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| Photo: Tia Owens-Powers |
Don, the 17-year-old son of Robert and Phyllis Boone, died in 1992 as a result of a severe head injury. Given their son's age, the Boones were caught off-guard when given the option to donate Don's organs and eye tissue. They'd never discussed organ donation, but the family relied on their faith in God to guide them.
Their answer was "yes."
The Boones signed off, allowing Don's heart, liver, kidneys and corneas to be harvested and donated.
"We made a decision based on Don's character and our religious beliefs," Robert Boone said. "God is love, and to give the gift of life is a great act of love."
For three months, Phyllis and Robert Boone wondered if the decision they made was the decision Don would have wanted. Until the day they cleaned Don's bedroom.
Among a stack of school notebooks, they found a journal Don kept as an assignment for a journalism class he had taken.
In that notebook "we found what he would have wanted to do in his own handwriting," Robert Boone said.
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