Michael’s Legacy: Transcending Life and Death
On July 10, 2010, Michael Bovill, a twenty-three-year-old active duty member of the United States Coast Guard, suffered fatal injuries in a motorcycle accident. Days later, Michael’s heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys were donated to five strangers: Roxanne Watson, Scott Taffet, Diana Martinez Moran, Elijah Parker, and Zhou Yuan Li. His last act in this world was to give life to those in need.
Surgeons, physicians, parents, children, friends, clergy, and coworkers, along with the recipients of Michael’s organs, come together to reveal their pivotal roles interwoven in this true story exploring the nature of organ donation itself, and inviting the reader to re-consider their concepts of life and death.
Photo Gallery
Michael Bovill and His Family
Recipients
On June 1, 2011, LiveOnNY hosted a ceremony where four of the five recipients of Michael Bovill’s organs met Michael’s family. This was ten months after Michael’s passing and his gift of his organs for transplant.
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- Elijah Parker, recipient of Michael’s left kidney
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- Scott Taffet, recipient of Michael’s lungs
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- Kellen Wingate and his mother, Roxanne Watson, recipient of Michael’s heart
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- (left to right) Elijah Parker, Roxanne Watson, Scott Taffet, Zhou Yuan Li
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- Zhou Yuan Li, recipient of Michael’s liver
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- Diana Martinez-Moran, six years old, and her mother, Socorro Moran. This photo was taken the first time Diana was hospitalized and was approximately one year before she received Michael Bovill’s right kidney.
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- From left to right: Elidio Flores (Diana’s father), Diana Martinez-Moran, Frankie Moran (Diana’s brother) and Ezequiel Moran (Diana’s brother). Photo was taken when Diana was eight years old, approximately one year after receiving her transplant.
About the Author
Mark Judelson’s first (imagined) career was as the centerfielder for the New York Yankees when Mickey Mantle retired. Other potential jobs included – but are not limited to – following in the footsteps of his brother Alan who graduated from the United States Naval Academy, logging, nursing, farming… and more. Centerfield at Yankee Stadium and serving as a naval officer did not manifest but others did.
He is a graduate of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Mark served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Central African Empire, executive director of an environmental education center/farm working with at-risk teenagers and executive director of the Arts Council of Rockland. Currently, he is a co-worker at the Rudolf Steiner Fellowship Community, an inter-generational community centered on the care of the elderly and the earth. He is a first degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, Certified Arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture, Level III graduate of the Spacial Dynamics Institute; and Registered Somatic Movement Therapist with the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association.
Along the way, Mark discovered that stories selected him to tell them through writing and performing. His first book, “Telling It Like It Is“, a novel co-authored with Jane Roberts, is based on his experience as a white teenager attending a predominately black high school and was published in 1975 by Cheshire Ginn. He wrote and performed several plays based on true stories of people who committed acts of courage and kindness in the face of violence and genocide (www.stories ofpeace.com).
He is joyously married to Anna Teigen, father to two remarkable human beings and grandfather to two grandchildren. Anna and Mark live in Rockland County, New York.
