When 17-year-old was driving home from a charitable fundraiser last year, a mishap at an intersection changed her life and the lives of her family and friends forever.

The young woman was a beautiful, A-student and track star at her high school. A teenager with a very giving spirit, she also spent most of her spare time volunteering for local charitable organizations. On that fateful night, she ran a stop sign on her way home and was hit broadside by a pickup truck. Rushed to University Medical Center by the TraumaOne helicopter service, she was in surgery within minutes of arrival.

Her doctors diagnosed a severe brain injury and massive internal bleeding. The trauma surgeon removed her shattered spleen to stop the bleeding. A neurosurgeon was called in to help relieve the swelling in her brain.

Throughout the young woman's ordeal, her devoted parents never left her side. Classmates created a banner signed by hundreds of friends.

She took a turn for the worst when a CT scan showed her brain contusions had tripled in size and blood flow to the brain had stopped. It was a sure sign of brain death and the end of her life.

In death, as in life, she was a loving, giving person. Her choice, and the choice of her parents, was to donate as many of her organs as possible to people who needed them. Shortly after her death, her organs saved the lives of at least six people.