CENTRAL — The gift of organ donation will be recognized during Central High School’s Friday football game against rival Walker High School on Sept. 20th. Three young adults, who died too soon, will be honored at the football game for giving others the gift of life through organ donation.
Caleb Easterling and Aliye Ringe (both Central High alumni) and Blakeleigh Weems (a student at Walker High) all made decisions to become organ donors, which has had a ripple effect of lives saved.
Caleb Easterling
Easterling died from his injuries in a three-vehicle accident on Magnolia Bridge Road in July 2023. He was driving home to attend a virtual meeting with William Woods, a college in Missouri, where he was planning to play baseball in the fall. He was 19.
Easterling had chosen to become an organ donor, and the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency (LOPA) was able to match his heart, kidney and lungs. His tissue has since saved several people’s lives.
Aliye Ringe
Central High 2020 graduate Aliye Ringe, 20, was in a car that was hit by another vehicle running a stop sign in December 2021. She died from her injuries the next day.
Ringe had signed up to be an organ donor when she first got her driver’s license. After her death, she was able to help several people through her donations and her family then worked to create more awareness about what it means to be an organ donor.
“Aliye’s Law” in Louisiana became effective Aug. 1, 2023 and promotes organ donation education as a required component of the state’s high school curriculum.
Blakeleigh Weems
Because Central is playing Walker, they wanted to add another young organ donor to be recognized at this year’s event: Blakeleigh Weems.
Weems, 17, was a senior at Walker High School when she was killed Jan. 1 this year at a light coming off the exit ramp at I-12 westbound in Denham Springs at Range Ave. As she was going through the light, a driver going north on Range at a high rate of speed hit Weems’ car on the driver’s side.
She was rushed to the hospital, but did not survive. Weems was also registered as an organ donor.
Becky Easterling, Caleb Easterling’s mother, is among the ones helping coordinate this year’s event. She said the event has occurred for the past few years to bring awareness about organ donation.
It has also been important to the families to keep their children’s names alive. There is a Central High School scholarship in Caleb’s name offered each year to a baseball player. To help raise funds for this scholarship, there will be a baseball tournament Oct. 19 and 20 at Hammond America Park in Hammond, Easterling said.
During pregame, Weems’ family will come out and have a message about their daughter read. The message will talk about who she was and how she was able to help others through her decision to sign up for organ donation.
A recording of Weems singing the national anthem will also be played before the start of the game, Easterling said.
During halftime, family members from the Easterling and Ringe families will be present as LOPA representatives will talk about “Aliye’s Law,” now called “Aliye’s Decision,” to help give information about the importance of organ donation and what making that decision meant for their families.
“It was such a grown up decision to make,” Easterling said of her son. “I think his actual words were, ‘I won’t need them anymore. So why not?'”
Caleb Easterling’s decision has led to five lives saved through specific organ donations. In addition, after his passing, surgeons have been able to perform 62 skin grafts from his skin, his mother said. Of those grafts, over 40 have been successful in helping patients.
“He’s changing lives even though he’s no longer here,” Easterling said.
LOPA will be present at the football game to answer any questions or sign up interested persons for organ donation.
Download the Unfiltered with Kiran app from the Apple App Store and Google Play to stay updated on the latest news across the Capital area.
