Transplant recipient meets parents of 22-year-old organ donor killed in crash

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The recipient of a life-saving liver transplant met the organ donor’s family for the first time Saturday at an Indiana Donor Network 5K in downtown Indianapolis. 

The families of Joseph Strachan and Kim Roger invited News 8 to witness the emotional meeting before the race, saying it was a “miraculous” moment they had looked forward to for months. 

Strachan, a registered organ donor from Mooresville, died in March 2017 following a car accident.

As a donor, the 22-year-old was able to give the “gift of life” to five people, doctors said.

The recipients included Kim Roger, a Greenwood woman who had been diagnosed with end-stage liver disease. 

“I was saved because of a young man who gave selflessly,” she said. “I am eternally grateful.” 

Roger’s eyes filled with tears as she embraced Strachan’s parents in front of a sign honoring the Mooresville High School graduate at the 5K. 

More than a dozen signs bearing photos and biographies of organ donors had been arranged in the grass near the start line of the race. 

Strachan’s parents, Pat and Mark Strachan, said they “couldn’t be more proud” of their son. 

They first learned he had registered as an organ donor when they arrived at the hospital the night of his fatal accident and said they were initially overwhelmed by mixed emotions. 

“We realized we were losing him,” his mother told News 8. “But then they explained how many lives he could save. [These were] people who needed transplants to live.”

Roger and the Strachans said they shared their story in hopes of encouraging others to become organ donors. 

More than 115,000 patients nationwide currently await a life-saving organ transplant, the Indiana Donor Network said; nearly 1,500 are Indiana residents.