I was going to publish something completely different tonight. But I heard this story on the news and then came across this article (extracted version below). It emphasizes two points: one, we never know when we have seen our last sunrise, had our last lunch with a friend or watched our last favourite comedy. And two, organ donation is very real. Lungs do not come from "Lung Mart"--though that would be convenient. Rather, they come from living, breathing, people who had a lot to offer the world and were taken from us prematurely. Thankfully, donors and their loved ones are strong and selfless enough to make the decision to donate their organs so that others can continue a legacy for two.
Travis CooperThe lives of five people were saved Thursday by Travis Cooper, a LaSalle 18-year-old who crashed his motorcycle in London Tuesday and was kept on life support until his organs were harvested for transplant to people languishing on waiting lists.
“His heart went to a young girl, his lungs went to a young man, his liver to a fellow, one kidney got a person off dialysis and another kidney got another person off dialysis,” Cooper’s mother Jennifer Varga recounted Thursday. The surgery to remove his organs started at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and ended at 3 a.m. Thursday.
Two years ago, Varga, a health professional, had discussed signing an organ donor card with Cooper and his brother Tyler, now 19. “I told them it’s the greatest gift you can give,” and both signed, she said.
The donor’s family isn’t told the identity of the recipients, who are from all over the province.
The fact that her son’s death resulted in life-saving organs for five people provides some solace for Varga. Her son, she said, was: an honour roll student in high school; an avid athlete who played football, hockey, baseball and soccer; a bass player in a local band called Chainsaw Armada; a volunteer who was great with children and the elderly; and a “mover” who had spent his high school years at various locations.
He graduated from Sandwich Secondary in LaSalle, but also went to Massey in South Windsor, and lived for short periods in Texas (where Varga was working for a time) and Florida, where his father Sherwood Cooper Jr. is a veterinarian.
And he loved his motorcycle, his mom said.
“He would ride it everywhere.”
The accident, she said, happened Tuesday afternoon on Cooper’s first day at Fanshawe College's architectural technology program in London. He had his classroom numbers scrawled on his hand and his laptop in his backpack at the time of the crash.
The Kawasaki motorcycle Cooper was riding collided with a car making a left turn, said London police Const. Amy Phillipo.
Witnesses told police the motorcycle was racing and weaving through traffic prior to the collision, The London Free Press reported.
While Cooper was wearing a helmet, he sustained serious injuries after he was thrown from the bike.
He was taken to University Hospital in London. His mother said the staff in the hospital’s intensive care unit were “amazing” through the ordeal.
Varga said she was told that just before the accident, her son was going quickly and had changed lanes, which may have meant the motorist didn’t see him coming as she made the left turn.
Varga also said that it’s important for people to know that a helmet doesn’t protect you in such a severe crash. Although her son’s helmet wasn’t damaged in any way, his brain was “totally destroyed.”
Scott Scantlebury, the spokesman for the Greater Essex County District School Board, said a number of staff at Sandwich Secondary knew Cooper, “and we’ve had counsellors available at the high school.”
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Families First Funeral Home.
Visitation will take place at their Dougall Avenue chapel on Saturday from 2-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.
The funeral will be held Sunday at 1 p.m. at Glenwood United Church at 1825 Grand Marais Rd. W.
His mother recalled that when her son was 15 and living with her in Texas, a 17-year-old boy collapsed on a gym floor and went into cardiac arrest. Cooper’s actions resulted in the boy — whose heart stopped on three separate occasions while they waited 25 minutes for paramedics — surviving.
On Thursday, her son “gave again,” when his organs were donated, said Varga.
“That’s six people he’s helped along the way.”
