Organ donation 'the only comfort' in death of Spring Grove freshman

York Dispatch, PA | Erin James

He was just 8 years old when Will Abrisch looked up at his mother and asked about the funny green letters under her driver's license photo.

She remembers answering delicately, starting her sentence with a phrase like, "If something were to happen to me," then stumbling over the blood-and-guts images conjured by organ donation. Her little boy thought it sounded cool.

"He said, 'When I get my license, can I have that put on mine?' I said, 'Well, of course,'" Terri Abrisch recalled.

Until just days ago, that brief conversation was merely a mother's faded memory. Now, Will's parents are left clinging to it as a defining moment of his short life.

The Spring Grove High School freshman died Friday at Hershey Medical Center, where he'd been taken after he was struck by a pickup truck Wednesday as he attempted to retrieve his skateboard from Route 30. Will Abrisch was 14 years old.

Knowing that their son wanted to be an organ donor, Terri and Richard Abrisch consented to donating his heart, kidneys, pancreas and a lung to save and improve the lives of others. At least five people - possibly more - have been recipients of Will Abrisch's organs.