Two Chicago Marathon runners connected by one transplanted heart
CHICAGO - A stethoscope lay on the bed upstairs, in case someone asked Shae Brown to listen to her triumphant heartbeat.
Shae placed the medical instrument there, anticipating an opportunity to share the joyous sound with new friends. The Millers from Glencoe, Ill., had traveled to Shiner, Texas - a small town of 2,069 people in the southeast part of the state - to meet Shae, whose heart once pumped inside their beloved daughter and sister. Shae's successful heart transplant occurred May 20, 2013, in Houston after her donor, Alyssa Miller, passed away at the age of 24 following a long illness, leaving behind a twin sister, Eva, and parents Fred and Barbara.
This is the extraordinary story of Shae and Fred, of strength and courage, grieving and living, perspective and perseverance. This will help explain why Fred plans to run every step of the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 8 alongside Brown, who reflected on that memorable June 2016 weekend as the time the families began to share more than medical history.
On the second day of the Millers' visit to Texas, Fred's daughter, Eva, worked up the nerve to ask Shae something she expected.
"Eva said, 'This is probably a really strange
