By Brian Bethel

Friday, March 20, 2009

Abilene area resident Christopher Shields died in a motorcycle accident last year, but he still gives life to others every day.

Shields, almost 23 when he died, donated his heart, liver, kidneys, corneas and pancreas to a number of people, many of whom have found renewed health and hope.

He is being honored along with other Texas organ donors in a video that will be shown throughout the state.

Every year, the Southwest Transplant Alliance, the local organ donation agency, hosts events across Texas to honor families who have donated their loved ones' organs, said Pam Silvestri, spokeswoman for the group.

Events are hosted in Dallas, El Paso, Corpus Christi, Beaumont, Odessa, Temple, Tyler and Wichita Falls. The Shields family will be attending an event in Midland/Odessa on April 4.

"For the past couple of years, we have produced a video that is shown at each of these events in order to introduce the individuals who were organ donors to the audiences statewide," Silvestri said.

After three years of studying history at McMurry University, Christopher Shields took a break from his goal of becoming an archaeologist and found a career he loved, working for wind farms as a technician, said his mother, Liz Shields.

He loved the motorcycle he was riding when an accident claimed his life on April 20, she said.

Though she admits that grief still troubles her, Liz Shields said she is in contact with Joseph Gonzales, 30, in Houston, who received one of her son's kidneys and his pancreas.

Other contact has come from the Missouri man, 44, who received his heart.

Liz Shields has seen before and after pictures of the man, who has regained his health. In fact, the heart began to beat on its own without any prompting from physicians, she said.

"Knowing that Christopher's heart still beats in another person makes this just a tiny bit more bearable," she said.

It's the sort of gift she believes her son would have approved of.

Joseph Gonzales, who received Shields' kidney and pancreas, used to have dialysis three days a week for four hours a day, his health woes caused by Type 1 diabetes.

Thanks to his transplants, he has gone from having doubts as to whether he would even live to contemplating having a family.

Never an idle person, Christopher Shields wrote a song for Matthew Shields, 20, when one of his friends shot himself.The song has great meaning to Thomas Hicks, 21, who befriended Christopher Shields at Trent High School and remained fast friends until his death.

"He was one of the most giving people I've ever known," he said. "He'd give you the shirt off of his back."

Register to be an organ donor at www.donatelifetexas.org