Super Bowl Sunday Is Time Of Hope For Family Of Steelers Fans
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - It's the time of the year when just about everyone is a football fan.
But for one Texas family - who also happen to be huge Steelers fans - the Super Bowl is a yearly reminder of a miracle and the day their baby girl received a new heart.
Meaghan West's heart was donated to her when she was just a baby.
"Meaghan was born basically in heart failure," says her mom, Kim.
Once her parents were able to take her home, they waited for the transplant call.
"So, I prayed if that could happen that she would be here with us," said Kim. "If not, I would be okay if God took her and she had to go to heaven."
They'll never forget the call, it came during halftime on Super Bowl Sunday in 1999.
"She was like, 'Mike, I just want to let you know we have a heart.' I was really quiet for a minute," said Mike West, Meaghan's dad. "She said, 'Should I be talking to your wife?'"
Meaghan was just 5-months-old. Now, she's 12-years-old.
"It's such a good memory, so now we watch football all the time," added Kim.
"Meaghan and I are big Steelers fans," added Mike.
But Meaghan's not the only one who needed a heart transplant.
Four years later, Mike needed one as well, and has his own Super Bowl story to go with it. After his transplant, he went to work for a company that makes the Super Bowl rings.
Now, theirs are the hearts of true Super Bowl fans, but they know there would be nothing to cheer about if it weren't for their organ donors.
"We were very blessed that's what happened for us," added Mike. "To get that call when there's so many people waiting."
