Wisconsin father honors daughter’s life with 2K mile bike ride
A Wisconsin father who lost his daughter to brain injury in January is putting foot to pedal in order to bring awareness to the importance of organ donation. According to an article on the WMTV website, April is also National Donate Life Month. Bill Conner told WMTV that his daughter, Abbey Conner, passed away at 20-years-old following […]
A Wisconsin father who lost his daughter to brain injury in January is putting foot to pedal in order to bring awareness to the importance of organ donation. According to an article on the WMTV website, April is also National Donate Life Month.
Bill Conner told WMTV that his daughter, Abbey Conner, passed away at 20-years-old following a tragic pool accident that left her with a brain injury when the family was on vacation in Mexico. She was a college student at UW-Whitewater at the time of her passing.
“At the mass in Pewaukee, they had to put chairs out. It’s a big church and they had to put chairs out for the amount of people who showed up,” Bill Conner told WMTV.
Bill told reporters that Abbey was the type of person who cared about people, calling her a pistol and remembering that she was always smiling.
It was during a family vacation to Cancun just three months ago that their lives were altered forever.
“My kids were at this hotel for less than two hours. The last thing my son remembers is having a drink in the pool,” said Conner. “The next thing my son remembers is they woke up in the hospital. Somebody got to them… This was at 5:30 in the afternoon, daylight, exclusive hotel and you just don’t think it’ll happen to you.”
The article does not mention whether Bill’s son, Austin, was injured also, but it does mention that he will be graduating on May 22 from UW-Milwaukee and Bill will start his journey from Madison, Wisconsin to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida the next day.
The ride is called Abbey’s Ride For Life and Bill said it’s all about healing and sharing the importance of organ donation.
“I’m riding to the hospital that took care of my daughter. I’m riding to the hospital that harvested Abbey’s organs,” said Conner.
According to the article, four recipients received Abbey’s organs. Her kidneys, eyes, liver, pancreas, and other tissues were donated following her accident.
Bill told the news station that his daughter’s organs being donated helped him to realize that her death wasn’t in vain.
Bill will bike more than 2 thousand miles and said his inspiration for every push of his pedal will be to carry Abbey’s name forward and to spread awareness about organ donation.
“That’s what she’d want me to do,” said Conner.
