Mom meets the boy who has her late son’s heart and hears his heartbeat again

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ/Gray News) - A mother in West Virginia was able to hear her late son’s heartbeat once again when she met the boy who received his heart.

“Means the world to me,” Ali Cash said. “I remember in the hospital, I was alone with Liam. And I laid my head on his chest, knowing that that was going to be the last time.”

Cash said her four-year-old son, Liam, died from injuries from a car crash more than a year ago. His heart, liver and both kidneys were then donated to multiple people.

“I really advocated for organ donation,” Cash said. “My son couldn’t come back, but I wanted to be able to, with the organ donation, be able to help others.”

One of those people was Baylor Waggamon. The 3-year-old received Liam’s heart.

Jacob Waggamon, Baylor’s father, said his son was born with a heart defect and spent his first years in and out of hospitals waiting for a new heart.

“We were happy, but we were also sad at the same time because we knew somebody else’s family was losing their child just to give us a heart for our son,” Waggamon said.

Waggamon said meeting Liam’s family for the first time was a powerful reminder that heroes come from every corner.

“I don’t consider them just a donor family. They’re more family now than anything else,” he said.

For Cash, the boy standing in front of her wasn’t just a reminder of what she lost, but also a source of joy because she said she saw her own boy.

“They look so much in a similar way,” Cash said. “It’s kind of crazy. And then now, I kind of see, like, some of the little tendencies that I was like, my son did that. That’s really cool.”

She said hearing Liam’s heart again was the most special part.

“It’s just amazing,” Cash said. “It really is amazing.”

Cash said that while Liam couldn’t come home, his heart is still out there, beating and giving life.

“We all leave this world eventually,” Cash said. “And why not save another life if we can? If we can help somebody when we’re not here, why not do it?”

Anyone interested in becoming an organ donor can register online.