A Family Celebrates Their Late Son who Donated Organs

Steve Adubato goes on-location to the NJ Sharing Network 5K and speaks with Chris and Carla Bautista about their son, Luke, who lost his life at the age of 15 years old and gave the ultimate gift of life - organ and tissue donation.

#1920 11/16/2016

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"We are here with Chris and Carla Bautista, who are part of this really special event. Your son Luke, at fifteen years of age, May 16th, excuse me, May 6th. Just a month. Just a month. Yeah, as we do this program just a month passed, tell us about your son and tell us why the gift of life? Well, Luke was an amazing kid. It was very sudden, very tragic for us. But he was always a giver. He brought light into everybody's world, and we just collectively, when... when we knew that he wasn't going to make it, and that he was declared brain dead, his mom, myself, and our other son CJ, just looked at each other and we just knew that he'd want to do this. That he'd want to give of himself, because that's what he did when he was alive, and his humor, his kindness, is his way of making everybody feel a little bit better about themselves, we just, we wanted to make sure that lived on somehow, and give some purpose to, you know, to what otherwise was really just a tragedy for us. He saved other people didn't he? He saved a lot of other people, yeah, the one most profound to, I mean they're all amazing, but when we heard he was gonna save a fourteen year old boy, on Mother's Day, it was just amazing. Wonderful to picture the other family at least that boy, that his family didn't have to experience the tragedy that we did. To be here today, to be a part of this event means what to both of you? Well the education we've gotten over the last month, about what the New Jersey Sharing Network does, and about what... how many lives can be saved, and even just helped to make better lives, just overwhelming. I didn't know [laughter] nobody really explained the, you know, the details to me. Yeah, I've been a donor, but I, you know, I just "hey, I want to give it myself" it was like whatever. Right. I never thought about what impact it was really going to have, and over the last few weeks, all we've heard is from either other donors or recipients, and other people who felt the same way that we did, who didn't really know how much of an impact it could really be and have, so to be able to come here today, and actually just watch this race right now, watch some of the faces of some of the people crying as they're coming across the finish line, standing next to a twenty two year old young man who told me that ten years ago he got a heart, and he starts his first job tomorrow..."