Clinic had charged them unexpected facility fees in the past several years. For some, the fees were a mere annoyance, a sign of the escalating cost of health care. For others, the bills were a financial burden too big to shoulder. And some are refusing to pay them. Billie Paukune Boorman, a waitress, was recently charged a $174 facility fee for her 13-year-old daughter's ear, nose and throat appointment, along with over $200 in other unanticipated charges. 'I don't have that kind of money laying around,' she said. The Cleveland Clinic declined an interview request from NBC News and declined to comment on individual cases but said in its email that patients are charged facility fees in doctors' offices that are classified as hospital outpatient departments, which must meet stricter quality and safety standards than nonaccredited physician practices. The facility fees reflect 'the significant added costs to hospitals of complying with these standards,' the Cleveland Clinic added. The Cleveland Clinic told NBC News that it has sent more than 250,000 letters to its Florida patients informing them of the fees ahead of their appointments, and said it posts signs at its offices saying that they are hospital outpatient departments. Medicare patients receive an additional notice at check-in. The letters that the Cleveland Clinic sent say patients may see 'a change from how you were billed in the past' but do not explicitly note that patients may be charged more out of pocket. Many of the patients who spoke to NBC News did not recall receiving the letters. The health system did not answer questions about how it determines the price of a facility fee but said the costs 'vary depending on the facility and the type of medical services provided.' Several patients said they did not notice any differences in their care after the fees were implemented. Last year, Irene Rauch, 66, a semiretired human resources executive, was charged a $95 facility fee for an appointment with a neurosurgeon she said she had seen for the same type of appointment three months earlier for just a $15 co-pay. The added charge was not something she had budgeted for.
The Independent
15 hours ago
- The Independent
Science proves why your skin wrinkles. Here is what you need to know
Researchers finally know why our skin wrinkles over time - and Silly Putty can help explain it. Scientists at New York's Binghamton University say experimental evidence shows that it's a similar process to stretching out a favorite hoodie or t-shirt from overuse. Essentially, aging skin stretches in one direction, contracts in another, and then collapses. As you age, the contraction gets bigger, resulting in the formation of the skin folds and creases. 'If you stretch Silly Putty, for instance, it stretches horizontally, but it also shrinks in the other direction — it gets thinner,' Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Guy German, explained in a statement. 'That's what skin does, as well.' Wrinkles start to appear after around the age of 25 years old, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Scientists have long believed that skin wrinkles due to genetics, the effects of disease, and damage from the sun. As you get older, your skin cells are replaced at a slower rate, causing the skin's outer layer to thin and forming wrinkles. Lines in the face, including forehead and frown lines, are largely out of our control, as they're caused by repeated muscle movements. Previous studies, using computational models, have also shown changes in the mechanical properties such as the elasticity and structure of the skin's middle layer during aging. The layer, which contains the proteins elastin and collagen, is the home to hair follicles, blood vessels, and sweat glands. Until now, those changes had never been proven experimentally. 'When I got into this field, that was one of my goals – can I figure out aging?' said German. 'Because if I look at the TV, the radio, online, at shops, I'm being told 1,000 different things about how to improve my skin health, and I want to know what's right and what isn't.' To reach these conclusions, German and his team used a low-force tensometer to stretch out seven tiny strips of skin from people between the ages 16 through 91, simulating the forces the skin naturally experiences. The tensometer tests the maximum force a material can withstand while being pulled or stretched before breaking. The skin was collected through elective surgery or tissue from cadavers. They found that the skin has one set of mechanical properties when you're young. As you age, things get a bit 'wonky,' German noted. 'Things degrade a bit, and it turns out the skin stretches laterally more, which causes the actual wrinkles that form,' said German. 'And the reason why that exists in the first place is that your skin is not in a stress-free state. It's actually stretched a little bit. So there are inherent forces within your skin itself, and those are the driving force towards wrinkles.' The research, which didn't delve into how these forces could be halted, was published recently in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials. Of course, there are other things that we know affect the skin that can contribute to appearance over time. Spending too much time outside can result in a nasty sun burn, as well as age the skin prematurely with the same effect as aging naturally. 'If you spend your life working outside, you're more likely to have more aged and wrinkled skin than those who are office workers, for example,' German warned.
The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
Science has proven why your skin wrinkles. Here is what you need to know
Researchers finally know why our skin wrinkles over time - and Silly Putty can help explain it. Scientists at New York's Binghamton University say experimental evidence shows that it's a similar process to stretching out a favorite hoodie or t-shirt from overuse. Essentially, aging skin stretches in one direction, contracts in another, and then collapses. As you age, the contraction gets bigger, resulting in the formation of the skin folds and creases. 'If you stretch Silly Putty, for instance, it stretches horizontally, but it also shrinks in the other direction — it gets thinner,' Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Guy German, explained in a statement. 'That's what skin does, as well.' Wrinkles start to appear after around the age of 25 years old, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Scientists have long believed that skin wrinkles due to genetics, the effects of disease, and damage from the sun. As you get older, your skin cells are replaced at a slower rate, causing the skin's outer layer to thin and forming wrinkles. Lines in the face, including forehead and frown lines, are largely out of our control, as they're caused by repeated muscle movements. Previous studies, using computational models, have also shown changes in the mechanical properties such as the elasticity and structure of the skin's middle layer during aging. The layer, which contains the proteins elastin and collagen, is the home to hair follicles, blood vessels, and sweat glands. Until now, those changes had never been proven experimentally. 'When I got into this field, that was one of my goals – can I figure out aging?' said German. 'Because if I look at the TV, the radio, online, at shops, I'm being told 1,000 different things about how to improve my skin health, and I want to know what's right and what isn't.' To reach these conclusions, German and his team used a low-force tensometer to stretch out seven tiny strips of skin from people between the ages 16 through 91, simulating the forces the skin naturally experiences. The tensometer tests the maximum force a material can withstand while being pulled or stretched before breaking. The skin was collected through elective surgery or tissue from cadavers. They found that the skin has one set of mechanical properties when you're young. As you age, things get a bit 'wonky,' German noted. 'Things degrade a bit, and it turns out the skin stretches laterally more, which causes the actual wrinkles that form,' said German. 'And the reason why that exists in the first place is that your skin is not in a stress-free state. It's actually stretched a little bit. So there are inherent forces within your skin itself, and those are the driving force towards wrinkles.' The research, which didn't delve into how these forces could be halted, was published recently in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials. Of course, there are other things that we know affect the skin that can contribute to appearance over time. Spending too much time outside can result in a nasty sun burn, as well as age the skin prematurely with the same effect as aging naturally. 'If you spend your life working outside, you're more likely to have more aged and wrinkled skin than those who are office workers, for example,' German warned.
