Nicholas “Nick” Van Stavern was a bundle of creativity. He loved to write, was a talented singer and actor, made movies, and entertained his family and anyone within earshot with his fantastic stories. He told his stories with enthusiasm and wide-eyed excitement; the things that he said and did were sometimes hilarious, sometimes profound, and sometimes both. Nick was a “walking party,” impossible not to love, recalled his mother, Cheryll. And no one loved him more than his big sister, Meghan. They were inseparable.

Nick was just a few weeks shy of his 14th birthday when he died tragically. It was Memorial Day 2010, and he was doing something he loved -- riding a four-wheeler on his grandparents’ farm. When his parents were approached about the possibility of Nick being a tissue donor, they said, “of course.” One of Nick’s grandfathers had received a kidney transplant 22 years ago, and everyone in the family was aware of the miracle of donation and transplantation in a personal way.

“Nick was a young man of strong and certain faith, a child of God,” said Cheryll. “He was a prayer warrior and had a heartfelt desire for other people to know the Lord that he loved and served, and he was never afraid or ashamed to share his faith with others. He knew what he knew, and he thought you should know it, too.” Nick’s death is a loss for his family and many friends, but it’s his gain because he now walks with the One he gave his heart to many years ago. “We will see Nick’s face again,” said his dad, Jeremy.

“That Nick became a donor is consistent with who he was, a boy full of joy and love”, Jeremy and Cheryll agreed. “He would have thought that the chance to help someone after he was gone was something special.”

Nick’s grandfather, Phil Van Stavern, will ride proudly underneath his grandson’s floragraph on the 2011 Donate Life Float.