GAHANNA, Ohio — The mother of a 17-year-old Gahanna Lincoln High School student was able to hear her son's heartbeat nearly three years after his death because of organ donation.
JaShawn Scott died in a car crash in October 2019 at the intersection of Sunbury Road and Morse Road.
Police say a woman driving a Toyota Camry collided with an Audi A6.
JaShawn, who was a passenger in the Audi, was taken to Mount Carmel East Hospital with life-threatening injuries. He passed away a few days later.
The driver of the Camry and her daughter were pronounced dead at the scene. The driver and another passenger in the Audi were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
JaShawn was part of the Gahanna Lions football team and his mother said he was outgoing, the class clown and just fun to be around.
After JaShawn passed, police said his mother, KeShaunta Scott, wanted people to know that he elected to be an organ donor when he was 13.
He donated five organs, including his heart. Recently, the recipient of his heart reached out to KeShaunta on Facebook and she was able to listen to her son’s heart.
10TV spoke with KeShaunta who said she was out celebrating her birthday the night of the crash.
“I saw the accident on the TV, but I didn’t think it was my son,” she said. “That phone call was a mother’s nightmare.”
KeShaunta said she was nervous to meet the man who received her son’s heart, but she wanted to hear that heartbeat.
“When you find out you’re having a baby the first thing, the first thing you hear is the heartbeat, so I wanted to hear the heartbeat,” she said.
She said all of her nerves and anxiety went out the window when she heard it.
If you would like to learn more about donating organs, you can go to lifelineofohio.org.