Heartbreaking moment mother wheels dead toddler into surgery for organ donation operation

Meagan Sobolik, 29, brought her 21-month-old daughter, Carolyn, to the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Minnesota for the last time, kissed her, and said: ‘You get to save three people. I love you forever.’ The toddler was donating her heart, liver, and kidneys after she had been declared brain dead one day earlier following a five-day battle with parainfluenza that began on April 17. Carolyn suffered cardiac arrest three times due to the infection, which causes respiratory problems and weakens immune systems. Her brain was damaged as she struggled to breathe. It then began to swell, before she was declared brain dead. Tear-jerking video captured Meagan and her husband Paul, 32, as they wheeled their daughter toward her final moments on an operating table.

Doctors and nurses lined the hall and sang ‘Amazing Grace’ while they walked with the grieving parents, comforting them, as some could be seen crying alongside them. Meagan said: ‘I don’t know if there is a word for more than phenomenal but the hospital staff were just that. They treated us as though they were our family.

The Soboliks, from New Hampton, Iowa, posted the video on Facebook, where it was widely shared and viewed more than 9 million times. ‘I’m so grateful that Coralynn’s memory can live on,’ Meagan said. She continued: ‘We are overwhelmed by the support we have received from people all over the world. It’s great to know our little girl has inspired so many.’

According to Meagan Sobolik, Coralynn’s heart was donated to a one-year-old boy and her liver will be transplanted into a one-year-old girl. Her kidneys were donated to a 41-year-old woman.

Meagan encouraged organ donation and said: ‘Whether it’s your mother, brother, or little one, you have a choice to let their legacy live on. Coralynn now has a legacy that can live on through these three people.’ The Soboliks started a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for their daughters funeral, which has raised $2,476 of its $20,000 goal.