Infant’s Tragedy Causes 2 Families To Abandon Lifelong Rivalry. Their Incredible ESPN Story Has The Country In Tears.

Dad with baby in hospital

Two families, two football teams, one heart. Amanda and Tucker Boswell are die-hard Auburn fans. “We live, breathe, sleep football,” says Amanda. Holley and Jonathan Perry cheer for LSU. The Auburn and LSU football teams have an age-old rivalry, but the Boswells and the Perrys spend every Auburn/LSU game together. Why? As Tucker says, “I love Auburn. I love the town, I love the university, but we’ll always have that connection to LSU. That one heart connects our two families.”

The heart Tucker is talking about is the heart that beats in his son’s chest. Months after little Davis was born, he contracted a virus which attacked his heart. “It just happened so fast” said Tucker of Davis’s sudden illness, “It’s just your worst nightmare.” Doctors let Amanda and Tucker know that the only way Davis would survive was with a heart transplant. “They let us know early on that its extremely rare,” said Amanda of finding a heart for Davis. “Everything had to match perfectly.”

Lucky for little Davis, his perfect match was out there… with 6-month-old John Clarke Perry.

LSU-fans Holley and Jonathan Perry had twin babies, right around the same time that Amanda and Tucker had Davis. But, 6 months after his birth, one of the Perry twins– John Clarke– had a brain bleed and passed away. So Holley and Jonathan decided to donate their son’s organs.

“If we could help another family not have to go through what we had just gone through, if we could save another child’s life,” said Mom Holley of the decision, “Absolutely. We’ll do whatever it takes.”

The Auburn Boswells and the LSU Perrys didn’t know one another, but they shared a mutual friend on Facebook. That friend saw both moms posting about the experience, and somehow knew there was a connection. She reached out to the moms, and Holley connected with Amanda, sending her the following Facebook message:

Amanda–

We don’t “know” each other but I feel like we do, if that makes sense. After Jonathan and I heard about Davis possibly receiving John Clarke’s heart last Saturday night it was such an awesome feeling. I cried tears of joy knowing JC could have helped save a life. We have prayed for you guys and Davis and it sounds like his new heart is doing great!

We will continue to follow your story, as long as you are okay with that, and pray for complete healing! I know in one of your posts you were asking for prayers for us… I thank you for that but please, don’t worry about us. Focus on your sweet Davis and his healing.

May God continue to carry you, Davis, and the rest of your family through this journey.

Holley

Amanda and Holley quickly became friends, and the two families met for the first time 6 months after the transplant. Now– despite the Auburn/LSU rivalry– they cheer at football games together, celebrating little Davis’s life and the gift of John Clarke’s heart.

When the families met, Jonathan gave a special t-shirt to Davis, reading “My heart bleeds purple and gold.” Says Tucker of the gift: “It’s good to know [Davis] got the heart of a tiger.”

Check out the full story in the video below and share.

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