Family of 2-year-old boy killed at Disney World urges organ donation

OMAHA, Neb. — A Nebraska couple whose 2-year-old son died tragically at Walt Disney World nearly five years ago wants more families to consider donating their children’s organs if their child is ever facing death.

Matt and Melissa Graves created the Lane Thomas Foundation after their son was killed by an alligator in 2016. The Omaha couple said they decided to focus on pediatric organ donation because they wanted to help other families fighting for their children’s lives and they wanted to help kids because their son loved other children.

“Because we know the pain of losing a child, we wanted to focus on an issue where we believe we can help prevent other parents from knowing our pain. We chose pediatric organ donation because we saw those families struggling with very limited resources to care for their children,” Matt and Melissa Graves said in a statement.

Lane Thomas Graves was playing on a beach outside Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa in June 2016 when an alligator grabbed him and dragged him into the lake. He was gathering sand for a sand castle when the alligator attacked. Matt Graves jumped into the water but was unable to rescue his son. Lane’s body was found 16 hours later.

At Disney World, a sculpture of a lighthouse similar to the one the foundation uses as its logo was later erected near where Lane was killed.

Matt and Melissa Graves say they want parents to talk about organ donation long before they ever face the unthinkable prospect of their child dying.

“No parent is prepared to lose a child ever. The loss is unbearable,” Matt Graves said. “Organ donation may seem like a hard choice to make. … But people who donate their child’s organs are heroes.”

The Graves family’s foundation is moving beyond the small-scale donations it has been making so far to families with children undergoing transplants in Omaha to raise awareness nationally about the need for pediatric organ donation. They cite statistics saying that roughly 100, of the nearly 2,000 children on the national transplant waiting list, die each year while waiting. Finding transplant organs for children is challenging because the pool of donors is so small.