2016 Vikki Lianne Moritsugu

VIKKI LIANNE MORITSUGU

Organ and Cornea Donor

Age 21 ~ Arlington, VA

Donated on 09/10/1996

at Inova Fairfax Hospital

Honored by lifelinkfound.org

Vikki Lianne Moritsugu was a sensitive, intelligent, and loving daughter and sister.  At 21 years old, she was a college student who loved the classics and classical language when she was struck by a car one rainy night in Virginia.  When she died, her family was unsure if she wanted to donate. Vikki’s sister remembered that just four years earlier, when their stepmother, Donna Lee Jones Moritsugu, died and donated her organs, she and Vikki discussed how so many people had benefited from Donna’s death and donation. They realized how the family had found comfort and solace in knowing that, despite the tragedy and grief of Donna’s death, others were able to reap the benefit of life. Vikki would have been pleased to help others and that she did.

Vikki’s Story

Vikki Lianne Moritsugu was a sensitive, intellectual, loving daughter and sister, a 21 year old college student who loved the classics and classical language when she was struck by a car one rainy night in Virginia.

She died, but we weren’t sure what she would have wanted, as how many of us discuss death, dying, and end of life wishes with our young children.  When we finally decided to donate her organs and tissues, her older sister remarked that, four years earlier, when their stepmother, Donna Lee Jones Moritsugu, died and donated her organs and tissues to others, the two children, just teenagers at that time, discussed how so many people had benefited from Donna’s death and donation. They realized how we, the family, had found comfort and solace in knowing that, despite the tragedy and grief of her death, others were able to reap the benefit of life.  They decided that they, too, wanted to become organ and tissue donors when they died.

And through Vikki’s donation, several more people regained their lives, and improved the quality of their lives.
• her heart provided new life to a widow with several children in Pennsylvania;
• her kidney went to a single father of three;
• her other kidney helped a mother;
• her liver helped a man in Washington, DC;
• her corneas provided new sight to two people.

Vikki would have been pleased to help others.  Now she is in the stars!