[stylist] hearts and diabetes

[Amy Krout-Horn]

Hi All,
I've been away for a while. The new book is keeping me very busy, but I had a moment and wanted to comment on Alan's story idea. Perhaps the characters suffer from a type of auto immune disorder. As a type 1 diabetic, I understand that my immune system does not recognize my own insulin cells, therefore thinking that they are an invader, and destroying them. Quite literally, my white blood cells and my insulin islet cells do not "understand each other. Perhaps, in the case of your short story, the immune system of each character does not "recognize the heart. With diabetes, there have been some successful insulin cell transplants from a living donor to the diabetic, and though the patient is required to take immune suppressing drugs for the remainder of his/her life, the body "accepts" the new insulin cells and lets them function. This existing medical science may allow your story of the hearts to seem more plausible to the reader, especially if you make it clear that the procedure is experimental.
Another thought I had when I read your idea was about the movie "Seven Pounds" or maybe it was "Seven Grams", I forget, but Will Smith and Rosario Dawson star, if that helps. It's an intense story concerning this topic and, if you haven't seen it, I'd watch it for the sake of story research. 
HTH. 
Write On,
Amy