Steven Anthony Souza |
| Posted 2025-10-02 by Pat R |
| Wickenburg Sun (Wickenburg, Arizona) Wednesday, October 26, 1994, p. A-2 Owner of local McDonald's loses son in accident, but provides organs Robert Souza, who owns the McDonald's restaurant in Wickenburg and lives in the valley, had to make a heartbreaking decision recently. But it was one that resulted in the saving of at least one life and as possibly more. Souza on Oct. 16 signed a form permitting doctors to remove vital organs, tissue, bones, corneas, and skin for research from his son's body after Steven Souza, 18, had been pronounced brain-dead some 14 hours earlier. Steven Souza suffered massive head injuries Oct. 15 in a rollover traffic accident near Casa Grande. He apparently lost control of his car about 5 a.m. and was thrown from it. Reports said he wasn't wearing a seat belt. The ordeal with the Souza family was detailed last weekend in the Arizona Republic--with the emphasis on the donated organs. After his father authorized the removal of Steven Souza's heart and lungs and other vital organs, corneas, bones and skin, his stepmother Denise said, "This way it (Steven's death) doesn't seem so useless and unfair." Steven Souza's heart and lungs have already been received by Jacque- Brooks Jewett, 39, of Scottsdale at Tucson's University Medical Center. She is now recovering from severe illness thanks to her new heart and lungs. "We're so grateful to the family that thought past grief to the good they could do," said Bill Jewett, her husband. Steven Souza's liver went to a 45-year-old Phoenix woman who has four children and two grandchildren. One of his kidneys went to a 63-year-old Phoenix woman who is married with grown children and has been on kidney dialysis for three years; and one to a 36-year-old Phoenix woman who is a married homemaker with three children and has been waiting for a donor for a year. In all, medical authorities say the donations authorized by Robert Souza from his son's body could save as many as 75 lives. Souza said that his son had said organ donation was something he would want to do. "It's a good way for him to be remembered I guess," said Souza. "But it's hard to let go." There are some 430 Arizonans at present awaiting organ donations. |
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