A love story born from two heart transplants

Leslie Sorg and Jeffrey Crass’ love story began in 2013, when they were both in the hospital waiting for heart transplants. 

Today, they’re both healthy and in love. And they’re true believers that fate is what brought them together.

For months, Leslie and Jeffrey were in and out of the hospital and kept running into each other. They hit it off immediately.

“So, when did you first realize you loved me?” Leslie asked Jeffrey, as they held hands on the couch of their Factoryville home.

“I loved you for a long time,” Jeffrey responded. “You were just so caring.”

But the day after Leslie’s heart transplant, in 2014, the two got really close.

“Two doors down was Jeff, and I looked in the room and said, ‘You stalker!’ and we just became friends,” Leslie joked.

About a year later, the two were still in touch, meeting up for dinner occasionally. Leslie finally asked Jeffrey out on a real date in May 2015.

“The day before we were supposed to go, he called me and canceled,” Leslie said. “I was like, ‘What?’ And he goes, ‘I got a heart!’ And I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, what an excuse!'”

Now, both of them have new hearts and they live happily together in Wyoming County. 

“It’s easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day life and routine, and sometimes we forget how fortunate we are, and that’s why we’re very lucky to have each other to keep each other grounded,” Jeffrey explained.

In Leslie and Jeffrey’s story, the passion continues — for each other and for spreading the importance of organ donation by volunteering for Gift of Life.

“If we could get just one person, one person to be an organ donor because of this story, we would save eight people,” Leslie said. “I’ve never gotten a gift as great as this.”