It's unusual for patients to know who their donor was, but Chris Henry's mother requested a meeting with all four of the people who received her son's organs.
"She wanted to listen to my lungs with a stethoscope. She went all to pieces because she was listening to Chris' lungs,"
By Karen Kiley, reporter wdbj7,com
NFL player donates his lungs to save a Chatham, Virginia man
Chris Henry's mother donated his organs when he died last December.
CHATHAM, Va. — His death grabbed headlines from coast to coast. NFL football star Chris Henry died last December after falling from the back of a truck. But part of the football star lives on because Chris Henry's death forever changed one local man's life.
"You think you're invincible. Nothing is going to happen to me," said Tom Elliott.
Tom Elliott should be dead, his doctors told him as much.
"He said you can keep on smoking if you want to, but if you do you are going to die," remembers Elliott.
And yet he's alive today because Chris Henry, a wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals, died.
"I just couldn't breath. I was gasping for breath and I thought: God is deciding whether to let me stay or let me go," remembers Elliott.
After 40 years of smoking, Tom was diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, an incurable lung disease.
"I was scared. I didn't know what would happen. I didn't know if I would live through it. I almost didn't...," said Elliott.
Tom's only hope for survival was a double lung transplant.
"I thought there was a good chance he wasn't going to make it," said Lance Elliott, Tom's son.
But on December 17, 2009, after waiting just 10 days for a donor, Tom got the call.
Chris Henry had died. His mother made the decision to donate his organs.
"I think about Chris Henry just about everyday," said Elliott.
It's unusual for patients to know who their donor was, but Chris Henry's mother requested a meeting with all four of the people who received her son's organs.
"She wanted to listen to my lungs with a stethoscope. She went all to pieces because she was listening to Chris' lungs," Elliott said of the emotional meeting.
"I'm sorry he had to give up so much for this to be possible for me but you can't believe how much good came out of it, even though it was a terrible situation," reflected Elliott.
Each breath Tom takes reminds him that he and his family are getting a second chance at life.
"There was no such thing as taking a deep breath before, but there is now," said Elliott.
"I'm just grateful I can spend quality time with him. Now we can get out and enjoy life together," said Bryan Elliott, Tom's son.
"I can't explain how much it means to me to be able to do what I'm doing now. It's just a good life," said Elliott.
Tom Elliott underwent the lung transplant at Duke Medical Center last December.
Just three weeks ago, Elliott and the other three people to receive Chris Henry's organs met his mother at a reception in Charlotte, North Carolina. CBS Sports was there to film a reunion special that aired during an NFL game on Thanksgiving Day.
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