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Love lives again after change of heart by Peter Frost of The Island Packet staff Love works in mysterious and wonderful ways.   Cheryl Cottle was devastated when she lost her husband, Terry Cottle, who died unexpectedly in 1995 at age 33.   But Terry’s heart was donated for an organ transplant, and so his death saved another man’s life.   And the mysterious ways of love?   Terry’s heart still beats inside Sonny Graham—the man Cheryl Cottle ended up marrying nine years later.   “It’s true what it says in the Bible,” Cheryl Graham said Friday, standing arm-in-arm with her husband. “If you live God’s will and give with a happy heart, you will reap the rewards. And I have so many rewards right here, standing next to me.”   On Dec. 8, Cheryl and Sonny Graham will celebrate their second wedding anniversary.   In 1995, doctors told Sonny Graham he had six months to live. On the verge of congestive heart failure, doctors placed the former Hilton Head Island resident who was 57 at the time, on a heart transplant list. He could do nothing but wait and pray.   “If I didn’t get a new heart, I was as good as dead. I put my life in God’s hands, and I didn’t worry about it anymore.”   Three months later, a call came from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. They had a heart for him.   Sonny Graham rushed to Charleston and was in surgery later that day. Nine days later, he left the hospital with newfound hope and a new, healthy heart.   And it hasn’t skipped a beat since—that is, until he met Cheryl Cottle.   After his surgery, Sonny Graham didn’t know who donated the heart; that information is kept confidential. He knew only that it came from a 33-year-old South Carolina man.   In November 1996, he sent a letter to the South Carolina Organ Procurement Agency (now LifePoint Inc.) to be forwarded to the donor’s family, thanking them for their generous donation that saved his life and asking to meet them.   A month later, he heard from Cheryl Cottle, who sent photos and some information about her family. She didn’t leave a phone number, and one wasn’t listed.   So Sonny Graham sent another letter to the agency, this time including his phone number.   Cheryl Cottle called.   On Jan. 19, 1997, Graham met Cottle in Charleston and took her to dinner at California Dreaming restaurant.   “She gave me that big smile, and I said, ‘Well, looky here.’ I felt like I had known her for years. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. I just stared.”   Cottle, then 28, still was reeling from the loss of her husband.   “Meeting Sonny made it easier for me, knowing something so good came from something so bad,” she said.   Four months after the two met, they began seeing each other on a regular basis.   In 2001, Graham bought Cottle and her four children a home in Vidalia, Ga.   Two years later, he retired from his job as a plant manager for Hargray Communications, left Hilton Head and moved in with her. In 2004, they married.   Cheryl Graham now works as a nurse at Community Hospice in Vidalia. Sonny Graham owns his own landscaping company. Between them, they have six children —all from previous marriages—and six grandchildren.   They enjoy traveling, often taking family trips to Charleston, where they first met, and where Terry Cottle’s heart saved Sonny’s Graham’s life.   “What we’ve always said is you can’t take your organs with you to heaven,” he said, “and heaven knows they’re needed here.” Editor’s note: The article ran Dec. 2 in The Island Packet, Hilton Head, and is reprinted with permission.     Friday, Dec. 15, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.