QB Thanks Donor Who Changed 35 Lives

Sept. 15, 2006 — -- Julie De Rossi, 44, lived life to the fullest: She loved to race cars and scuba dive, and was fiercely protective of her family, especially her son, Aaron Hehr. While her all-or-nothing attitude could, at times, drive them crazy, her family adored her.

"There were times when I loved her to death," says Hehr, now 26, "and there were times I had to remind myself I loved her to death."

Hehr was the last person to see his mother alive. Two years ago, on her way home from her job as a music promoter, she stopped at his house to bring him orange juice because he wasn't feeling well.

After she left, she was hit by a drunk driver going more than 100 miles per hour. The other driver was uninjured. She was rushed to a hospital in Houston.

"It was like 4:15 in the morning," when the hospital called, said De Rossi's mother, Dorothy Hyde. "You know it's bad news."

De Rossi's mother, sister and son gathered around her bedside to say their goodbyes. She never regained consciousness. The family knew she wanted to be an organ donor.

"When a spirit and soul dies, and all that's left is the body," explained De Rossi's mom, "it's a crime to waste all the body that's left. The donor doesn't need it anymore."

To date, that decision to donate organs and tissue has changed the lives of 35 people, including NFL quarterback Carson Palmer, whose knee was rebuilt using De Rossi's Achilles tendon more two years after her death.

Watch a full report on Julie De Rossi's organ and tissue donation gift Sunday on "World News."

De Rossi's family knows she would have approved. Her mom was confident. "She was probably up there watching and saying, 'OK, go for it."

De Rossi's organs were immediately harvested. That's when Paul Ehlinger, 59, got the call.

"Paul picked up the phone," said Vivian, his wife of 38 years. "We think we have a liver for you, and you need to be at the hospital within an hour," the caller said.

Ehlinger quickly gathered his things. He had been on and off the transplant waiting list for a donated liver for years after suffering from hepatitis and liver cancer. This was his last chance at survival.