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Watching today's story on Nicholas Green, I'm in awe of how one 7-year-old boy can change an entire country.
That's what Nicholas and his family did following a terrible tragedy back in 1994. The family was on vacation in Southern Italy when their car was overtaken on a dark highway. Bandits shot into the car trying to get them top stop. When they finally did, Reg and Maggie Green found their sweet boy, Nicholas, had been shot in the head. The gunmen were nowhere in sight. Nicholas never regained consciousness.
The Greens made, what was for them, an obvious choice. They donated their son's organs. It seemed obvious to the family, but they had no idea how unusual this was in Italy in the early '90's. Italians just didn't do that sort of thing, which explained one of the lowest organ donation rates in Europe.
But when the country saw the generosity of this one family to give to their countrymen, they were overwhelmed. Things haven't been the same since. In the last 13-years since Nicholas died, organ donation rates in Italy have tripled! Thousands of lives have been saved.
Nicholas' dad, Reg Green, has now written a new book called "The Gift That Heals" . He follows all sorts of people and families through the transplantation process. You'll learn more watching today's webcast.
The beauty of this blog is that allows me to share the part of the story that didn't fit in the video.
Whenever I interview someone who has lost a loved one to a great tragedy I always want to know about the person, not just the tragedy. In that spirit I asked Reg about Nicholas. He shared that his son was a very imaginative little boy and loved to roll play and play games, especially ones that called for his imaginary character to do noble deeds. Talk about one intuitive little boy!
Reg shared this story:
"A few days before he was killed, we were playing a game in which Nicholas was a Roman soldier. He was going back to Rome after many years on the frontier. And when he went back to Rome we said, 'You'll be a hero. Poems will be written about you. People all over the world will know about you.'
It was just a game, but it all came true with this difference, Nicholas didn't conquer by the force of arms, but by the power of love and of course, that is much stronger."
Yes, it is indeed. I love that is still felt 13 years later.
You can learn more about Nicholas and how you and your family can make a difference at the family's website, NicholasGreen.org.
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