In a recent interview, Michael Kutcher has said his twin brother – Ashton Kutcher – was willing to donate his heart in order to keep Michael alive.
Michael, who lives with cerebral palsy, underwent a heart transplant when was just 13 years old. At the time, Ashton said he wished he could donate his own heart for this brother.
Michael said:
It’s a connection that you can’t explain. In all seriousness, we’re just very connected. It’s an honour or deep appreciation and a deep love for someone who would sacrifice that for you. I really can’t put words to it.
Michael was speaking to Us Weekly about his new campaign, called #BeTheGift, which aims to encourage people to register themselves as organ donors, to help those in need of transplants.
He recalled a conversation with his brother, in which he encouraged Ashton not to feel sorry for him due to his disability, but to think of it as a separate journey.
Michael said, via MailOnline:
I said, ‘Every time you look at me, every time you feel sorry for me, in a way, you make me less. You make me less. I am who I am, right? I was put in these situations. Who I am is for a reason.’
I strongly feel that a major part of that reason is to be an advocate and be outspoken and use the platform that I am to advocate for disability, to advocate for organ donation, and I feel I’ve found my purpose in that.
In 2017, Ashton spoke about his brother at an awards ceremony, saying:
My brother was born with cerebral palsy and it taught me that loving people isn’t a choice and that people aren’t actually all created equal.
The Constitution lies to us. We’re not all created equal. We’re all created incredibly unequal to one another, in our capabilities and what we can do and how we think and what we see. But we all have the equal capacity to love one another, and my brother taught me that.
Michael agreed with his brother’s sentiment, saying the fact not everyone is born equal has empowered him in his mission to help others.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.