In the fall of 1994, Nicholas Green, a young boy from California, was traveling in Italy with his parents, Reg and Maggie Green. As they drove along a deserted stretch of highway in Southern Italy, a car pulled up beside them. The men inside the car wore kerchiefs over their faces; one brandished a gun. As Reg tried to speed away, the man with the gun opened fire. One bullet went through the backseat and struck seven-year-old Nicholas in the head. By the time the Greens got to a hospital, Nicholas had slipped into a coma. Two days later, he died.

What happened next made this story not just tragic but redemptive. Nicholas’ parents chose to donate their son’s organs and corneas to seven Italians. One of those Italians was a 15-year-old boy named Andrea Mongiardo. Andrea, who had an extremely sick heart, had wasted away to 53 pounds. After he received Nicholas’ heart, he made a miraculous recovery.

Another organ recipient was Maria Pia Pedala, a nineteen-year-old woman in a hepatic coma. Maria lay dying from liver failure, her body no longer able to filter out deadly toxins from her bloodstream. She received Nicholas’ liver and made a complete recovery. A year later, Maria married her childhood sweetheart, Salvatore. When Maria and Salvatore had a son, they named him Nicholas.

But the impact of Nicholas’ life went further than the seven Italians who received transplants. As the story made headlines, organ donations immediately increased across Italy. They climbed 30% in the final months of 1994 and rose every year for the next decade, tripling the organ donation rate in the country.

The Italian press coined a phrase for the positive impact resulting from Nicholas’ death. They call it l’Effetto Nicholas or The Nicholas Effect.

Andrea, Maria, and Christians

I’ve followed the aftermath of Nicholas’ story for several decades, reading occasional updates on those who received life-giving transplants. I’m moved by the love Andrea and Maria have expressed for the gift they received from Nicholas. I’m also inspired by the Nicholas Effect—the impact his life has had on so many.

I’m also drawn to Nicholas’ story for personal reasons. Like Andrea Mongiardo, I had a bad heart; mine was spiritually sick. As Jeremiah explains, all of us are born with hearts that are “desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9). My prognosis was grim; I was headed towards certain death, not just physically but eternally.

But like Andrea and Maria, my life was changed through the death of another. I received new life because of Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave.  He cleansed me of the sinful toxins destroying my soul. He gave me a new heart that was alive to God. If you’ve confessed your hopeless condition and called on Jesus with sincere faith, you’ve also received the gift of forgiveness, a new heart, and eternal life. 

The Easter Effect

There is a spiritual equivalent to the Nicholas Effect we could call the Easter Effect. Paul explains the Easter Effect in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15: “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

Paul puts it well when he says Jesus died the death we should have died. Now all who’ve received life through his death have a new motivation for living. Our deep gratitude moves us to love Jesus and live for him. Andrea and Maria were grateful for Nicholas’ gift of physical life; how much greater should we be for Jesus’ gift of eternal life? Our deep gratitude should move us to join Paul in saying, “we make it our aim to please him” (2 Cor 5:9). 

But we can get more specific. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the Easter Effect, he described a particular way he lived out his grateful love for Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 5:20 he writes, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” Paul became an ambassador, representing Jesus’ saving heart and imploring people to become recipients of new life through faith in him. He felt compelled to tell others how they could receive a new heart and become reconciled to God. And what was true of Paul should be true of us as well. Our affection for Jesus should motivate us to serve as his ambassadors and spread the message of reconciliation to people nearby and far away.

Ten years after Andrea Mongiardo got his new heart, he was visited by Nicholas’ father, Reg. Andrea told Reg about a time he had an EKG done on his newly transplanted heart. He felt nervous until the doctor said, “Relax, Andrea, your heart is perfect.” As Reg heard this news from Andrea, he gave him a hug and said, “Yes, Andrea, it was a good, strong heart. And now it’s your heart.”

Once we receive a new heart from Jesus through faith in His sacrificial death, we have a good, strong heart. And that new heart will move us to tell others the good news of how they can receive one too. That’s the life-changing power of the Easter Effect.

(This article, by Rick Reed, was first published on The Gospel Coalition Canada website).