The story began in 1995 when doctors put Graham, who was on the verge of congestive heart failure, on a transplant list. That same year, Cheryl Graham's first husband, Terry Cottle, shot himself in the couple's Summerville home, said Berkeley County Coroner Glenn Rhoad. Since he was on the donor's list, his heart was transplanted in Graham's body.
When he was released nine days later, Graham didn't know the donor's identity. He knew only that the heart that saved his life came from a 33-year-old South Carolina man. Then, in late 1996, Graham wanted to thank his donor's family for their gift of life. Graham and widow Cheryl Cottle, then 28, corresponded for two months and met in Charleston in January 1997. They married in 2004. Earlier this week, the unexpected happened again, when Graham's life ended the same way Terry Cottle's did. On Tuesday, Graham took his own life at his home in Vidalia, Ga. He was 69.
A love story unlike any told... He was found with a single gunshot wound to the throat, said Greg Harvey, a special agent working the case for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. He was found in a utility building in his backyard and had used a shotgun, Harvey said. On Friday, a memorial service was held in Lyons, Ga. The heart that gave two men life was finally laid to rest.
Cheryl Graham, now 39, has worked at several Vidalia hospices, and is currently employed at Serenity Hospice. She could not be reached for comment for this story.
