WESTWOOD, Kan. — You may recognize the name Christopher Garcia.
He was a Kansas City, Missouri, police officer who took his own life in 2019.
However, a decision he made as a teenager allowed him to continue saving lives after his death.
“He joined [the] Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department as a police officer, and worked his way up into being a detective, and he worked the street narcotics unit,” said Sylvia Langhammer, Garcia’s mother.
Langhammer had no idea that a small symbol on a driver's license would turn her son's tragedy into hope for dozens of people.
Many young boys dream of being a superhero when they grow up.
According to Langhammer, her son was a superhero.
"He loved superheroes, and that kind of is what he became himself — a superhero — when he became an organ donor," Langhammer said.
After a decade serving Kansas City, Garcia died by suicide.
It wasn’t until he passed that his family found out that he was an organ donor.
"I feel very blessed that he made the decision," Langhammer said.
His choice turned the family’s tragedy into hope.
"The suicide itself is such a traumatic experience," Langhammer said. "But the recipients we have been able to, they have reached out to us, and it has been our greatest joy to meet them."
Langhammer says losing a child left a piece of her empty, but the more than 70 people her son helped save help to fill the hole.
"It always strikes me right in my heart," Langhammer said.
Langhammer now advocates for organ donation and places a specific importance on multiethnic donation.
"Coming from a Hispanic family, we came to understand that organ donations are lacking," Langhammer said.
According to the Midwest Transplant Network, 613 out of the 2,033 people in Kansas and Missouri waiting for donations are Latinx or Black.
"I think it's our lack of not understanding," Langhammer said.
She wants to change that. She has a message for those willing to learn:
"When you do an organ donation, people are there to support you, to answer all of your questions," Langhammer said. "You're not alone."
Click here to learn more about organ donation, or to sign up for Kansas and Missouri's registries.
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KSHB 41 reporter Olivia Acree covers portions of Johnson County, Kansas. Share your story idea with Olivia.
