Tacoma Athlete’s Organs Save Five Lives After Unsolved 2013 Hit-and-Run
USA: Twelve years after a hit-and-run in Tacoma left 23-year-old Rachel Givens dead in the street, her gravesite has become a quiet monument to a decision that turned private tragedy into public救ation. Her mother, Laura, visits the plot looking for solace and affirmation that Rachel’s final wish carried a different kind of meaning beyond the loss. No one has been held accountable for the collision that cut short a life and a promising athletic career.
Laura received the devastating phone call in 2013. Rachel, a two-time state champion athlete, was struck while crossing a Tacoma street and left to die. The family then faced the wrenching choice of whether to authorize organ donation. They followed Rachel’s wishes and proceeded with donation and transplant procedures that followed in the days after her death.
Rachel’s organs went on to save five lives, a concrete outcome that her family and the transplant community point to as part of her legacy. Life Center Northwest is cited for the broader potential of donation: a single donor can save up to eight lives and help restore health to more than 75 others through tissue and biological material. The region continues to grapple with demand, with more than 1,600 Washingtonians currently awaiting transplants.
The story centers on transplantation as both a medical intervention and a social act that reshapes grief into measurable lives saved. Rachel’s choice to be an organ donor, honored by her mother, is presented as an enduring imprint at the gravesite and within the larger statistics of need and possibility in the state. Her legacy remains alive in the recipients, in the numbers that underline a persistent shortage, and in a mother’s ongoing search for peace.
