D01 Joslynn Mayhew shows her scar from her liver transplant with photos of herself and Keira Christie, her organ donor, from about four years ago in her home in Wheelersburg, Ohio, on Monday, June 7, 2021.

Organ recipients have been at a greater risk during the pandemic due to weakened immune systems. On August 20, 2017 at the age of nine, Joslynn was diagnosed with hepatoblastoma, a childhood liver cancer. Her cancer was fast growing and categorized as a hybrid because it showed up so late in her childhood.

Joslynn was in her fourth round of chemotherapy and awaiting a liver transplant when Keira passed away. Her organ now lives in Joslynn. Keira was 11 when she died of an asthma attack on the way to the emergency room in her mother’s car, and Joslynn was nine when her received her liver. The two girls looked extremely similar at the time. “The doctors came in after surgery and told us it was a perfect fit. Like they were just putting her own liver back into her body,” said her stepfather Aaron Mowery.

Joslynn and Kiera’s families have been living in a chaotic normal for the past three years. Joslynn fosters a relationship with not only her own family, but Kiera’s parents, her donor family, as well. Joslynn is now able to do anything she wants as the pandemic begins to come to an end. The two families have also been finding a new normal together since the chaos in October of 2017.