A seven-month-old baby received a miracle heart transplant at literally the last second — saving his life, and promising a steady recovery.

Lincoln Seay was born with a rare heart defect and after multiple heart surgeries that didn't help, had been added the transplant waiting list in November.

Little Lincoln's hands had begun to turn gray and his family had nearly given up in his final hours–but then, what they called "a miracle" happened, a donor heart became available.

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The life-saving donation almost wasn't enough. As Lincoln was rushed into surgery at Seattle Children's Hospital, he went into cardiac arrest on the operating table. The doctors decided to do the transplant anyway.

The procedure was a success and the recovery has been remarkable — his skin tone returned within a day after surgery and his chest tubes were removed after about a week.

The heart came from an anonymous donor — given by parents who had to make a decision at the most difficult time of their life. Lincoln's mother, Mindy, had been facing the possibility of the same loss for months, and wrote an emotional open letter on Facebook to the anonymous donor family who saved her son's life:

I want you to know there are no words to express the gratitude I feel for the mother you were able to be in those final moments, and that you were willing and able to give so selflessly to another.

I want you to know that I will always have the utmost respect for the gift we will be given. I will treasure that heart more than I've ever treasured any gift.

I will care for that gift to the very best of my ability and will be sure we always give reverence and respect to the child and family from which it came.

We may never now you by name, but I will know you deep in my soul.

"We knew it was going to take a miracle," Lincoln's father, Rob, told Inside Edition. "That's exactly what happened — a miracle."

(WATCH the video from Inside Edition) — Photo credit: Danielle Wakefield

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