Man's mystery suicide mirrors that of organ donor
Man's mystery suicide mirrors that of organ donor
Wednesday Apr 9 10:00 AEST
By Erin Tennant
ninemsn
A "happy-go-lucky" man who killed himself with a shotgun died in the same manner and using the same method as the man from whom he received a transplanted heart over a decade earlier.
Sonny Graham was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the throat in his backyard shed last Tuesday, US media reports.
The owner of local online newspaper Vidalia Trader, Jeffery Luke, described the retired plant manager as "a good hearted, outgoing, happy-go-lucky kinda fellow".
"People would say that he never met a stranger," Mr Luke told ninemsn.
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"If he saw someone in need of help, he'd help without thinking twice."
Mr Graham, 69, never met Terry Cottle, who fatally shot himself 13 years ago, but took the heart of the 33-year-old South Carolina man in an organ transplant operation when on the verge of congestive heart failure.
Mr Graham contacted widow Cheryl Cottle a year later expressing his gratitude.
They continued their correspondence before meeting in person and eventually falling in love.
The couple married in 2004 and moved to the US state of Georgia with the six children they had from previous marriages.
In a 2006 interview with a local newspaper, Mr Graham said he felt an instant and unusual attachment when he met his donor's widow.
"I felt like I had known her for years," Mr Graham was quoted by The Island Packet as saying.
"I couldn't keep my eyes off her — I just stared."
His suicide sent a ripple of shock through the community.
"You never know what goes on in a person's mind," Mr Luke said.
"Sonny was well known to many people and they all thought highly of him... He never seemed to be that kind of person [to commit suicide]."
Mr Graham was laid to rest at a memorial service last Friday.
