One family’s tragedy has given hope to 51 other families.

On Tuesday, National Donor Day, we brought our readers the story of Jacob Grady, a 21-year-old Renfrew man who died after a snowmobile accident on New Year’s Eve in 2020. Jacob loved snowmobiling, riding his jet ski, boating, dirt bikes and mountain bikes and especially enjoyed time spent with family and friends.

Jacob was taken to Allegheny General Hospital, where his kidneys, heart, liver, pancreas and corneas were recovered. Fifty-one people received his organs, tissue, skin grafts and veins.

A cornea was transplanted in an 8-year-old boy who previously could only see light and dark. He now is learning to spell words and tell the difference between colors.

More than 110,000 people are waiting for lifesaving organ transplants, according to Donate Life America. That’s more than the country’s largest football stadium can hold. Like America, the list is diverse — it includes people of every age, ethnicity and gender.

In 2021, nearly 20,400 donors gave new life to recipients and their families, and 880,000 transplants have been performed nationwide since 1988. Another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every nine minutes, according to Donate Life America.

Jacob’s brother is proud that his brother was able to help so many people.

“My brother’s legacy is still living. He will never be forgotten. I’m very proud of him,” Johnathan Grady said.

If you haven’t considered being an organ donor, please do so. You would live on in others.

And, as in the case of the Grady family, your family may form a lifelong bond with a recipient and his family, a recipient whose life may have been saved by your unselfish gift of life.

— JGG