Carter Lirette

My son, Carter Lirette, was born June 16, 2016 and passed away February 27, 2019 at the age of 2. Carter was diagnosed with autism one month before his accident. Carter had many struggles such as not being able to speak or follow simple commands. But other than that Carter was very smart, loved to laugh, play with blocks, swim, climb on things, run, and play on his swing set. He was rough and tough not many things could hurt Carter. He was a joy to be around, sweet, kind, and lovable. Carter’s favorite bear was his green gummy bear.

This bear sang a song that carter loved and he would dance to it all the time and it also calmed him down made him feel secure.

We had so many plans for Carter. He was about to start Head Start, which is a school for children with autism, and ABA which is a therapy that would help him with life skills. He was destined for so much more than what happened to him.

This all starts February 23, 2019, I was bringing my kids Cayson and Carter to the Chauvin parade, we were catching it at their grandma’s house. When we got there I decided to let Carter go play with his brother Cayson, the other kids outside and his dad. Moments later a friend of mine comes inside and tells me that they found my son Carter in the pool. I immediately rushed out the door, and ran to the pool. Paramedics worked on him for about 30 minutes and they had finally got a pulse.

That was the best news that I heard but we were not out the woods yet. We get to the hospital and the doctor came in and told us that Carter wasn't fully breathing on his own, that he was hooked up to a ventilator and that we could now go see our son. They then put Carter in an ambulance and transported him to Ochsner Children’s Hospital in New Orleans.

When we got there, Carter could open his eyes and was moving, but he was not the same. He was having convulsions and the doctor told us that he was having mini seizures, and that it wasn't a good sign. They did many tests on his brain that came back that Carter had brain damage and we would have to wait 3 days to really know what condition Carter would be in. They did 3 brain death studies that concluded that my son was brain dead and pronounced him dead.

After, my son’s dad, Bobby, asked me if we were going to donate his organs, and I said yes.

My son has saved 4 peoples lives.
Both kidneys were given to a 50 year old woman.
His liver was given to a an infant.
His intestines were given to a teenage girl.
His heart was given to a child under 5 years old.

Though we love and miss our son, we are glad that he was able to give many people a better quality of life.