DULUTH, Minn. (KBJR/Gray News) – A man who died in a car crash days before his birthday will give two people the “gift of sight,” according to his family.
Naomi Gordon was planning what was supposed to be her son’s 20th birthday on Friday.
“I had already ordered things for his birthday. He wanted my mom to make angel food cake,” she said.
Now, she is planning his funeral.
“It’s just been a whirlwind, so I haven’t had time to think,” Naomi Gordon said.
Her 19-year-old son Tyriq Gordon was killed when his car ran off the road early Saturday morning. When officers arrived at the scene, they found that the car had gone 30 feet off the road’s edge and was flipped over and on fire.
Tyriq Gordon was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Nya had gotten up with all the commotion and said, ‘Mom there is someone at the door,’ and I opened up the door and then there was three officers and they said, ‘Can we come in?’ and I just said, ‘Is this real life?’” Naomi Gordon said.
She said her son was a registered organ donor and knowing that he will live on in others gives her hope.
Doctors used his corneas for a transplant.
“Ty will give the gift of sight to two other individuals,” a family friend said.
Susan Mau Larson, the chief administrative officer for LifeSource, an organization specializing in organ donation and transplants in Minnesota, said organ donors are “extending life and hope to those in need.”
“We often hear from families, that their loved one’s donation is something that gave them strength, their loved one’s final act was a legacy of giving and that they were able to save the lives of others,” Larson said.
A GoFundMe was created to help Tyriq Gordon’s family.
“He was awesome. He was the light of our life on the day he was born,” Naomi Gordon said.
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