“Here is a slightly shortened version of an online article in Oggi, the most widely read of Italy’s weekly news magazines. (Reg Green)
Article by Deborah Ameri
We interviewed the father of the American child who, almost 30 years ago, was murdered by two robbers and who, thanks to the gesture of his parents, has stimulated transplants in our country. His sister Laura, born twenty months after the tragedy, has just got married in Washington, remembers her little brother.
Laura Green and Ethan Sennett wed in Alexandria, Virginia, USA
Reginald Green is 94 years old, an American, a former journalist and writer. He has a wife, Maggie, 30 years his junior, three children, Eleanor, Laura and Martin. And a fourth, killed in 1994, who was only 7 years old, by two robbers on the Salerno-Reggio Calabria motorway, during a vacation in Italy.
That child was Nicholas Green, who donated his organs to seven seriously ill people when he died: a gesture that at the time seemed revolutionary, even incomprehensible. This is why the story of the Greens is known all over the world.
Almost 30 years have passed since Nicholas’ death but he continues to save lives, Reg tells us, connected via Zoom from Alexandria, near Washington, where Laura got married yesterday. She was born twenty months after the tragedy (together with her twin Martin).
Mr. Green, Since that day you have been committed to promoting the culture of organ donation. And it continues to this day. Why?
“After my son’s death there was what was then called the Nicholas Effect. Organ donations in Italy tripled in a few years bringing it to the top places for transplants in Europe and in the world, while before it was at the bottom [in Europe.] Nicholas saved not only the original seven recipients, but thousands of lives and continues to do so in death, also thanks to the book I wrote and the film, Nicholas’ Gift which was based on it, seen by a hundred million people”.
Did you ever think about it before that tragic day?
“No, Maggie and I never talked about it. But when we saw him on the last day, we knew we couldn’t bring him back. He no longer needed those organs.”
Was it a hard-fought decision?
“No. The doctors told us he was brain dead. We asked several times, are you sure? My wife and I sat holding hands in silence. Then Maggie said: ‘He’s gone. We should donate organs.’ And for the first time in that hopeless situation, I saw a glimmer of positivity.”
Laura and Martin were born almost two years after the tragedy. When did you tell them about their little brother?
“As soon as they were old enough to understand we always talked about Nicholas. Not in a forced way, but in conversations……. ; They have never been frightened by his death.’
Laura, 27, has just gotten married to Ethan Sennett. Was Nicholas remembered at the ceremony?
“Yes, I mentioned it in my speech. It wouldn’t have been a family celebration without him, who was there in spirit. Eleanor, my daughter who was in the car with us at the time of the tragedy, was married at the Bell Tower (a memorial to the slain child, made up of 140 bells in Bodega Bay, California, ed ), because she wanted to have her brother at her wedding. Incidentally, Eleanor is pregnant and my fifth grandchild will be born in September.’
OGGI article in the print edition (June 2023)
You have often returned to Italy. Don’t you feel resentment towards our country?
“….. I have come fifty times. And no, we feel no resentment. It could have happened anywhere. All the people we met would have done anything to save Nicholas and to prevent the tragedy”.
Has there ever been anything in these years that made you angry?
“You are the kindest people in the world. Wherever I go, I get warmth and understanding, everyone knows our son. Nicholas has millions of uncles and aunts in Italy. I know that even in schools they talk about him. It was not Italy that fired the gun, but two criminals”.
Have you ever met the people who received your son’s organs?
“Certainly. Last October I saw Francesco Mondello and Domenica Galletta who received corneas. I am in contact with Maria Pia Pedalà who received his liver. Today you could not tell that she has been ill. Her firstborn is called Nicholas.”
In Italy there are more than one hundred and twenty places with the name of Nicholas: streets, parks, squares, schools. Why did your story touch people’s hearts so much?
“Our son was not just an innocent child killed for no reason. He is something bigger. The symbol of organ donation, but also the symbol of giving. And the demonstration that, even in a terrible situation, something good can be done”.
Nicholas saved so many lives. Does that ease his pain at least a little?
“I think of him every day, but knowing that even in death he continues to help others is a great consolation to me”.
Deborah Ameri
Link to the original article online:
The Nicholas Effect 