7 year old dies on family outing Family DONATES ORGANS AND SAVES 3 LIVES

[Tinah1968]

This happened in Liberty Texas about 2 hours from Houston..

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6424953.html







EDITED:Moved from off topic to news articles-kitkatz,Moderator

[okarol]

Amid tragic loss come acts of love
Liberty County shooting victim’s organs save 3 children
By CINDY HORSWELL HOUSTON CHRONICLE
May 14, 2009, 9:36PM

Coffey views himself as a father above all else and says that ethic dictates his every choice.

Even during the maddening grief he felt after the fatal shooting a week ago of his 7-year-old son, his own namesake whom he affectionately called “Junior,” he would not compromise his principle.

His thoughts turned to the two young sons of the couple charged with shooting his boy, and he decided to make sure they were being cared for. He thought, too, of other families going through the same pain as he and his wife, and they decided to donate their son’s organs.

Gale and Sheila Muhs are in the Liberty County Jail, charged in the shooting that killed Donald Coffey Jr. and wounded his father, his 5-year-old sister, Destiny, and family friend Patrick Cammack, 30.

The Muhses have two boys, ages 8 and 16, attending the same Dayton school district as Coffey’s two surviving children.

While eager for justice for his son, Coffey went to the school district offices to check on the welfare of the Muhses’ boys and learned they were safely at a grandmother’s home outside the district.

“I didn’t want anybody to bother them or pick on them. They’re not at all responsible for this,” Coffey said in his first interview since the shooting.

Dayton Superintendent Greg Hayman was surprised to learn of Coffey’s concern for the Muhses’ boys.

“I think it was an amazing expression of love in the face of insurmountable loss,” Hayman said. “It gives people hope.”

Family knew the Muhses
The group was returning from joy riding near a levee and swimming in the Trinity River when the shooting happened. They had pulled over in their vehicles on a publicly accessible road near the Muhses’ home, where a sign posted in front of their tiny house said trespassers would be shot and survivors would be shot again.

The Muhses, both 45, are charged with aggravated assault. The Liberty County Sheriff’s Office said Sheila Muhs called 911 after the shooting and reported, “They’re running over our levee in big-wheel vehicles, and I shot them.”

Despite that matter-of-fact explanation, Coffey doesn’t understand why the tragedy had to happen.

In the past, he said, he has given four-wheeler rides to the Muhses’ 8-year-old boy. He also recalls friendly visits with the Muhs family, including a jovial conversation with Sheila Muhs and her eldest son two hours before the shooting.

In those awful moments after the shooting, Coffey faced many decisions, but he said probably the most difficult was donating his son’s organs so other children might live.

He remembers “feeling weird” and unsure how his wife, Becky, would react. Their son’s organs were kept oxygenated after doctors declared him brain-dead Saturday at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.

Coffey knew his wife was struggling as much as he was to accept that their blond, bespectacled boy would never again run through the mud or ride through the Liberty County countryside he loved.

While most of the events at the hospital are a blur, Coffey remembers eventually telling hospital staff that he supported donating his son’s organs. But he ached at the thought of asking his wife’s permission, saying he just couldn’t do it.

That’s when he learned that his wife had given her permission minutes earlier.

“Neither of us could imagine having another family go through this, if we could help it,” he said. “There’s no words that exist in the dictionary that can describe what we’ve been through. It’s indescribable.”

Helping three children
When the Coffeys left the hospital without their son, they were told his organs had been used to save the lives of three children.

“I don’t know if there were any others later. It’s irrelevant to me,” Coffey said. “I won’t ask.”

But one day, the Coffeys would like to meet those who received the organs.

“We hope to know their names and talk to them,” he said. “We can’t force it, but we would like it.”

Catherine Burch Graham, spokeswoman for LifeGift, the organ and tissue recovery agency that handled the Coffey case, said she will help the couple compose a letter to the recipients about meeting.

“We usually wait at least six months because not only the families of the donors, but sometimes recipients, have emotional challenges,” she said, such as feeling guilty for being alive when another died.

Usually, only children have the organs small enough for other children, she said, and many die before one becomes available. Nearly 10,000 children and adults are waiting on transplant lists in Texas, and one in three will die before they have a donor, records show.

Graham said Donald Jr.’s legacy will be his gift to other children with life-threatening health issues.

cindy.horswell@chron.com

 

[twirl]

this hits too close to home
so sorry about it
what in the world were those people thinking
we have driven around there
could have been us

Tina1968
thanks for sharing the story

[Tinah1968]

I agree Twirl i go to the Trinity river all the time and the Leevy is not to far from there just to think that these people did this is awful...

[monrein]

I really admire this father's compassion for the kids of the shooters as well as for those needing organs but I'm totally gobsmacked by the mentality of the couple who did the shooting.  Are they being considered mentally ill? or is it considered acceptable to shoot "trespassers" on to property?  So sad and unnecessary and downright strange really.

[Tinah1968]

Monrein,

If you saw the pictures of these to people you would think they needed help.... They look like they are on Drugs and not stable. But, it still does not give them the right to Shoot someone. Especially someone that was not "trespassing". They took matters into their own hand and killed an innocent child.. They should have called the police and if they were trespassing then the police would deal with it.. But they just started shooting. I have the 1st atricle on this I will post the link... 

[Tinah1968]

here is the Original Article with the pictures of these people.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/6415360.html

[monrein]

They sure do appear to need help and quite a lot of it at that.  The first helpful thing would be for them not to be allowed to possess any firearms under any circumstances and that would be step one of about a hundred.  Their poor children.

[Tinah1968]

If you remember the story... They have just been Charged with Murder for killing this little boy. Sad Story.

Liberty couple indicted for murder in boy's shooting death
By DALE LEZON Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
June 5, 2009, 10:08AM
1 2 3 4
 
Liberty County Sheriff’s Office
Gale Muhs is charged with murder and attempted murder.

Share
 Print Share Del.icio.usDiggTwitterYahoo! BuzzFacebookStumbleUponA Liberty County couple has been indicted for murder and other charges after police say they shot at a family returning from an outing along the Trinity River last month.

A 7-year-old boy, who was shot in the head, died at the hospital on May 9, two days after the shooting.

Gale and Sheila Muhs, both 45, each were indicted Wednesday on one charge of murder and seven counts of attempted murder in the shooting that occurred in the Westlake area about 9 p.m. on May 7.

Donald Coffey Jr. died. The boy's father, Donald Coffey, 37, and 5-year old sister, Destiny, and a family friend, Patrick Cammack, 30, were wounded.

The Muhses were arrested May 8 at their home near the river and are in the Liberty County jail.

Sheila Muhs reportedly called 911 after the shootings and told the dispatcher, "They're running over our levee in big-wheel vehicles, and I shot them."

Investigators said the victims were riding in a sport utility vehicle and a Jeep and were passing in front of the Muhses' house when the couple came outside with their 12-gauge shotgun and shouted for those in the vehicles to "get out."

Immediately afterward, the couple took turns firing one shot each, investigators said.

Donald Jr. was hit in the face, Cammack was wounded in the neck, and Destiny and her father were treated for pellet wounds.

Authorities estimated the Muhses were about 40 yards from the four victims, who were unarmed, when the shots were fired.

The group was returning from joy riding near a levee and swimming in the Trinity River and had pulled over on a road near the Muhses' home.

The road runs between the Muhses' house and the levee surrounding a lake. Investigators say the public has access to the road and levee.

Cammack's wife, Cindy Nelton, and Donald Jr.'s mother, Becky Coffey, were riding in the vehicles but were not injured. Another family member and a friend also were in the vehicles and were not hurt.