By Kay Quinn, KSDK-TV, December 23, 2005

Organ donation is often called the gift of life. It''s a precious gift that''s been bestowed on one local family not once, but twice.

Cheyenne Arnold was just a few months old when a virus attacked her heart. In 1999, at the age of two, she had a heart transplant. Three years later, a virus would strike again, this time damaging a heart beating in someone very close to Cheyenne.

"I had heart failure. The doctor said I caught some sort of virus and it was just unexplainable," says Harrison Black, Cheyenne''s grandfather and a heart transplant patient.

Black was almost 60 and very ill. While a transplant offered his only hope, he wasn''t sure he could go through with it. That''s when he looked to his granddaughter for inspiration.

"It turned out it was really good for her, which was really good for me because it gave me the will to do it instead of just saying it was my time," says Black.

It took 11 months for him to get healthy enough for the transplant. Then, in spite of a shortage of donor organs, especially among minority patients, Harrison Black spent only two weeks on the waiting list.

"When I think about it, just to be graphic about it, that I have someone else''s heart in my body and its keeping me alive, it''s just hard to imagine that mine is gone and I''ve got someone else''s heart in me."

Today, Cheyenne is a happy, healthy eight-an-a-half year old. She recently helped Barnes-Jewish Hospital celebrate 20 years of performing heart transplants. At her side, her grandfather Harrison Black. Three years after his transplant, Black says it all seems unbelievable that the precious gift of life saved not only his granddaughter''s young life, but his own. Not a day goes by that he doesn''t think about their donors.

"It''s a wonderful thing that they do make those donations because it helps people like myself and Cheyenne to live life to its fullest."

Dr. Greg Ewald, medical director of the Heart Transplant Program at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, says the best way to become a donor is to talk with your family. "Tell your loved ones, tell your family, and make sure they understand that if anything untoward happens to you, you are in a situation to become an organ donor, they can feel comfortable to give that gift of life."

HEALTHBEAT: Girl and her grandfather share a unique bond
By Kay Quinn, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 26, 2005

Days or weeks from now, Christmas and Hanukkah will be just a memory. Chances are you won''t even remember the gifts you opened on the big day.

But 8-year-old Cheyenne Arnold and her grandfather, Harrison Black, 61, both of St. Louis, received special gifts a few years ago. They are gifts they gratefully remember every day.

A virus damaged Cheyenne''s heart when she was just 4 months old. By 2, she couldn''t play like other children her age and struggled to breathe. She underwent a heart transplant at St. Louis Children''s Hospital on April 22, 1999. The new heart has not only restored her health, it''s also given her another chance at life. Today she''s on the school basketball team, is a Girl Scout and loves math and reading.

In the fall of 2001, lightning seemed to strike Cheyenne''s family twice. Black, only in his late 50s, struggled to breathe, lost weight and felt miserable. Doctors told him some type of virus had damaged his heart, and he, too, would need a heart transplant.

Depleted by exhaustion, Black wasn''t sure he wanted to go through the months of rehab it would take to get him healthy enough to go on the waiting list. He turned to his granddaughter for inspiration.

"It turned out it was really good for her, which was really good for me, because it gave me the will to do it instead of just saying it was my time," recalled Black.

After 11 months of rehab, Black went on the heart transplant waiting list. Just two weeks later, he was on the operating table, getting his donor heart. Today, Black is stronger than ever, thanks to his heart transplant.

"I can''t believe it, even today. I just sit around, and it''s unbelievable," said Black.

Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis recently celebrated 20 years of performing heart transplants. Many of the program''s first patients are alive and well today.

Dr. Greg Ewald, medical director of the hospital''s Heart Transplant Program, said transplantation has made great strides since 1985.

"We really don''t know what the potential life span is of a transplant patient," said Ewald. He said the local program shows people can live decades with their new organs.

Black cherishes the special connection he has with his granddaughter.

"We kind of draw strength from each other," said Black. "Without saying, it''s just something there."

Black and Arnold hope their stories will lead others to consider giving a gift that''s never forgotten, the gift of organ donation.