2 Hearts: History vs. Hollywood

Where did the real Chris Gregory go to college?

Raised in Maryland, Chris Gregory was a 19-year-old freshman at Loyola University in New Orleans, a Jesuit college. The 2 Hearts true story confirms that he had completed one semester and was in the middle of his second. He hadn't put enough focus on his studies during the previous semester and his grades had suffered. However, he had finally begun to turn a corner. Chris had also started to rush a fraternity. 

Is Jorge Bacardi related to the founder of the well-known rum brand?

Yes. A fact-check of the movie reveals that Jorge Bacardi is a Cuban exile and is a descendant of the founder of the Bacardi liquor company. His family has produced rum and other spirits since 1862. Jorge had served as the vice president of the company.

Is the 2 Hearts movie based on a book?

Yes. It's based on the book All My Tomorrows: A Story of Tragedy, Transplant and Hope written by Chris Gregory's father, Eric Gregory.

Did Chris Gregory collapse while hanging out at a friend's apartment?

Yes. It's true that by all accounts, Chris had been a healthy college freshman when he collapsed suddenly from a ruptured brain aneurysm. Similar to what's seen in the movie, the true story reveals that he collapsed while hanging out in a friend's apartment. Instead of waiting for an ambulance, his friends carried him to their car and rushed him to the Tulane University Medical Center where the diagnosis was eventually made. The neurologists cautioned his family that Chris's prognosis was somewhat dire.

Is Chris's girlfriend Sam based on a real person?

Yes. Sam was loosely inspired by Chris Gregory's real-life girlfriend who the book refers to as Jenn. Chris and Jenn had been dating since the previous October.

What was wrong with Jorge Bacardi's lungs?

Ever since he was a boy, Jorge had suffered from a life-threatening lung disease called primary ciliary dyskinesia. However, he wasn't diagnosed with the disease until he was in his fifties. Doctors had previously wrongly diagnosed him with cystic fibrosis. His parents had feared that he wouldn't live past 12 years old. However, he defied expectations and survived for decades, but his breathing became increasingly labored. In his early sixties, Jorge was on oxygen and near death's door. He desperately needed a double-lung transplant.

Did Jorge Bacardi really meet his wife while she was working as a flight attendant on an airplane?

Yes. In the movie, Jorge meets his future wife Leslie while he is on an airplane and she is working as a flight attendant. Jorge asks Leslie to hold his hand during the takeoff to help keep him calm. The 2 Hearts true story reveals that the real Leslie was indeed working as a Pan Am flight attendant when she met Jorge Bacardi. According to Leslie, Jorge asked her to hold his hand to keep him calm during the landing. However, Jorge's version of the story is that Leslie was a rather flirtatious flight attendant who presented him with two sets of children's pilot's wings. -All My Tomorrows

Did Chris survive long enough for his family to say goodbye to him?

Yes. The true story behind 2 Hearts confirms that Chris's family was by his side in the hospital during his final days. Like in the movie, this included his mother, father and two older brothers, John and Colin. His girlfriend was also present. Friends from college and childhood came to visit him as well.

Was Jorge Bacardi living in the Bahamas when he found out there was an organ donor match?

Yes. Jorge and his wife Leslie were residing in the Bahamas when they found out that a matching organ donor had passed away. Jorge, then 64, had a plane available at a moment's notice in case a pair of lungs ever showed up on the donor list. He and Leslie got the call on March 27, 2008, and they flew to Jacksonville where Jorge underwent a double-lung transplant at the Mayo Clinic medical center. The operation took seven hours.

Did Jorge really recover that quickly from his double-lung transplant?

Yes. Less than 24 hours after his seven-hour-long double-lung transplant surgery, Jorge's breathing tube had been removed and he was strolling the halls of the hospital. The nurses indeed nicknamed him "Superman."

How many people received Chris Gregory's organs?

A total of seven people received Chris Gregory's organs, including Jorge Bacardi, who received Chris's lungs. His heart, liver, kidneys and pancreas were shipped to the same Jacksonville hospital where Bacardi had his transplant. The organs were transplanted into other patients on the waiting list. Two additional patients received his corneas. It's true that some of the patients were near death when they received "the call."

"I didn't realize how close to death they were until I met them," says Grace Gregory, Chris's mother. "They were looking at death at the same time that Chris was looking at death."

Chris had been an organ donor ever since he got his license three years prior at age 16. However, just a week before his death, he had casually been talking to his parents after dinner one night about driver's licenses. It was then that they learned he had previously opted to become an organ donor. "What am I going to do with my organs after I'm dead? And besides," he added with a smirk, "who wouldn't want this body?" -All My Tomorrows

Did Jorge Bacardi get to meet Chris Gregory's family?

Yes. At first, Jorge didn't know who his donor was, so he wrote a letter to his donor's family via the United Network for Organ Sharing in hopes it would reach Chris's parents. In late 2009, Jorge and his wife learned the identity of the donor and eventually met the Gregory family at the family's home in Baltimore. Jorge got to learn all about Chris, the 19-year-old who saved his life. The families remained in touch until Jorge's death on September 23, 2020, less than a month before the release of the 2 Hearts movie.

In 2011, Jorge and his wife funded The Gabriel House of Care on the Mayo Clinic's Jacksonville campus where Jorge had his transplant surgery. The building offers long-term housing to oncology and transplant patients who are being treated at the clinic.

WATCH  2 Hearts Trailer