Ricky Allen Greenwell Jr, Donor

I lost my one and only child, but he saved 3 others lives...

Ricky, my 42-year-old son was taken of life support and pasted earlier this year. He died from an overdose of Fentanyl, was found in cardiac arrest and no heartbeat at a car wash in Portland, Oregon. When the paramedics arrived, they worked on him for 15 minutes before they got a heartbeat. He was a John Doe when found. No cell phone, no wallet and no backpack, which he always carried with him. Ricky had no brain activity. They took his fingerprints in order to identify him. The hospital called his parole officer and she called his mentor/sponsor/ friend, who called me, his mother. I flew to Portland from Phoenix to be with him. That’s when I found out that Ricky was an organ donor. I requested Ricky be taken off the ventilator and allow him to move on. The Doctor said he would like me to talk to the donor team. After talking to them, I chose to keep him on the ventilator while they prepared the testing to see if he was a good candidate for donating his organs. He had a good strong heart, liver and kidneys. Once that was clarified, we got an immediate request for his heart, then kidneys and liver. Ricky’s heart and one kidney went to one recipient, his liver to another and his other kidney to yet another. The harvest took place and within a few hours all of the recipients had their new organs. I lost my one and only child, but he saved 3 others lives.