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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Rachel Clarke

‘She had the most beautiful heart in the world’: how Keira saved Max’s life

Keira Ball in a riding helmet and Max Johnson in a hospital bed
Left: Keira Ball, who loved horses, and wanted to work with animals when she grew up; Max Johnson recovering after open-heart surgery at the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle. Photograph: Photographs courtesy of Joe and Loanna Ball, and Emma and Paul Johnson

This is the tale of a boy, a girl, and the heart they share: Max and Keira.

Max had been a footballing, tree-climbing, play-fighting force of nature until a mysterious illness caused his heart to fail, leaving it so dangerously weak and unstable he was forced to spend nine months confined to a hospital bed.

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