ATLANTA — Last September, Reeves Broussard was honored at North Fulton Hospital after dying from a brain bleed and choosing to give life to multiple other people by donating his organs.
His family said it was no surprise that their son was an organ donor and find comfort in knowing that a part of him lives on.
They want others to learn from their experience and become donors as well.
Charlie and Frankie Broussard told Channel 2 that their son Reeves had just landed his dream job with Chick-fil-A and was active at church.
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“Well you know, a little biased. Reeves was a great son. A Boy Scout, you know, an Eagle Scout, went to Tech, totally impressed because being Georgia grads, we kinda look down on Tech,” his father Charlie joked. “I guess we didn’t realize till the end that how well connected he had gotten with, with people and his faith.”
In September Reeves suffered a major brain bleed.
When it became clear he would not survive the Broussards decided to uphold his wish to be an organ donor.
“The Life Link people came in and and the young lady took us in and started walking us through the process. Of course, we weren’t as familiar. And, you know, we had kind of set ourselves up for what was coming. And then we found out, okay, your son is like the perfect candidate, brain only healthy, good organs,” Charlie said.
They were told by Life Link the process of testing his organs to be sure his organs could be used would take around 48 hours.
“So that delayed our, you know, closure. But it, in one sense there was - the positive was we got the word out to more friends so they could come to that and see him,” Charlie said.
When it was time to recover his organs, family, friends, and hospital staff lined the halls to honor him.
“There were two, maybe 200 people at the honor walk. It was amazing. And I don’t think the hospital quite knew what to do with us all, but it was what a tribute to him. It was perfect for him. He would have loved it,” his mother Frankie said.
Reeves was able to donate his kidneys, liver, and heart. Life Link told his parents that Reeves’ heart went to a parent of four children.
“So in one sense, we feel like he’s still living. He’s still with us somewhere. And that’s just that’s that’s a very positive, you know. At the same time, while we miss him, we know what he wanted and the way he was always giving,” Charlie said.
They want to encourage everyone to find out what the wishes of your loved ones are and to honor them and remember the people waiting.
“Well, I think to just being if I were in that position of waiting for an organ, what a great feeling that would be to know you’re going to get the chance at life,” Frankie said.
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