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Now or Never

'It felt like home': Sister hears her brother's heartbeat two years after his death

Just a few hours into their first face-to-face meeting, Robert Buttle opened his shirt, and Jodi Loder put her ear to his chest. It was her first time hearing her brother's heartbeat since he died by suicide in July 2016.

After years of writing letters, Jodi Loder finally met her brother's heart recipient, Robert Buttle.

CBC Radio ·

Jodi Loder listens to her late brother's heart beat in another chest

6 years ago
Duration 0:39
Jodi Loder listens to her brother Jeff's heart in Robert Buttle's body.

For two years, Jodi Loder and Robert Buttle were strangers with a powerful connection.

After Jodi's older brother Jeff died by suicide in July 2016, his family immediately talked to the doctors about organ donation. His lungs, heart and liver were successfully transplanted.

This photo of Jeff and Jodi Loder was taken at her prom, two months before his death in July 2016. (Submitted by Jodi Loder)

Robert Buttle, 63, of Battersea, Ont., is the recipient of Jeff's heart.

The Loders and Buttles were determined to find each other, even though provincial law in Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontario restricted their communication to anonymous letters. 

With the help of social media and a CBC interview, they finally connected. About six weeks later, on Sept. 24, 2018, Jodi finally got to hear her brother's heart beat again, in Buttle's chest.

Jodi Loder listens to her brother's heartbeat for the first time, in the chest of transplant recipient Robert Buttle. (Submitted by Pat Loder)

"The second I heard it, it just felt like Jeff was there with me again, and he was just calming me down," she said.

"It was amazing, just to put my head on Rob's chest and listen to it the same way I listened to Jeff's. It was beating the exact same beat… It felt like home."

"It was a good feeling to be the person that's looking after this heart," said Buttle, describing that moment. "I told them, 'Don't worry, I'm gonna take good care of this thing'."

Jodi Loder had her tattoos done in a black outline, to be colored after she meets the recipients of her brother's organs. (John Gaudi/CBC)

After Jeff's death, Jodi drew his three donated organs and had them tattooed on her arm. She decided that the organ recipients would choose the colour of each tattoo. Buttle chose green for the heart. Jodi hopes to meet the recipients of her brother's lungs and liver some day.

After meeting Robert Buttle, Jodi Loder asked him to choose a color for her heart tattoo. She hopes to meet the recipients of his lungs and liver one day. (Courtesy of Jodi Loder)

The Loders and Buttles now describe each other as family. "I wouldn't have been able to pick a guy that perfect to receive [Jeff's] heart," said Jodi. "You couldn't have asked for a better man to have it."

This segment originally aired in October 2018. 

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