2 Utah families bonded after organ donation saved man’s life

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Evelyn Morgas lost her 40-year-old daughter to a stroke in 2015, but she said she feels like she’s hugging her again every time she embraces the Utah man who received her daughter’s lungs.

The Morgas family met Stan Taylor, of West Valley City, about a year after the lung transplant from Priscilla Morgas, and they immediately became friends, the Deseret News reported Tuesday.
“They’re just the same sort of people we are — we just sort of clicked in every way,” Taylor said.

The two families stay in contact and meet up regularly.

Evelyn Morgas said her daughter would have loved to know that her organs helped save lives.

“People say they’re buried and they’re in the ground, but this one — Priscilla — is not buried, and she’s not in the ground — not all of her anyway,” Evelyn Morgas said. “Just so many parts of her are just somewhere in the world living on.”

The University of Utah Hospital highlighted stories like that of Stan Taylor and the Morgas family in honor of National Donate Life Month.

The state has more than 750 people waiting for organs, according to Utah Donor Registry. More than 123,000 people need organs across the country.

Organ donation can help families during the grieving process, said Dr. Safdar Ansari, chairman of the hospital’s Organ Donor Council.

“And where I see organ donation helping most is with the families and the caregivers,” Ansari said. “Their grieving process is really, really alleviated and improved with the knowledge that their loved one, though . passed away, their loved one’s organs survive and give love and give hope and give meaning to other severely disabled and very, very ill patients.”

The University of Utah Hospital recovered 91 organs and transplanted 45 last year.
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Information from: Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com