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Forums - General Discussion - Teen who got heart transplant dies in crash during car chase

Aeolus451 on 02 April 2015

 

Teen who got heart transplant dies in crash during chase

 

By Kate Brumback                                                  

 

ATLANTA (AP) — An Atlanta area teenager who said a heart transplant two years ago gave him a second chance at life died this week when he lost control of the car he was driving while fleeing police, according to police records.

Anthony Tremayne Stokes, 17, died Tuesday when the car he was driving hit a bank sign, a Roswell police officer wrote in an incident report. The officer noticed the black Honda Accord fit the description of a vehicle involved in a home invasion a short time earlier, the report says. The officer tried to pull the car over, but the driver refused to stop, the report said.

The car had also been reported stolen in a carjacking in nearby Dunwoody earlier Tuesday, the report says.

In August 2013, local news media quoted Stokes' family as saying that doctors at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston refused to put Stokes on a transplant waiting list because of his troubled past and their belief he wouldn't comply with the strict plan for medication and follow-up treatment.

Stokes, who was 15 at the time, needed a new heart because he suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy. The news media reports at the time quoted the mother as saying that her son would likely die within six to nine months without a new heart.

The hospital said in statements at the time that transplant evaluations are an ongoing process and that doctors were working with the family on a care plan. But it quickly reversed course and agreed to put Stokes on the list. He received a heart transplant on Aug. 21, 2013.

Just over a month later, Stokes told a reporter with WSB-TV in Atlanta that the transplant would help him stay out of trouble.

"So I can live a second chance. Get a second chance and do things I want to do," Stokes told the television reporter.

Roswell police said they believe Stokes is the person wearing a mask who forced open the carport door of a home Tuesday afternoon and left once he realized an 81-year-old woman who lived there was home. Police believe he was fleeing that house when the chase began.

Stokes had also been arrested in January and charged with possession of tools for the commission of a crime and criminal attempt, according to DeKalb County court records. He was released from jail a few weeks later after posting $5,000 bond.

Source

I think that they should of never gave him the heart. The doctors were right in the first place. What do you think?



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d21lewis on 02 April 2015

Saw this on Facebook, yesterday. I kept it to myself but damn. What a let down. I went to his Facebook page. Example of when "keeping it real" goes wrong.



d21lewis on 02 April 2015

Community leaders really backed the wrong horse on that one. Why we keep rallying behind perceived "bad boys" as heroes and victims and not awesome guys that were cops and love Nintendo is beyond me. I'm at work but somebody should post a picture (or ten) of this guy so we can see exactly who it was that the people rallied behind.



Aeolus451 on 02 April 2015
d21lewis said:
Community leaders really backed the wrong horse on that one. Why we keep rallying behind perceived "bad boys" as heroes and victims and not awesome guys that were cops and love Nintendo is beyond me. I'm at work but somebody should post a picture (or ten) of this guy so we can see exactly who it was that the people rallied behind.

As per requested...


 



MikeRox on 02 April 2015

Utterly tragic.

I'm glad I don't have the burden of responsibility of deciding who lives and who dies with transplants.



RIP Dad 25/11/51 - 13/12/13. You will be missed but never forgotten.

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RCTjunkie on 02 April 2015

“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.”

- J.R.R. Tolkien

As upsetting and tragic as that is, you can't just deny someone a heart or organ based on what they are thought to do in the future. People change drastically and we don't know what they'll be like in the future.



WHO IS JESUS REALLY?

dukerx2 on 02 April 2015

What a waste



d21lewis on 02 April 2015
RCTjunkie said:
“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.”

- J.R.R. Tolkien

As upsetting and tragic as that is, you can't just deny someone a heart or organ based on what they are thought to do in the future. People change drastically and we don't know what they'll be like in the future.

I agree.  I'm trying hard not to pretend to be perfect, but wow.  He let everybody down.  I saw the news story.  Who can say that a fifteen year old kid should be denied a heart?  Who can say that someone was more deserving?  I'm not that person.  But what he did with that second Chance just frustrates me to no end.  Hindsight 20/20 etc....



MikeRox on 02 April 2015
RCTjunkie said:
“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.”

- J.R.R. Tolkien

As upsetting and tragic as that is, you can't just deny someone a heart or organ based on what they are thought to do in the future. People change drastically and we don't know what they'll be like in the future.


Pretty much. Fantastic quote that fits this perfectly. Yes, it was a "waste" of a heart. But who is really qualified to say who should and shouldn't live, and how do we know such a gift wouldn't have been something which changed the guys mind and life direction.



RIP Dad 25/11/51 - 13/12/13. You will be missed but never forgotten.

Aeolus451 on 02 April 2015
RCTjunkie said:
“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.”

- J.R.R. Tolkien

As upsetting and tragic as that is, you can't just deny someone a heart or organ based on what they are thought to do in the future. People change drastically and we don't know what they'll be like in the future.


 Yes, a doctor can deny or approve of who gets an organ based on statistical data. Who would do the most with the organ vs who would it be a waste with.  There's a limited supply of organs and a long list of people needing them. It's a hard choice but it needs to be made.

When that heart was given to him, someone else died as a result. Could of been a guy with a young wife, two kids and a blooming career or anyone else that would of lived a life worthy of it. He not only wasted his second chance but someone else's as well. 

It was a tragedy that the heart was squandered.