Two families bond after child's death saves another

By John Torigoe, CNN
December 20, 2011

Pasadena, California (CNN) -- A tender smile frames the face of Eva Perez as she remembers the life of her 6-year old son.

"Hernan was a very happy boy," she says. "He gave me flowers all the time. He's the first 'man' (to) give me flowers."

But her smile is thinly veiled -- her face splintering into tears as she permits the raw truth to surface.

On Valentine's Day in 1999, Hernan suffered severe head trauma while sledding in the snow-covered mountains above the Los Angeles basin.

Eva says she tried to reach her son but couldn't navigate thick snow and ice. She flagged down a passing vehicle and asked the occupants to alert authorities.

Hernan was airlifted to Huntington Memorial Hospital, where, two days later, he was declared brain dead.

A family care coordinator with One Legacy, an organ and tissue recovery agency, approached Eva and her husband, Arnold, to talk about donating Hernan's organs.

They decided to donate four of Hernan's organs: his heart, liver and both kidneys.

"The right kidney went to an older white gentleman," says Arnold Perez, Hernan's stepfather. "The left kidney went to an older Vietnamese gentleman. His heart went to a young American boy, and his liver was given to a young girl."

That young girl, 9-year old Megan Corfee, recently recalled the day when she and her mother, Debbie, received word that a donor organ was available.

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Four years after her successful transplant, Megan sent a thank-you letter to the Perez family. In the letter, printed on floral paper, Megan tells the unnamed "Donor family" she enjoys music and watching "Cosby Show" reruns.

"I had my liver transplant when I was 9 years old. I am now 13 and I am doing very well," she wrote. "I am very thankful that you decided to have your loved one's organs donated."

Three years after Megan sent that letter, the two families -- who lived about 30 miles away -- agreed to meet.

"Megan Corfee came to gladden our hearts," Arnold Perez said. "To me, she is an angel that was given life by another angel, and in our lives, she is a source of light."

Since they first met in 2006, the Corfee and Perez families get together every year at fundraising events for Donate Life, which handles the national organ and tissue registry and helps to raise awareness about the benefits of organ donations.

The Perezes treat Megan like their own child, and Eva and Megan have formed a particularly close bond, communicating nearly every day, either on the phone or via Facebook.

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Two families bond after child's death saves another - CNN.com

Very touching story.
I wish everyone would be an organ donor.
I know that some people have religious objections or wish to be buried with all their organs, for whatever reason.
But it's hard to believe that knowing her son was buried with all his organs intact could possibly be as comforting to Ms. Perez as knowing that her decision to donate her son's organs saved four lives, including that of another child.