HENRY COUNTY, Va. (Romero Report) — A 12-year-old Henry County child was honored with an organ donor walk on June 2 after dying in the hospital following a crash.

The crash occurred on May 26, when the car she was in was rear-ended by a pickup truck hauling a boat on Fairystone Park Highway near Mt. Hermon Church Road in Bassett.

During the ‘honor walk,’ hospital workers filled the halls to celebrate Celeste’s life and her selfless decision to donate her organs.

“Celeste gained her wings,” her mother Brandi Lee wrote on Facebook. “Her heart will hopefully be beating in someone else soon. I don’t really know what else to say right now except everybody knows how amazing and special she is.”

Roxanne Craig, on behalf of Brandi, created a GoFundMe page to help cover funeral expenses and other costs.

Craig said in the fundraiser page that Celeste sustained a serious brain injury in the crash and was airlifted to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Despite extensive medical efforts, she never regained consciousness, according to Craig.

On May 28, she was placed on a ventilator as she could no longer breathe on her own.

After numerous tests, doctors determined that she no longer had any brain function and declared her brain dead on May 30, Craig said.

Celeste remained on the ventilator until June 2, when she was taken into surgery to be an organ donor.

“Celeste was an amazing person and always thinking of others,” Craig wrote. “She always wanted to help others and she was able to save lives on her final day, and we could not be more proud of her. This has turned her parents’ world upside down and no parent should have to go through this.”

For more information or to contribute, visit the GoFundMe page.

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