Parents Donate Heart Of Son Who Died After 3-Story Fall
RANCHO CUCAMONGA (CBSLA.com) — A mother and father donated the heart of their 3-year-old son who died from a three-story fall in Rancho Cucamonga last week.
"I'm just heartbroken, he was my baby," mother Vanessa Sutton said.
Edward Sutton Jr., nicknamed Ju-Ju by his loved ones, was the light of his parents' life.
He was energetic and loved basketball.
Last week, Ju-Ju got too close to his bedroom window inside his parents' third-floor apartment.
"He looked at a puppy, next thing I know, he was down on the ground. The screen went off with him," Sutton said. "He went head-first…three stories."
Ju-Ju made it through two surgeries, but was declared brain-dead last Thursday.
While Sutton and her husband, Edward, are devastated, they have some comfort in knowing part of their son lives on.
A 17-month-old boy, Caiden Allen, was born with a heart defect and needed a new one.
"That's when his heart was transported from Loma Linda to UCLA for the little boy I found on Instagram, Caiden," Sutton said. "I'm giving [Caiden's mother] the biggest piece of my heart, which is my baby's heart."
Meantime, the family urges others to safeguard their windows with bars and screen locks.
"Just check it. Make sure everything is secure and stable," Edward said.
The Suttons have hired a legal firm to look into whether there were any code violations.
"Clearly this large complex knows that there are all kinds of kids in there and these windows slide wide open. The screens pop out easily. It's happened in the past," attorney Gene Sullivan said.
