Hunter Roy

My son Hunter was a vivacious, happy two and half year old with a zest for life and adventure. He had an unusual amount of energy, and always had a smile on his face and twinkle in his eye.

He had a full head of thick, blond hair, big, beautiful hazel eyes, surrounded by long eye lashes and two dimples on his cheeks. He was the closest thing to Heaven on Earth.

He never met a stranger and could always be found cheering up whoever needed it the most. The best way that I can describe his personality as that he was a cross between Eddie Haskell and Denise the Menace, which means he spent most of his days getting into trouble and trying to charm his way out of punishment afterwards.

On a hot summer evening in August 2008, our family was outside playing, as was customary. Hunter was running around grabbing our cat by the tail and chasing her kittens when he was involved in an accident that immediately ended his life. As soon as I realized that he had passed away, I knew that I wanted to donate his organs. My husband immediately agreed. In the end Hunter donated his heart valves and his corneas. It gives me great comfort to know that those twinkling eyes were able to give sight to two people.

In the days, weeks and months that followed Hunter’s death I had to make dozens of decisions. The decision to donate his organs was by far the easiest decision that I made.