Parents in Louisiana made the gut-wrenching decision to donate the organs of their teenage son who died unexpectedly from an ATV accident, benefitting 54 people in need.
Amy Deubler Foy told WLTV that the decision was easy – she didn’t want any other families to suffer in the same way that hers did.
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Foy’s son, 19-year-old Cameron Greer Dice, was riding an ATV in Franklinton, Louisiana, with some neighbors, listening to music and enjoying a bonfire while his family attended a St. Patrick’s Day parade.
The next day, Foy received the phone call every parent dreads.
Dice was climbing a steep hill on the ATV, but when he reached the stop, the four-wheeling flipped backwards, crushing him.
First responders made an effort to save him, but Dice’s facial bones and skull were shattered. He had no heartbeat when he was airlifted to a New Orleans hospital, but doctors restarted his heart and placed him on a ventilator.
Dice’s father already knew he was gone, but Foy turned to God as her son’s final living moments played out.
“I just prayed,” she said. “I just wanted a miracle, but I think God, I think God needed him more.”
Two years earlier, while at the DMV, Foy and Dice had a conversation on whether he should sign up to be an organ donor. At the time, Foy explained to her son how the program worked.
“And he said, ‘Oh yes. Definitely,'” Foy recalls.
For two days after Dice arrived at the hospital, his mother held his held and stroked his hair. Then, the time came for a team of doctors to harvest his organs.
Before his funeral even told place, four patients were gifted with his heart, kidneys, pancreas and liver. A whopping 54 people in total benefitted from Dice’s organs.
“So as far as I know, 54 people have part of my baby with them,” Foy said.
While alive, Dice loved to hunt, fish and get “muddy from ATV rides,” his mother said. He was old soul who loved to help people and listen to 80s music.
“He loved to make everybody laugh,” Foy said. “He would do anything.”
Before, he was a hero on earth. Now, he’s an angel in heaven, Foy said.
Foy is now treasuring the organ donor flag that flew in the hospital until every one of his organs left the building and a painting of the EKG of his final heart beats.
When asked if she would like to meet the people who received his organs, Foy replied, “I would love that, especially the person that has his heart.”
Of the 115,000 on the national waiting list for organs, more than 2,000 are in Louisiana, WCNC reported.
Last year, 83 people died in Louisiana died while waiting to be matched for an organ.
(H/T: WCNC)