Shown above: NYPD Officer Wilbert Mora (an organ donor) died recently from injuries suffered when an armed domestic violence suspect kicked through a door and opened fire. (Photo source: NYPD)
Slain New York City policeman, Officer Wilbert Mora, told his family of his desire to become an organ donor before he was killed in the line of duty.
His young life was cut short late January 2022 while responding, with fellow officers, to a domestic violence call involving a mother and her son in New York City. Three officers responded to the call which was made by the mother. Two of the officers were ambushed by the son who opened fire. A third officer, who was in a separate room, shot and fatally wounded the shooter. Officer Mora, age 27, was one of two policemen injured. He succumbed to his injuries a few days later. Twenty-two-year-old New York City Police Detective Jason Rivera died on the scene from gunshot wounds.
Leonard Achan, the CEO of LiveOnNY, worked with Officer Mora’s family to help fulfill his request to donate his organs upon his death. “Somebody did receive this hero’s heart,” Achan told Fox News Digital. Mora’s heart beats today in a transplant recipient whose life was saved because of Mora’s ultimate sacrifice, generosity, and heroism. His donated heart, kidneys, pancreas and liver went to three recipients in his home state of New York and two more elsewhere in the country.
Achan’s organization, “Helps New Yorkers Live On.” According to LiveOnNY’s website they are a team of over 200 – clinicians, educators, social workers and other stakeholders who are united around the life-changing power of organ and tissue donation. The organization works to educate and inspire their community about organ and tissue donation through educational events, media outreach, and work in their local schools and communities.
LiveOnNY, helped Mora’s family carry out his last wish. “Once Mora’s family recognized that their loved one would not survive, they agreed to have him transferred from Harlem Hospital to New York University’s Langone Medical Center, one of Live On NY’s 11 transplant facilities. Working with Harlem Hospital, NYU Langone Health, the NYPD and mayor’s office to make this happen was really important to the family and their wishes. This is all about their wishes being honored — and it’s about the ability that they created to save lives,” Achan said in his interview to Fox News Digital.
In addition to the five lives saved through Officer Mora’s ultimate sacrifice, his tissue donation will help heal the lives of up to 50 people.
Officer Wilbert Mora was laid to rest on Tuesday, February 1, 2022. While alive, his family listened when he had “the talk” about his final wish. They made sure the community knew he was a hero in life and a hero in death. His legacy is an act of unselfish concern for the safety, health, and well-being of others.
Anyone can register to become an organ donor at RegisterMe.org. Living donors and organ recipients can contact National Foundation for Transplants when they need help raising funds for out-of-pocket transplant-related expenses. We’ exist to help transplant patients through their most difficult times get to their most wonderful times. You can support their transplant journey with a financial gift.
