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

Stan Taylor and Evelyn Morgas chat with Taylor's granddaughter, Ashley Taylor, before a ceremonial flag raising to kick off National Donate Life Month at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. Taylor had a double lung transplant with lungs donated from Morgas's daughter Priscilla. (Kristin Murphy/The Deseret News via AP)

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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1 Comment

  • Susan Smart April 4, 2019 at 11:05 pm Reply

    21 people will die everyday unable to get the organ they need to survive. Three times as many organs come available as are needed, but a family member can veto the person’s donor wishes if the donor is not registered on line!

    Go to Yes! Utah.org and register so no one can veto your gift because of fear or ignorance.

    Both my daughter’s life and that of my gr son were saved by the gift from a family member and the kindness of strangers.

    Please don’t take your organs to heaven. Heaven knows we need them here!

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