BATON ROUGE, La. (WHDH) — A Wisconsin man got to chance to meet the man who was given a second chance at life, thanks to his daughter’s decision to be an organ donor.
Bill Conner’s 20-year-old daughter, Abigail Mae, died suddenly in January. Abigail was an organ donor and Conner said her organs were donated to help four people.
“Seeing my daughter on life support, then finding out that they were matches, that four of her organs were already matched up and ready to be harvested, made it a little bit easier, that we were helping someone in need.”
A day after Abigail died, her heart was transplanted into Loumonth Jack Jr. in Louisiana. Jack said the chest pain he thought was heartburn turned out to be a viral infection that damaged his heart, giving him only days to live. Jack said he is grateful to Conner and his daughter.
Conner recently completed a cross-country bike ride to both cope with his daughter’s loss and raise awareness for becoming an organ donor. When he arrived in Louisiana, he met the man helped by his daughter. He also got to hear Abigail’s heart again.
“She saved me and I can’t repay her. I wish I could but I can’t,” said Jack. “All I can do is send my love to his family.”
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