Parents Whose 14-Month-Old Baby Died in Drowning Accident Hear His Heartbeat in Toddler He Saved (Exclusive)

Jenny Burns lived every parent’s worst nightmare when she realized her 14-month-old son Beau was missing in June 2022.

“When I couldn’t find him — I looked for a good three minutes — I knew he was in the pool. You just start hoping and praying,” Jenny, 37, tells PEOPLE.

Jenny’s fears were confirmed when she found Beau in her backyard pool in Dallas, Texas. The mother of two children screamed for her husband, Rob (39), who pulled their unconscious son out of the water and started CPR.

“I prayed for a miracle to happen. God was with me,” says Jenny, recalling the devastating moment. “Rob was able to regain a heartbeat by the time paramedics arrived and he was airlifted to Children’s Medical Center Dallas.”

It was the “longest” seven days for the husband and wife and their 10-year-old daughter Emma as the family awaited Beau’s fate. “I thought for a good four days that there was hope that he would survive,” says Jenny. “But on the fourth day, the doctor told us he wasn’t coming back and we had to decide what we wanted to do.”

That’s when Jenny and Rob were first introduced to the idea of ​​donating children’s organs and made a decision that saved the lives of three people.

“Both my mom and grandmother were nurses, so I grew up in a household that was focused on medical education and understanding the importance of the decisions you make,” Rob tells PEOPLE. “And even though it was a very difficult day for us, I knew someone was going to get that miraculous phone call, so it was easy for me.”

Beau, son of Jenny and Rob Burns.

Courtesy of Jenny Burns

Jenny adds: “It was a leap of faith. You really had to believe that the decision you were making was the best, and that is so difficult at that moment. You don’t know what it’s going to be like to know you’re saving lives.”

What the devastated parents did not know at that moment was that a 4-month-old boy was fighting for his life in another wing of the hospital. “I prayed a lot for the family that was losing their second person, their child. I didn’t know where it came from,” April Flores tells PEOPLE about the heart her son Eli, now almost 2, received from Beau that day.

Doctors told Flores, 32, that Eli, who was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, would succumb to the birth defect “any day now.” “The night we found out, before I went to sleep, I prayed for Eli’s heart because he still has a whole life left,” she says. “At 3:47 a.m. I got a call from our heart transplant team … after the transplant, Eli was instantly different. There was so much joy I could see through his face.”

A year later, Jenny and Rob came to Flores hoping to meet Eli. And at the end of October, that dream became a reality. “That first first date, to look into Eli’s mom’s eyes and just see how grateful she is, and then to know that Eli is living so well because of our decision…it was overwhelming,” says Jenny. “Rob and I like to say it was Beau’s gift, but now it’s Eli’s heart. The heartbeat was so strong and so fast – the heartbeat of a little boy.”

Burns and Flores families.

Courtesy of Jenny Burns

For Flores, meeting the Burns family came with a lot of trepidation. “I am a single mother. What if they wanted their son’s heart to go to a family with a mother and father? Is my son good enough for them to get their son’s heart?” Flores recalls her emotions.

But very soon after meeting these fears disappeared. “It was just an instant connection,” says Flores. “It’s hard to put into words what they did in giving my son a chance at life, but we are connected forever.”

At the same time they contacted Flores in October, Jenny and Rob contacted the 40-year-old woman who received Beau’s kidney and the mother of 4-year-old Leonel who received their son’s liver.

While still waiting and hoping to hear back from a kidney recipient, the Burns family met with Leonel and his mother, Ginamarie Rodriguez, in November.

“Leonel was born with citrullinemia type 1, which can lead to coma, brain damage or death,” Rodriguez, 29, tells PEOPLE. “There is no cure, and a transplant was the only way out.” Meeting the Burns family at the Southwest Transplant Alliance was “very emotional” for Rodriguez, whose husband, Randy, 35, is currently deployed.

“I don’t know how to explain it, but it felt like family,” Rodriguez says. “Going through everything we’ve both been through, we’re all grieving. I will be forever grateful to them.”

Todd and Tara Storch are raising awareness of organ donation after their daughter’s tragic death

The Rodriguez and Burns families.

Courtesy of Jenny Burns

Jenny adds: “Leonel is so beautiful. He’s just this rambunctious little 4-year-old and it was so good to see him just laughing and living so loud.”

Over the past few months, Jenny has come to see everyone as part of her extended family. “I don’t know what it is about these women, but we have an amazing relationship,” says Jenny. “Both Ginamarie and April will be in our lives forever, and I will have two more sons.”

Six months after Beau’s accident, Jenny and Rob also found out they were expecting another child. “In January 2023 we found out we were pregnant with our son Jack,” says Jenny. “It was the best surprise, and when we found out it was a boy, we knew Beau had a hand in choosing him. He knew God knew we needed this.”

Born in October 2023, Jack “brings us so much joy and Emma, ​​his 10-year-old sister, has just stepped back into the big sister role,” he adds. “We are so grateful.”

Rob and Jenny Burns with Emma and Jack.

Courtesy of Jenny Burns

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Along with her “sisters for life,” Flores and Rodriguez, who are also advocates for child organ donation, Jenny says her new “purpose in life” is to share the importance of choice with her family.

“Without my husband, I probably would have said no. [I felt like] they duly took off saying goodbye to my son, but Rob saw the bigger picture and it was the best decision I’ve made in my life,” she says.

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Seeing Beau’s legacy alive in two other boys also helped her find peace after losing her son.

“Two little boys and a 40-year-old woman are alive because of Beau, and I can relate to them and see them grow,” says Jenny. “Beau was gone and there was nothing I could do about it, but I could do this and help someone else [and] to help another mom with their baby boy. Seeing them grow up and seeing their mother’s love on them heals my heart.”

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Source: HIS Education