Twenty-one-year-old Army Ranger Benjamin Kopp was killed after sustaining wounds in a firefight in Afghanistan in July. His organs were donated and now a 57-year-old Illinois woman has the heart of a hero beating in her chest.
The Chicago woman was in line for a heart transplant, and happened to be friends with Kopp's cousin. It turned out, the young Ranger from Minnesota had a heart that was a perfect match for her.
Kopp was involved in a firefight in Afghanistan one month ago today. It was his third combat tour with the 3rd Bn of the 75th Ranger regiment - the same unit I was a member of in the 1990s. During enemy action, Kopp was hit in the leg. The bullet punctured his femoral artery, and though he was rushed from the battlefield into surgery, loss of blood caused him to go into cardiac arrest on the operating table. He lingered for several days, then died July 18.
But Kopp had indicated on his driver's license that he wanted to be an organ donor. (I hope you have done the same!) So his heart, liver, kidneys and pancreas were all removed and donated.
Kopp's courage and selfless service prove his heroism, and in one final act of caring, he saved the life of Judy Meikle. After the successful surgery to replace her failing heart with the strong, young heart of the fallen Ranger, she said, "How can you have a better heart? I have the heart of a 21-year-old Army Ranger war hero beating in me."
Indeed.
Please pray for the family of this heroic young man, and thank God for men like him who continue to bleed and die making the world a better, safer place.