Luca Campanaro: Teenager's organs 'save four lives'
- Published
Luca Campanaro was fatally injured while playing in goal for Bedgrove Dynamos
The mother of a teenage goalkeeper who suffered a brain injury during a match is appealing to parents to talk to their children about organ donation.
Luca Campanaro, 14, from Aylesbury, was injured in a collision while playing for Bedgrove Dynamos in December. He died a day later.
His family revealed Luca's organs saved four lives - including a baby girl.
Joanne Campanaro said: "Have the conversation - because the unthinkable can happen."
An inquest recorded a verdict of accidental death.
The teenager's donated organs saved four lives, his family said
Luca collided with a forward during the under-15 match against Harefield United in Hillingdon, west London.
"You expect broken arms, broken ribs, broken legs," his mother said. "He was a goalkeeper, you would expect some injury.
"When he went down, there was no way I was thinking that he was not coming home."
Joanne Campanaro is appealing to parents to "have the conversation" about organ donation
Ms Campanaro said she had spoken to her son about the issue during a television programme about organ donation.
" I asked him what his choice would be if something happened to him, would he want to help someone else?" she said.
"He sat there and pondered and then said: 'I think I would.'"
She added: "It was just a random conversation and not for one second did I think I would have to go back to it."
Ms Campanaro - who also has a 12-year-old son, Santino - said she had received a letter from the parents of the baby, who is doing well after receiving part of the teenager's liver.
"If I can help one family in that position, where the question of organ donation is dropped on them at an awful time, it is a good thing," she said.
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