DONATE LIFE ORGAN DONATION AWARENESS - EL PASO, TEXAS

Organ Donor Honored On Wall Of Heroes

Hema Mullur-KFOX News Anchor/Reporter

EL PASO, Texas -- Quijano's mother described the day her daughter told her she was going for a motorcycle ride with a friend.

“She was wearing a white blouse, she looked like an angel,” said Marjorie Quijano. “I even looked at her and I said, ‘My little girl is growing up, she is so beautiful'. It wasn't even 23 minutes later I got a phone call from her phone, and I felt something, that something was wrong,” she said. “And sure enough I heard a male's voice, and it was an officer to tell me that she had been in an accident.”

Melinda Quijano was taken to William Beaumont Army Medical Center, where a few days after the accident, her family had to say goodbye.

“She always was on my boys all the time to do the right thing, because she was a person who always did the right thing,” said her mother.

So she knew Melinda would want her to do the right thing by allowing her to save lives by donating her organs.

“She saved six lives. She saved a 14-year-old little girl that needed a heart, and I know her heart is living,” Quijano said.

Melinda Quijano’s photo was added Thursday to the Wall of Heroes at University Medical Center, which honors those who gave the gift of life. Her mother had a lot of pictures to choose from, but eventually settled on a professional portrait.

“Her smile looks beautiful, her dimples show, it just shows the character that she was,” she said. “And we're hoping that everybody who looks at her knows that she made a big difference in somebody's life. I know if she was here, she'd be making a difference in everybody's life, and she still is.”