The gift of life: patient given second chance with life-saving organ donation

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - A life-changing moment thanks to a life-saving gift made even more special on her donor’s birthday.

“It’s just like you got somebody with you that you don’t know where they come from, what they look like, what they like, what they don’t like,” Ebony Jordan, kidney recipient, told Action News 5 about her mystery donor, “I’ve always wondered.”

But 8 years after her kidney transplant, Ebony Jordan got to learn more about the young man who saved her life.

She met her donor, Reginald Smith’s family, on what would have been his 31st birthday.

Smith was killed in a car crash, but his organs have saved dozens of lives.

“From the top of your head to the bottom of your feet, every organ, skin, tissue, eyes, whatever [you can] donate,” Tremetrius Barnes, the mother of Reginald, encouraged people to donate, “he did and I’m glad his legacy living on with somebody that he would be able to help somebody.”

Smith’s selflessness has helped so many, allowing them a healthy second chance at life. “For him to be able to help 67 people, that is amazing.” Artavius Veasley, a worker with the Mid-South Transplant Foundation, spoke on Reginald’s legacy as a donor, “Like I don’t know if you know how many people that is in one room. [For him] to be able to do that, it was definitely a blessing not only for us as a family but for him and his legacy.”

Reginald’s mother and brother are also transplant recipients.

They say it’s important people donate to give others, like Ebony, a second chance.

Click here to sign up for our newsletter!

Click here to report a spelling or grammar error. Please include the headline.

Copyright 2024 WMC. All rights reserved.