Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, OneLegacy to Honor Those Who Have Given the Gift of Life

Highland Community News
Photo: Tory Howe-Lynch and his mother, Lesley Howe. Lesley will attend ARMC’s Tree of Life Ceremony November 1 and will be honored along with 74 other families whose loved ones made the decision to give the gift of life.

Names of former ARMC patients who agreed to be donors will be placed on a ‘Tree of Life’

Tory Howe-Lynch was unlike many teenagers in that he held his mom close, instead of pushing her away.

“He had no shame about loving me,” said Tory’s mother, San Bernardino resident Lesley Howe. “Every time he saw me, he hugged me and told me he loved me.”

Tory, who died at age 15 in 2002 when he was shot leaving church, had similar feelings about others.
“He showed his love to everyone he cared about,” his mother said. When Lesley learned that her son had suffered a life-threatening injury and that organ donation was a possibility, she knew Tory’s wishes.

“Because of who he was, I knew without a doubt that donation is something he would have done,” his mother said.

On November 1, in the first event of its kind at ARMC, Lesley and family members of 74 others who agreed to organ donation will be honored for their decision to give the gift of life. Each family will be given a metal leaf engraved with their loved one’s name that they will place on ARMC’s Tree of Life. The tree will have a permanent place on a wall in the Medical Center’s main lobby.

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