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15-year-old boy’s organ donation saves 9-year-old Texas girl’s life

Posted at 8:35 PM, Aug 17, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-17 20:35:00-04

Independence, MO (WDAF) — An Independence couple is raising awareness about organ donation after their 15-year-old son saved a little girl’s life.

Bret and Eula Motelet said they’re able to better cope with the loss of their son because his heart beats on in someone else.

“Just a real joy. I called him my sunshine. He was always happy,” Eula Motelet said.

Brian Motelet’s mother said he was the perfect baby. Then he came down with the flu when he was 8 months old. His mom said it developed into a seizure disorder by the time he was 1 year old.

“He had a full life physically, but mentally he had the mind of a 15- to 36-month-old,” Eula Motelet said.

Brian died at the age of 15 on Aug. 4 this year, but the Motelets said their son’s spirit lives on. He was an organ donor, and his heart went to a 9-year-old girl in Texas.

“I knew it was them because they posted when they found out they were getting a heart. It was at the same time we found out somebody was a match,” Bret Motelet said.

“I could do nothing but cry,” Kaycee Kelm told FOX4 in a FaceTime interview.

Kelm said her family got the call they’d been waiting for at 8:15 p.m. the night Brian passed.

Her 9-year-old daughter Belle had an over-sized heart that couldn’t function well enough on its own — and she was getting Brian’s heart.

“I was amazed and happy that my daughter, of course, had a heart, but I knew what that meant for another family,” Kelm said.

Kelm said the Motelets found her on Facebook almost a week later.

“Brian’s legacy is living on by helping this young girl continue with her life, and her parents and all the lives that are being touched as a result,” Bret Motelet said.

The Motelets said they want to raise awareness about organ donation. Despite losing his own life, Brian saved countless others.

One kidney and pancreas went to a 26-year-old woman in the Midwest, and the other kidney and his liver went to a 62-year-old woman in the Midwest, but the Motelets said they can`t find them.

“I want my child`s memory to live on, and I just want the world to know he was my son, and I`m proud of him,” Eula Motelet said.

“Why not, why not save a life?” Bret Motelet said.

And they said if Brian couldn’t live a long, prosperous life, why not give another family that chance?

“I like to think everything happens for a reason, so maybe this did,” Bret Motelet added.

“It gives me peace knowing that Brian`s still here,” Brian’s mother said.

They`ve already made plans to meet Belle, so when she`s healthy and her immune systems builds up they are going to meet.

A Go Fund Me page has been started to help the Motelet family pay for Brian’s funeral arrangements. Additionally, friends of Kelm’s are selling t-shirts with all funds raised going to Belle’s medical expenses.

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