Gift of Life: Transplant brings N.J. donor family and Florida recipient together in close bond

HEISLERVILLE, New Jersey (WPVI) -- Organ transplants truly give someone a second chance at life.

A young Florida woman is certainly making the most of her gift from a South Jersey family.

New Jersey's East Point Lighthouse was a favorite spot for Rob Kerr's son Jared and his brother.

Jared seemed like a perfect baby when he was born.

"When he was 2 and a half, we noticed he was having difficulties progressing with language and steps," Rob recalls.

"He had a rare brain disease called metachromatic leukodystrophy. It's a terminal disease that attacks the white (brain) matter and the peripheral nerves," he explains.

Despite an experimental stem cell transplant from umbilical cord blood, the terminal disease robbed Jared of walking, talking, even eating by mouth.

"But he always smiled," Rob says wistfully.

"You could get him to do this belly laugh just by making noise and things. And he loved interaction. He when anyone would interact with him, he really took to it. He loved it, and he was always a happy boy," he says.

And Jared was a fighter.

"There was a lot of fight in him," his dad says of Jared's ability to keep going regardless of what was happening. He wasn't expected to live past the age of 6.

But he lived a decade longer than expected, until he got what seemed like a cold in 2021.

"It steadily got worse," Rob notes.

When it was time to say goodbye, the Kerrs were surprised to learn Jared could still be an organ donor.

Soon, his heart was headed of Nashville, to 27-year-old Ashlen Moss.

A heart defect had put the former dancer and cheerleader into heart failure for a decade.

After one false alarm, Ashlen hoped this heart was the right one.

It was, and 12 days after the transplant, she headed home, with a new life ahead.

"I didn't know what quality of life could look like," Ashlen says of her new energy and vitality.

She rebounded fast.

"I started running four months after my transplant," she says.

Ashlen, her husband, and the Kerrs connected a few months after the transplant and now have a close bond, even taking part in this year's Donor Dash together.

And, now living in Florida, she dedicates her races to Jared and organ donor awareness.

She asks people what they would do if they needed a transplant.

"Would you say yes to that option? And if that's the case, what keeps you from signing up today?" she says.

"No one else in the world that deserved my son's heart more than Ashlen," Rob says.

Ashlen also offers her time as a mental health counselor to transplant patients.

If you haven't signed up to be an organ donor, you can do it right now.

Click here: Sign-Up-to-Save-Lives