An 18-year old from Texas who died last year helped save the lives of five strangers through her donated organs, Fox 8 News reported Monday.
Alysha Garza, who was fatally shot in June 2020, was a big supporter of organ donation according to family, Fox 8 reported. But Alysha’s decision was not easy for her mother, Genevieve Vargas, to accept at first, shared the news station.
“First, I am her mother. So for them to take all my baby’s organs is something that I didn’t want, something that I just wanted her whole,” the teen’s mother said, according to Fox 8.
Vargas eventually agreed to the procedure because she believed it was something her daughter would have wanted, Fox 8 shared.
“Our tragedy became a blessing for others,” Vargas said, according to the news group.
With the help of the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance, Alysha’s donation helped save five lives.
According to the alliance, Alysha was able to donate her heart, kidneys, liver and a lung, Fox 8 reported. (RELATED: Researchers Develop ‘Mini Livers’ From Skin Cells That Could Help Thousands Waiting For A Transplant)
“During a time of great sorrow, you honored Alysha by continuing her legacy as an organ donor, saving the lives of others,” a spokeswoman for Donor Family Services revealed in a letter to the family on behalf of the alliance, Fox 8 reported.
In honor of Alysha’s legacy, the alliance awarded the family with a special Organ Donor medal, shared the news station.
Her family now calls her a hero.
“We as a family, we call our daughter a hero because she is a hero to us… “You don’t know how many people are on a list for so long, waiting and waiting for a transplant,” Genevieve Vargas said.
According to Fox 8, the family has yet to meet the recipients of Alysha’s organs.
“My reaction would be to give them a hug because it would be like hugging my daughter again,” Alysha’s stepfather, Ramon Vargas, said. “A piece of her lives inside them.”
The parents are now sharing their experience to the public in hopes of inspiring a new generation of organ donors, reported the news channel.
“I don’t wish this on anybody, you know the pain we go through daily, of all the things, of not having my daughter here,” Genevieve Vargas said. “It’s a pain daily, but we know we have that sense of peace knowing that she still lives on.”