Ultimate wedding gift: Bride walks down aisle with boy, the recipient of her late son’s heart

By Grace Holland

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    APEX, North Carolina (WRAL) — In a moment going viral on social media, a 7-year-old boy from Apex gave a bride a bittersweet wedding gift by carrying a piece of her lost son up the aisle.

Inside Saleh Ahmad’s chest beats a heart donated by 4-year-old Myles Godfrey, who was killed in a car crash three years ago. Godfrey’s mother, Kaci Wilson, invited the Ahmad family to her wedding over the weekend in Georgia.

“We decided that we were going to have a small ceremony, so I immediately texted (the family) to see if there was any way they could come in because I wanted it to be a complete surprise for my entire family and my new husband,” Wilson said.

On April 18, 2023, Wilson and her sons were pulling into their driveway at their Murphy, North Carolina, home when someone hit their car from behind, going 60 miles per hour. She said Godfrey was left with a major brain injury.

“He was in the hospital for a few days, and then we had to make a decision to take him off of everything,” Wilson said. “I’m going to be completely honest. At first, it was such a mix of emotions, we didn’t know if we were going to do it.

“Then you have to sit back and think, what would Myles want? What do we want in the future? We know if it was his decision, he would want us to help somebody else.”

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in North Carolina, Saleh Ahmad had been on the heart transplant waiting list for three years. His mother, Yara Ahmad, said her son was born with a serious heart condition.

“He spent almost the first five years of his life in the hospital, so life was not stable at all. There was always fear, worry, [and] an unknown future for him,” Yara Ahmad said of her son. “We just had faith and prayers that something might change the situation till April 2023, when we got the heart transplant from Myles.

“[A] transplant by itself is a journey, but it’s a journey of happiness.”

Yara Ahmad said her son started going to school and is now playing like other kids.

“Actually, he just started discovering this life because before he was always in the hospital, not living as any normal child, but now, his life just started,” Yara Ahmad said. “It changed our whole family. How we see life, how we enjoy it as a family, because we never did this before. We are grateful.”

During the transplant process, there was another twist. After Saleh’s surgery, the mother of the patient next door knew Wilson and her family. When she realized Myles’ heart had gone to Saleh, she connected the two mothers.

“We started calling, texting until we met in person this weekend,” Yara Ahmad said.

Shortly after the families met before the ceremony, Wilson listened to Saleh’s heartbeat with a stethoscope.

“That’s all I was listening to,” Wilson said. “I didn’t hear anything anyone was saying. I didn’t hear anything other than that. It was such a remarkable experience, I can’t even put it into words. It was just insane to hear his heartbeat, again.”

Wilson walked down the aisle hand-in-hand with Saleh. A video posted by Yara Ahmad on Facebook has gotten hundreds of views.

“She lost her son, but found him in a heartbeat,” Yara Ahmad said. “Myles lives within Saleh and I always tell Kaci, Myles is OK. As long as Saleh is OK, Myles is OK.

“We don’t consider ourselves now someone who got an organ and a donor family. We are one family, and I was telling Saleh (Myles’ brother), they’re your brothers now. Kaci is your mom and when he grows up, he will understand this more, and I’m sure he will stay in connection with this family.”

Both mothers hope their story encourages others to become organ donors.

“If you’re on the iffy side about whether to donate organs, I hope this is a true inspiration to everybody, realizing that good can come out of it,” Wilson said. “It’s not just all sorrow. You get to see your loved one live through someone else. I hope everyone considers it after seeing our story.”

Wilson is planning to bring her family to North Carolina to visit the Ahmads again this summer.

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