LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- As the crowd under the Friday night lights at Trinity fell silent, the Trinity singers sang in remembrance and a mother grieving the death of her son just hours earlier mustered the courage to present the flag that would hang at half-mast in honor of Davey Albright, the young Trinity student was saving lives.
"It was a little ray of sunshine in a very sad time," Cathy Rueff, Davey's fourth-grade teacher, said.
Davey Albright died Friday evening a week after he was swept through a drainage pipe near his home. The young man was remembered as someone with many friends who was always looking to lend a hand.
"If I ever needed a helper in the classroom, Davey was always the first one to help out," Rueff said. "Just a sweet, kind boy."
To honor his caring spirit, Davey's family decided to donate his organs, which are expected to save more than 100 lives. But it was one life in that hit particularly close to home.
Melanie Hughes, an administrator at Trinity, has needed a new kidney and had been seeking a living kidney donor. According to Leigh Ann Saylor, the managing director of Mulligan's Living Kidney Donors, her medical condition and needs were no secret to the Trinity community, with many of the school's staff and parents even getting tested to see if they were a match for her.
"Melanie's condition had deteriorated really pretty heavily," she said. "She really had no quality of life. She had no energy."
Friday morning, Melanie received an unexpected phone call from a familiar face in the Trinity family - a mother faced with unbearable loss and a mother whose son Melanie had been praying for the past week.
"She had actually received a call from Jennifer, Davey's mom, and she said that they were having to turn off life support and they were going to donate Davey's organs, and he would have wanted her to have his kidneys," Saylor, a member of the Trinity family, said.
As Davey was honored and mourned at Trinity Friday evening, Melanie, a fellow Shamrock, received a bittersweet gift - her health at the expense of a community's sorrow.
"I know Jennifer had mentioned that she didn't get her miracle, but she was able to allow others to get their miracle," Rueff said.
Saturday, Davey's mother and sister went and visited Melanie at the hospital, where she continues to recover from the operation. According to Saylor, who also visited Melanie, her recovery is going well and her pain level continues to drop as she is already feeling the healing effects of Davey's kidney.
That miracle continues to make sure Davey's story did not end that Friday night as his kind and unselfish spirit continues to live on in Melanie and the many other lives he has and will change.
►Contact reporter Dennis Ting at dting@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter (@DennisJTing) and Facebook.
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