Celebrating the gift of life: Monument is tribute, memorial to organ donors

SALT LAKE CITY —Jodi Morgan recalls the day her son was injured in vivid detail.

On June 19, 1999, then-18-year-old Justin Morgan was tooling around the Little Sahara recreation area in Juab County alone on his four-wheeler when he somehow flipped and was trapped beneath the vehicle.

He was discovered later by two other riders — who happened to be off-duty emergency response personnel and called for help. Justin was taken by helicopter to a hospital, where doctors doubted he would survive.

Morgan spoke about her son Saturday during an unveiling ceremony held at the Celebration of Life Donor Monument at Library Square. The monument honors Utahns who made the commitment to save and improve lives through organ, eye, blood, tissue and whole-body donation.

"I signed donor papers on him because they didn't think he was going to make it," Jodi Morgan said.

As it turned out, doctors were able to save Justin's life, but the teenager was left paralyzed from the waist down due to a spinal injury.

The paralysis might have been more extensive had surgeons not been able to harvest a femur from a donor, which was attached to his spine.

"Putting that femur bone in his back allows him to lean forward and lean to the side," Jodi Morgan said.

After weeks of recovery and months of arduous physical therapy, Justin — now 30 years old and married — regained significant movement in his upper body and has even resumed activities like four-wheeling, skiing and bobsledding.

"It's a miracle," his mother said. "I never would have believed in my wildest dreams that he would function at the level he does — ever."

This year, 346 new names were added to the monument, bringing the total to 3,630, said Dixie Madsen, public education coordinator for Intermountain Donor Services.

Over the past five years, Utah has ranked among the top five states "in the percent of licensed drivers who've said 'yes' " to organ donation, Madsen said.

While an individual often makes the decision to become a donor, sometimes it is left to the family of someone who may have suffered a tragic accident or illness.

Such was the case with Thais Lassen's father. In 2002, at age 52, he suffered debilitating seizures that left him permanently brain damaged.

Lassen said her mother was asked to donate her husband's organs and tissue, and she quickly consented to have them harvested.

"She believed that it would have helped us to (feel better) and give the opportunity for somebody that is looking for an organ to have a better life," she said.

Considering the kind of giving, considerate person her father was during his life, Lassen said organ donation is something he would have strongly supported.

"He would be very proud of us for (donating his organs)," she said. "He would be very happy, definitely."

Visit www.yesutah.org for more information regarding organ donation.

e-mail: jlee@desnews.com