Alex and Shane Sorboro are like most 19-year-olds. The twins from Strongsville attend community college, work part-time jobs and hang out with friends. But nearly a decade ago, both brothers experienced firsthand an ordeal that most teenagers only see on TV medical dramas. They received heart transplants.
When the twins were in first grade, they were diagnosed with muscular dystrophy after their mother, Cindy, noticed the boys' arms seemed stiff. By age eight, Alex and Shane's diagnoses were narrowed to Emery-Driefuss muscular dystrophy, a rare form of the muscle-weakening disease. "They told us there would be some heart problems somewhere down the road," remembers Cindy. "But the doctors thought the worst case would probably be pacemakers in their late 20s."
Just a year later, the twins' hearts were deteriorating more rapidly than anticipated. In July 1997, Shane was hospitalized at the Cleveland Clinic with flu-like symptoms. Tests revealed he had heart failure and would need a transplant. "I remember saying to my husband, 'How are we going to tell this little boy he needs a transplant?'" recalls Cindy. "So we just told him it's like a car: Your engine is bad, so they're going to put in a new part."
The day Shane was released from the hospital, Alex became symptomatic and underwent cardiac catheterization. His enlarged heart made him weak and nauseated. Looking back, Alex sums up that time with a familiar, yet fitting, terse teenage phrase: "It sucked," he says. Alex underwent transplant surgery exactly four months after Shane, on July 15, 1998.
Today, the twins are doing well. "The fact that they're here is amazing," says Cindy. "They've had very few complications after the surgeries. We've been blessed." And Alex had a unique opportunity to meet the family of his "guardian angel," as Cindy calls the 11-year-old boy whose heart her son received.
With permission from both families, a newscaster compiled a special report on Alex and Christopher, who was struck by a car and killed while riding his bike. Christopher's father told the reporter, "Some of our pain has been taken away because we know that our son's death has helped someone else."
Interviewed shortly after his transplant, Alex said, "A boy gave me a second chance at life, and I'm going to try to help somebody else out." And he has. Alex and Shane have shared their stories with school groups and with other children waiting for heart transplants. Alex is considering a career as a pediatric cardiologist, while Shane may become a teacher.
The soft-spoken twins applaud the efforts of Life Banc, northeast Ohio's organ procurement and tissue recovery agency. Their message to the world is simple. "Donate," says Alex. "It's a good thing to do. If you can't use the organs anymore, why not give them to someone else?"
This summer, Alex and Shane will join a friend at Barber Airport, take off into the blue horizon, then sky dive. The exhilarating experience will epitomize the Sorboro twins' appreciation for life—something neither takes for granted and each is thankful for because of two special guardian angels.
Currently, nearly 100,000 men, women and children in the United States and thousands in Ohio are waiting for a life-saving transplant. You can become a registered organ donor right now or by saying “yes” when renewing your driver license or state ID at the BMV.