![\"\u201cIt](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/FGWAQJ4HPRAWFABJKS4Q6UYMK4.jpg\")
\u201cIt felt like it was Carrie, but at the same time \u2026 my mom\u2019s lungs are literally her lungs, so it was as close as I was going to get to that,\u201d Firth said.(John Henderson)<\/p>\nSTEPHENVILLE, Texas (KWTX) – At a Central Texas wedding in May, the traditional mother-son dance looked different \u2014 and it stopped guests in their tracks.<\/p>\n
Groom Matthew Firth, who lives in Austin and is originally from Belton, stepped onto the dance floor not with his own mother, but with Carrie Giddens of Frisco \u2014 the woman who received his mother\u2019s lungs after she became an organ donor 13 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would have truly felt like she wasn\u2019t there at all, so I kind of felt her presence,\u201d Firth said.<\/p>\n
Firth\u2019s mother, Amy Firth, died in 2012 after becoming an organ donor at Baylor Scott & White in Temple. Her lungs went to Giddens, who had battled cystic fibrosis her entire life and was put on life support before receiving the transplant.<\/p>\n
Giddens said the invitation to share the dance was both emotional and surreal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that he wanted to dance with me \u2014 not in place of his mom, but to be able to dance with a piece of his mom on his wedding day \u2014 it was an honor,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Firth said he and his new wife, Elisabeth Haskins, wanted to recognize the bond that has grown between their families over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt like it was Carrie, but at the same time \u2026 my mom\u2019s lungs are literally her lungs, so it was as close as I was going to get to that,\u201d Firth said.(John Henderson)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt like it was Carrie, but at the same time \u2026 my mom\u2019s lungs are literally her lungs, so it was as close as I was going to get to that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Today, Giddens is a mother of three \u2014 including twin boys who were toddlers when she received the transplant.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only was I given the opportunity to continue being a mom to my twin boys \u2014 they were only 15 months when I got my transplant, and now they\u2019re going to high school \u2014 but \u2026 we adopted my daughter,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Family members say the relationship has deepened through shared milestones \u2014 anniversaries, birthdays and now a wedding.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just the relationship has developed over time,\u201d Firth said. \u201cNow, not only does it not feel weird to be around her, but it feels right.\u201d<\/p>\n
One relative captured the moment in a line the families say they won\u2019t forget: \u201cAmy did the breathing, and Carrie did the dancing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Continuing Amy\u2019s legacy<\/p>\n
Firth is the grandson of John and Margaret Henderson of Belton, officers with TRIO Central Texas, a nonprofit support group for transplant recipients, donors and their families.<\/p>\n
The Hendersons also serve on the board of the Amy\u2019s House Foundation, which operates a transplant hospitality house near Baylor Scott & White in Temple. The eight-bedroom home provides lodging and support for transplant patients and their families.<\/p>\n
John said he hopes the dance \u2014 and his mother\u2019s story \u2014 encourage more people to consider becoming organ donors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are two parts to the story,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is Amy\u2019s tragedy, but there is the story of Carrie who got the gift of life from Amy. I\u2019ve always been proud of what Amy did in life and what she did in death as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than 100,000 patients nationwide are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant, including more than 10,000 in Texas. <\/p>\n
You can register as an organ donor when applying for or renewing a driver\u2019s license, during online vehicle registration, or through the Donate Life<\/a> online registry.<\/p>\n For information on TRIO Central Texas, visit www.triocentraltexas.org<\/a>. For information on Amy\u2019s House, visit www.amyshouse-temple.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 KWTX. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STEPHENVILLE, Texas (KWTX) – At a Central Texas wedding in May, the traditional mother-son dance looked different \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[136539,136540,136537,136538,35584,63337,136542,27,29,28,136541],"class_list":["post-387427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-amys-house","tag-amys-house-temple","tag-mother-son-dance","tag-mother-son-wedding-dance","tag-organ-donation","tag-organ-transplant","tag-organ-transplant-recipient","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-trio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}