15-year-old girl saves 5 lives with organ donations after death

The state-run organ donation agency on Monday revealed the story of a 15-year-old middle school student, whose post-mortem donation of her vital organs gave five people a new lease on life.

Lee Ye-won, who passed away last year on May 11 after extensive damage to her brain from a cerebral hemorrhage, had her heart, lungs, liver and both kidneys donated to five individuals, said the Korea Organ Donation Agency, an affiliate of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The child collapsed on April 26 of the same year after suffering an acute headache and failed to regain consciousness after surgery. She was pronounced brain-dead.

Lee's parents decided on organ donation, saying that considering their daughter had always been a kind and helpful person, she would have wanted to do something meaningful for the world.

"I hope the people who got a new life from Ye-won will live their lives to the fullest," said the girl's father, Lee Jun-jae.

Lee, the older of two daughters, was a good student who was at the top of her class and whose passion was astronomy. Her goal was to become a professor, given that two of her favorite things were studying and teaching someone else.

Her school gave Lee, who was in her last year of middle school, an honorary diploma and an honor prize.

The KODA also revealed a cartoon drawn by the girl's younger sister, which tells the story of how she hopes to be reunited with her sister in heaven.