Ashley Gardner/ Texarkana Gazette

Billy Claussen is proud of his son, though he'll never again have the chance to tell him.

Chase Claussen, 18, died on July 17 after injuries received in a car accident, but his family doesn't believe he died in vain. Chase was an organ donor.

"It helps me deal with losing him and it makes me proud," Billy said. "I may have lost him but he saved people himself."

Four people were helped by Chase's death, receiving his heart, liver, pancreas and kidneys.

Stepmom LaNelle Claussen knew about organ donation because she's been in the medical field for more than 20 years, but she said it's totally different when it's someone in your family.

"I knew it was a worthwhile thing to do but I didn't know anything first hand. I did know that it would inevitably be brought up because of the extent of his injuries."

Once doctors talked to the family and informed them Chase wouldn't recover from his injuries, the family knew what they had to do.

"There really wasn't a question of not doing it (organ donation). It's something that has given us some peace. In some ways it gives you the feeling that your loved one is living on."

Chase, a graduate of Thunderbird Youth Academy in Oklahoma, has been described by his family as a handsome boy who smiled a lot and loved baseball.

"He didn't have it marked on his driver's license that he wanted to be an organ donor, but we knew he would because he always wanted to help people," LaNelle said.

"If people were more aware of what organ donation is, it would make it easier on the family because they could make their own decision about it while they are the ones who are able to make the decision," LaNelle said.

Billy plans to take steps indicating he wants to be an organ donor.

"I haven't been an organ donor before but next month when I get my new driver's license, I'm having it put on there," Billy said.

Pam Silvestri of Southwest Transplant Alliance said it's even simpler to be an organ donor than having it marked on your driver's license.

"You don't have to put it on your license. You don't have to sign up anywhere. All you have to do is talk to family members and make sure they know what you want."

There are between eight to 10 organ donors a year whose organs are recovered at either CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital or Wadley Regional Medical Center.

Silvestri estimates this area has the potential for 15 organ donors a year.

Not everyone can be an organ donor.

"An organ donor must be on a ventilator and in the hospital at the time of death and that's unusual in itself but they also have to be relatively healthy. Someone dying of a lengthy illness wouldn't likely be a potential organ donor," Silvestri said.

More organ donors would mean fewer people who die while waiting on the list to receive an organ.

"Nationally, there are 86,000 people on the waiting list. Every day, about 17 people die waiting. That's more than 6,000 people a year. The number of people who get a transplant is about 25,000. More people get organs than don't but we still have people dying only because an organ is not available," Silvestri said.

Organ donation has received national media attention after organ donor William Beed Jr.'s rabies-infected organs were implanted into four people who later died.

It wasn't the kind of publicity that organ recovery agencies like Southwest Transplant Alliance wanted but Silvestri said it may have been good for organ donation in the long run.

"For almost two weeks organ donation was headline news and it got conversations started."

Conversations that Silvestri hopes will ultimately result in more organ donated and more lives saved.