Family: Organs of Lynn man killed in accident have saved four people

LYNN – When 16-year-old Dillon McManus applied for his driver’s permit at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, he asked his mom about the implications of checking the “organ donor” box.She explained that if he were ever killed, it would help save lives. That’s why she does it, she added.”He said, ‘That’s a really good idea. I’m going to donate my organs, too,'” Colleen McManus recalled her son saying as he marked the box on the form.Five years later, Dillon McManus died after a car struck him and his twin brother as they were crossing a Lynn street. His organs have since saved four lives, said his family at a Lynn Classical High School assembly held Friday to raise awareness of organ donation.In the hospital room days after the September accident, as his family came to terms with the unthinkable, Dillon McManus’ status as an organ donor made the decision to donate automatic, said his father, Gerry McManus.”It didn’t make me feel better or worse,” he said. “We made that decision because it was the right thing to do.”A police reconstruction team was investigating how the accident happened and whether to press charges against the driver of the Hummer, 36-year-old city resident Angela Okenkwo.At Friday’s assembly, Colleen McManus read a letter from New England Organ Bank that said her son’s heart saved the life of a college student in Boston who spent eight months in the hospital waiting for such a transplant.”He and his father are incredibly thankful for the second chance of life Dillon has offered,” she read from the letter.Dillon McManus’ liver went to a man in his 30s who is now feeling better; his right kidney went to a woman in her 40s with her own teenage sons. And Dillon McManus’ left kidney gave a young boy, who was so sick he had never eaten food before, the chance to take a gastronomic tour of Boston, Colleen McManus said.”We wanted to embrace the amazing things about Dillon and make them our own. That’s how Dillon lives on with us,” she told the audience of students as she and school officials advocated for the students to consider becoming an organ donor.View a photo galleryOn the stage next to his mother and father was Dillon McManus’ 21-year-old twin, Riley McManus, who wiped away tears as he clutched his crutches.Riley McManus was badly injured in the accident and woke from a medically induced coma nearly a week later to find out he had lost his twin brother.Now home from the hospital, his mother and father said he’s still coming to terms with Dillon’s death.”We’re just coming back to living every day,” Colleen McManus said after the assembly. “We don’t want to act like every day is OK ? We’re entering back into life, but it’s not normal.”Even with the pain still fresh, the family said it was “an honor” to advocate for organ donation at their sons’ alma mater.And Classical senior Brianna Standish said the assembly was a moving show of emotion that reinforced her decision to sign up as an organ donor.”I figure I’m not going to be using them, so why not save a life?” she said.Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected] TO HELP For more information about organ donation and how you can become one, visit www.DonateLifeNewEngland.org.