CHICAGO — An asthma attack took the life of Chicago college student Samya Dismukes too soon, but her family has turned the loss into a lifesaving gift by donating her organs.
Memories of the 20-year-old make her family and friends smile. Her college friends were in Chicago this week for her funeral, where they helped comfort her family.
Dismukes collapsed in her off-campus apartment on Oct. 20 and was put on life support in a Maryland hospital near her school, Howard University.Asthma’s very common in my family. We’re no stranger to it, but we’re a stranger to it taking someone’s life,” her aunt Lisa Dismukes said.
She was on life support for almost two weeks when her family decided to let her go.
The cost to bring her back to Chicago was $25,000. Her friend Jen Data set up a GoFundMe page to raise the money.
Her mom decided to donate her daughter’s organs, and the donations are now helping to save the lives of at least seven other people, her family says.We’re thankful that they actually get her heart, because she lives in them,” her sister Kaneysha Dismukes said. “So, whoever receives her heart is now part of our family.”