Love story with a change of heart comes to grief in the end

CHERYL Cottle married two men who shared the same heart, and both ended up committing suicide.

After Terry Cottle killed himself more than 12 years ago, his heart beat on in Sonny Graham.

Grateful for the transplant that saved his life, Mr Graham wrote to thank the Cottle family. Through that correspondence, he met Cheryl Cottle, his donor's widow.

Then the unexpected happened — they fell in love and married.

Last week, the unexpected happened again, when Mr Graham's life ended the same way Terry Cottle's did. On Tuesday, he took his own life at his home in Vidalia, Georgia. He was 69.

He was found with a single gunshot wound to the throat, said Greg Harvey, a special agent working on the case for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

He was found in a shed in his backyard and had used a shotgun, Mr Harvey said. No foul play is suspected.

On Friday, at a memorial service in Lyons, Georgia, the heart that gave two men life was finally laid to rest.

The story began in 1995 when doctors put Mr Graham, who was on the verge of congestive heart failure, on a transplant list.

That same year Terry Cottle shot himself in his home in Summerville, South Carolina.

As Mr Cottle was taken off life support, Mr Graham rushed to Charleston, where doctors transplanted the heart.

In late 1996, Mr Graham made contact with the Cottles through the organ donation agency.

He and Cheryl Cottle, then 28, eventually married in 2004. Cheryl Graham could not be reached for comment.

MCT

Here is a Strange-
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) Terry Cottle and Sonny Graham never met, but the two men shared two very important things: A heart and a wife.

They also died the same way: Cottle, 12 years ago from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the Summerville home he shared with his wife, Cheryl; the 69-year-old Graham died the same way last week outside his Vidalia, Georgia, home that he shared with his wife, Cheryl.

When Cottle died at age 33, his organs were donated. Grateful for his new heart, Graham began writing letters to the donor's family to thank them. In January 1997, Graham and Cheryl Cottle, then 28, met in Charleston. In 2001, Graham bought a home for Cottle and her four children in Vidalia. Three years later, they were married.

Five years later, Graham knew why Cottle had taken his own life.
Steer clear of the widow Cottle-Graham!

Posted by The Localmalcontent at 6:51 AM