A Love Story Unlike Any Told ...

BY PETER FROST, The Island Packet

Photo: Heart transplant recipient Sonny Graham, left, and his wife, Cheryl, pray at a reunion of organ recipients and donor families on Friday at Hilton Head Regional Medical Center. (Jay Karr/The Island Packet)

Love works in mysterious and wonderful ways.

Cheryl Cottle was devastated when she lost her husband, Terry, who died in 1995 at age 33.

But Terry's heart was donated for an organ transplant, and so his death saved another man's life.

And the mysterious ways of love?

Terry's heart still beats inside Sonny Graham, the man Cheryl ended up marrying nine years later.

"It's true what it says in the Bible," Cheryl said Friday, standing arm-in-arm with Sonny. "If you live God's will and give with a happy heart, you will reap the rewards. And I have so many rewards right here, standing next to me."

On Dec. 8, Cheryl and Sonny Graham will celebrate their second wedding anniversary. On Friday, the pair attended a celebration at Hilton Head Regional Medical Center recognizing organ, tissue and eye donor families. There, Cheryl and Sonny shared their story.

In 1995, doctors told Sonny he had six months to live. It appeared that his two-year battle with heart problems was nearing an end.

On the verge of congestive heart failure, doctors placed Sonny, a former Hilton Head Island resident who was 57 at the time, on a heart transplant list. His fate was beyond his control, he said. He could do nothing but wait and pray.

"If I didn't get a new heart," Sonny said, "I was as good as dead. I put my life in God's hands, and I didn't worry about it anymore."

Three months later, a call came from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. They had a heart for him.

Graham rushed to Charleston and was in surgery later that day. Nine days later, Graham was discharged from the hospital with newfound hope and a new, healthy heart.

And it hasn't skipped a beat since -- that is, until he met Cheryl.

After his surgery, Graham didn't know who donated the heart; that information is kept confidential. All he knew was that it was from a 33-year-old South Carolina man.

In November 1996, he sent a letter to the South Carolina Organ Procurement Agency (now LifePoint Inc.) to be forwarded to the donor's family, thanking them for their generous donation that saved his life and requesting to meet them.

A month later, he heard from Cheryl, who sent photos and a bit of information about her family. She didn't leave a phone number, and one wasn't listed.

So Sonny sent another letter to the agency, this time including his phone number.

Cheryl called.

On Jan. 19, 1997, Sonny met Cheryl in Charleston and took her out to dinner at the picturesque California Dreaming restaurant.

"She gave me that big smile, and I said, 'Well, looky here,' " Sonny said. "I felt like I had known her for years. I couldn't keep my eyes off her. I just stared."

Cheryl, then 28, still was reeling from the loss of her husband.

The decision to take Terry off life support and donate his organs was difficult, she said, and it wasn't until she met Sonny that she knew the decision was the right one.

"It helped me so much," Cheryl said. "Meeting Sonny made it easier for me, knowing something so good came from something so bad."

Four months after Sonny and Cheryl met, they began seeing each other on a regular basis.

"He's constantly bothered me ever since," Cheryl said with a laugh.

In 2001, Sonny bought Cheryl and her four children a home in Vidalia, Ga. Two years later, he retired from his job as a plant manager for Hargray Communications, left Hilton Head and moved in with Cheryl. In 2004, they were married.

Cheryl now works as a nurse at Community Hospice in Vidalia. Sonny owns his own landscaping company. Between them, they have six children -- all from previous marriages -- and six grandchildren.

They enjoy traveling -- often taking family trips to Charleston, the place where they first met, and the place where Cheryl's husband's heart saved Sonny's life.

"What we've always said is you can't take your organs with you to heaven," Sonny said, "and heaven knows they're needed here."

Contact Peter Frost at 706-8169 or pfrost@islandpacket.com. To comment on this story, please go to islandpacket.com.