Four Lives Saved, Thanks To Organs From Dying Girl
Submitted by N.O.V.A. July 2005
Times Picayune	08-12-1998


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Preschooler Marissa Myers short life began in an intensive-care unit and ended the same
way.

The 3 -year-old Arabi child, who was born prematurely and beat long odds to survive,
suffered extensive head and leg injuries in a car wreck in Knoxville, Tenn., Thursday
and died Friday afternoon in the University of Tennessee Medical Center intensive care
unit, authorities said.

But Marissas mother, Laurie Schick Myers, wanted her curly blond-haired, blue-eyed
child to save others. Her organs were donated to save four lives.

I always told her she was going to do great things, Myers said. This baby was a miracle
because she wasnt supposed to live when she was born three months premature. She was a
miracle when she was born and she still is a miracle. How many children are critically
injured and have all their organs spared?

Marissas child seat saved her heart and vital organs, which were donated and saved
three children and one adult, said Don Hutson, senior organ recovery coordinator with
Tennessee Donor Services.

Myers husband, Frank, 31, a Kentwood Water retail driver, said he thinks a hydraulic
jack in the trunk saved their son, 10-month-old Matthew Myers, who was in a child seat
on the passenger side. There were no other serious injuries.

On the way home from Gatlinburg, Laurie Myers, 30, said, the luggage carrier on top of
the familys Toyota Corolla came open. When Frank Myers pulled over to the shoulder to
close it, the car was hit from behind.

Knoxville Police Department Public Information Officer Foster Arnett said the accident
report says Frank Myers was backing up eastbound in a west-

cb>bound acceleration ramp and he was rear-ended by a car that was entering the ramp on
Interstate 40 at the Midway Road exit in Knoxville.

Neither driver has been cited. The accident is under investigation, Arnett said.

As her parents prepare to bury Marissa today with an 11 a.m. Mass at St. Bernard
Memorial Funeral Home in Chalmette, they said they are comforted by the fact that they
were able to donate Marissas organs.

Hutson said Marissas family touched him more than any other donors family in more than
six years of work. Laurie Myers wanted to be more involved than most donor families.

When the neurosurgeon said that brain death was imminent, after screaming the words,
No, no, she expressed to the family that, Theres only one thing we can do and that is
help another family.... When they removed (Marissas) heart, Laurie said, I want to be
outside when they leave with my babys heart. I want to know that my babys heart is
working her magic and miracles,"' Hutson said. Laurie Myers watched as medical
personnel left to whisk the vital organs to other hospitals, he said.

Laurie Myers said she and her husband wanted to take Marissa, described as a vivacious,
loving child, on a vacation to the mountains so she would know there were things more
beautiful than the Kaiser smokestack and the Chalmette Refinery flare, which Marissa
always marveled over.

She was so appreciative on the trip, Laurie Myers said. She would say, Mommy, we up in
the clouds. Thank you, Jesus."'

Donations to a fund in Marissa Myers name to defray the familys medical and funeral
expenses may be made at any Hibernia National Bank branch.