After a tragic accident in 2023, Erin and Dan’s daughter, Norah, will forever be two years old. Yet, through their selfless decision to say yes to donation, another child is now about to celebrate their third birthday because of Norah’s precious gift of life.
“She was the definition of a wild child,” said her mother, Erin. “Born profoundly deaf, she even had the option to remove her ‘ears’ anytime she didn’t want to listen to us! She communicated in both spoken language and sign language. She was so uniquely herself, never without tangles in her beautiful curly hair, no matter how much we tried to tame it. She never liked to wear shoes, loved to run and try out new slides at every playground. She loved dinosaurs and chasing her family around the house with them. Our adventurer, wanderer, and now hero.”
On June 12, while on a family vacation, Norah’s adventurous spirit led her through what was believed to be a locked door and out to the backyard pool.
“She had tried to go swimming, and she was found a minute later by my husband,” Erin recalled. “We thought we were doing everything right and being as safe as we could, and it still happened. It’s all a blur. My husband pulled her out and started doing CPR, and we called 911 right away. I tried to shield her siblings from what was happening as they worked on her. They were able to revive her in the ambulance, but she just never was able to wake back up.”
When a representative from HonorBridge first approached Erin and Dan to ask if they would consider organ donation, the decision didn’t take long. They took a short walk to talk it over, but quickly agreed that, despite their own pain, they couldn’t imagine not giving other children a second chance at life.
“We kept saying we wished there was such a thing as a brain transplant so Norah could get one,” Erin recalled. “So, the thought of helping others—it was a very easy decision.”
According to Erin, HonorBridge’s hospital liaison, Jeanne Connolly, remained with their family throughout their time in the hospital, supporting them during Norah’s baptism, the Donate Life flag-raising ceremony, and her Honor Walk. To honor their last moments together, HonorBridge made sure that each of Norah’s three siblings were brought into the room individually to make hand, foot, and thumb prints.
“I remember being so proud of my daughter, Claire, who was six at the time,” said Erin. “She confidently held up her little sister’s hand and painted it. She was so gentle with her, and it was so beautiful. They also did a sonogram so we could have a recording of what they called her ‘heart song’ and they cut a lock of her hair for us to keep. They did everything with such gentleness and love. It was awful, but I’m so glad we were at that hospital with such incredible people.”
Both Erin and Dan had a very special relationship with the hospital staff, including Norah’s nurse, who fell in love with the family and promised to hold Norah’s hand throughout the hours-long process of organ recovery.
“I laid in bed with Norah and Dan walked beside us for the Honor Walk,” said Erin. “Norah’s favorite thing to say, and she would sign it, was ‘Ready, Go!’ So, that’s what we signed to her when we sent her into the operating room. Norah’s nurse, also named Erin, held her hand throughout the entire organ recovery process. She texted us around 5 a.m, which was so sweet, and told us it was done. The surgeon said her heart was absolutely beautiful, so that felt good.”
Little Norah’s gifts made a huge impact—something her family discovered when they received a follow-up letter from HonorBridge. Her heart gave new life to a baby boy, her liver to a baby girl, and her kidneys saved the life of a woman in her thirties.
“Receiving the letter from HonorBridge, there were plenty of tears,” said Erin. “It’s always a mix of happy and sad. When I read that her heart went to a baby boy, I looked down at my son, Samuel, who was in my arms. Hearing that three different organs could be used was just incredible.”
Erin first reached out to the parents of Norah’s heart recipient with a letter that included a photo of Norah and a description of how special she was.
“We told them we’d been praying every day for their little boy, and that we loved him already, even though he was a stranger,” said Erin. “Toy Story was Norah’s favorite movie, so at the end of the letter, we signed it with “you’ve got a friend in us.’”
On Christmas Eve, Erin finally received the response she’d be waiting for.
“I was standing in line at the store when I got the email and just burst into tears,” said Erin. “Everyone around me asked what was wrong, and I told them who I had just heard back from, and they started crying, too!”
Erin and Dan discovered that Norah’s heart had been transplanted into a little boy named Nathaniel—who, incredibly, shared her same initials, N.G. Nathaniel’s journey was anything but ordinary; his family had traveled all the way from Israel to New York City, where they were able to keep him alive just long enough to receive the lifesaving transplant.
“I looked him up, and they had done an interview with People Magazine,” said Erin. “He was six months old when he received his transplant. When we saw that, we kept saying, ‘of course Norah’s heart would be famous! That’s so Norah!”
The two families decided to meet in person at a playground in Central Park, NYC, bringing along a Build-a-Bear for Nathaniel that contained a recording of Norah’s heartbeat.
“When we met, Nathaniel’s mom just took me into her arms right away and we hugged for probably two minutes, mother to mother,” said Erin. “It’s funny, because Norah was our wild child, and when we were at the park, Nathaniel tried to ride down the slide on his scooter. We had always hoped that whoever received her heart became a bit of a wild child, so we were like, ‘yes, it worked!’”
During the visit, both Erin and Dan were able to hold Nathaniel and feel Norah’s heart beating in his chest. Over the course of a couple of hours, their kids played and bonded with their “brother from another mother.”
“It was the best possible scenario,” said Erin. “If you were a passerby at the playground, you’d have no idea what was happening, but it was so profound for us. He was so sweet, and he has curly, blonde hair just like Norah. They’re such amazing people. We’re already planning another meet-up. Our next thing is we want to reach out to the other two recipients, so we’re drafting letters right now. We have no expectations, because we know that every family is different, but hopefully they will want to respond.”
To honor Norah’s life and legacy, Erin and Dan have started a nonprofit called Norah’s Waves, offering swim safety awareness, scholarships, community outreach, education, and childhood drowning prevention efforts. Additionally, they support deaf and hard-of-hearing children in her memory.
“I remember I asked the doctor what I was going to do in the hospital, and he said, ‘Think about what you want Norah’s legacy to look like.’ That’s just stuck with me. I want her legacy to be friendship, kindness, and light. We are still learning sign language to keep that connection with her. When my youngest, Sam, gets to kindergarten, I hope to work with deaf kids in some capacity. My grief therapist once said, ‘she’s still your daughter, and you have to find a way to still parent her.’ So, we do little things like put up a little Christmas tree at the cemetery every Thanksgiving and parent her the best we can.”
Both Erin and Dan agree that donation has allowed them to feel as though a part of their little girl still lives on in the world. They encourage other families to embrace the comfort that thought can bring and to open their hearts to saying “yes” to donation.
“In the darkest hour of your life, you feel something unexplainable within you, knowing something so sacred is happening in that operating room,” said Erin. “And it was performed with such tender, loving care. They played Disney songs for Norah all night, and her precious nurse held her hand throughout her operation. It carried me through that sleepless night: the love, the hope, the prayer that another family was going to be saved from this pain. On my most unbearable days since, I would often put my hand to my heart, and remind myself that hers was still beating, too.”
Dan agrees.
“Our daughter is a hero thanks to organ donation,” he added. “She saved the lives of three people, and her story will live on. We just hope her beautiful legacy continues to shine through them.”
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