Zachary Sweitzer...died after a car accident in 2008.
Her son affected more people in his 20 years than Missy Sweitzer believes she will during her lifetime.

Upward of 1,000 people attended Zachary Sweitzer's funeral service Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008, an event that marked the end of his life and new hope for six people who received his organs.

Zac decided to become an organ donor at 16 when he received his driver's license, says Missy Sweitzer of Glen Rock.

She talked this week about his life, death and his "heart of gold" that now beats in a transplant recipient's chest.

The crash: Zac died Nov. 30, 2008, days after a Thanksgiving morning car crash caused by an underage drunken driver, Christina M. Ohl, 20, of Shrewsbury Township.

Ohl pleaded guilty in January to homicide by

vehicle and other charges. She was sentenced in January to six months in York County Prison, followed by three months of house arrest, then two years of probation. She must also perform 200 hours of community service with a focus on driver safety education and pay $6,496.90 in restitution.

Ohl was driving in the left lane and lost control of her Toyota Camry, which drifted toward the center median wall, police said. Her car then slid sideways, crossed into the right lane and struck the left front fender of Sweitzer's truck, police said.

He was thrown from his pickup truck when it overturned.

Missy Sweitzer says she and her husband, Mark Sweitzer, have forgiven Ohl and hope one day to partner with her to tell their stories to discourage
youths from drinking and driving.

Gift of Life: For now, though, the Sweitzer family honors Zac via participation in various programs including Gift of Life, a nonprofit organ donation program.

The Sweitzers met representatives from the group in York Hospital where doctors worked to save Zac's life.

Missy Sweitzer said although she'd prayed her son would pull through, she knew instinctively he would not. So she, her husband and their daughters, Emma and Lauren Sweitzer,

Mark and Missy Sweitzer attend a Candlelight Ceremony for Life to honor their son, Zac. (Submitted Photo)
advised the nurses that Zac was an organ donor.

The process to harvest his organs began at that time via a series of sit-downs with transplant coordinators who explained all that would transpire after Zac was declared brain dead.

Missy Sweitzer says those days were a blur, numbing in a way, but she recalls the peace she had knowing that she was honoring her only son and oldest child by allowing organ donation.

Who Zac was: She says he was a kind person who helped anyone who asked and many who didn't. He helped elderly neighbors with yard work and volunteered at Loganville Volunteer Fire Co., a job he loved.

"His room was above us so we could hear when the pager went off," she said. "He might hit three steps on the way

......

Memorial

April is National Donate Life Month in which recipients express gratitude and advocates provide information about organ donation.

To assist Mark and Missy Sweitzer in their endeavor to memorialize their son, Zachary Sweitzer, donations for Gift of Life Family House may be made online atwww.donors1.org.

Select Donor Dash Awareness and search for the last name Sweitzer to donate to Team Sweitz.

......
downstairs to get out and get to the fire."

He was a prankster, too, as well as an avid hunter and farmer.

His mom says sometimes it seems like yesterday that she received word of the accident and stood in the hospital praying and awaiting a miracle that was instead provided to other families who received organs and tissue Zac donated.

"It is the most selfless act," Sweitzer said about organ donation. "We know he helped six families, and four of them had three children, just like us."

Tears still well in her eyes as she speaks about Zac, when she recalls the last phone message she received from him -- one that she saved and listens to now and then.

Helping others: She says she and her family find comfort in faith and in the knowledge that children are gifts from God to one day be returned to him. A year passed before she wrote the letter to Gift of Life to invite recipients of Zac's organs to get in touch.

She let them know who he was and how much it meant to the family to know that even after death he continued to help others. She continues raising money for and awareness about organ donation. She works on drunken driving checkpoints with state police and organizes fundraisers for a memorial scholarship fund.

"The more things I do, it brings honor to Zac, it keeps him alive," she said. "I know he'd be proud, and I know he watches out for us."

-- Reach Kathy Stevens at 505-5437 or kstevens@yorkdispatch.com.

Memorial
April is National Donate Life Month in which recipients express gratitude and advocates provide information about organ donation.

To assist Mark and Missy Sweitzer in their endeavor to memorialize their son, Zachary Sweitzer, donations for Gift of Life Family House may be made online at www.donors1.org. Select "Donor Dash Awareness" and search for the last name "Sweitzer" to donate to "Team Sweitz."

Becoming an organ donor
April is National Donate Life Month in which recipients express gratitude and advocates provide information about organ donation. Some statistics about organ donation:

More than 107,000 men, women and children currently need organ transplants.

Every 11 minutes another name is added to the national organ transplant waiting list.

An average of 18 people die each day from the lack of available organs for transplant.

In 2008, there were 7,984 deceased organ donors and 6,218 living organ donors resulting in 27,961 organ transplants.

In 2007, approximately 30,000 grafts were made available for transplant by eye banks within the United States.

To become a donor:

Register with your State Donor Registry.

Say yes to organ donation on your driver's license.

Tell friends, family, doctor and clergy that you want to be a donor.

Complete and sign a donor card, have it witnessed and carry it with you.

Learn more about organ donation online at www.organdonor.gov or www.unos.org.

Source: United Network for Organ Sharing