This is one of the saddest stories I ever heard.
Fifteen-year-old New Yorker Alex Koehne died suddenly last year of what doctors initially suspected was meningitis. His parents, knowing how strongly Alex believed in organ donation, donated his liver to a 52-year-old man and his pancreas to a 36-year-old
woman. His kidneys went to two men, one 46 and the other in his sixties.
One month later, an autopsy revealed that Alex had actually died of a very rare and fast-moving lymphoma cancer. The alert went out, but the cancer had already killed the liver and pancreas recipients. The kidneys were removed, and the patients who received them are currently undergoing chemotherapy.
They say the worst thing in the world is to lose a child, and until today, I believed it. Now I think this might be worse. My heart goes out to this family, who only wanted to do the right thing and honor their son's generous spirit.
