Local organ donor to be honored

Daily Pilot | By Beau Nicolette
Kieran Vogel proudly shows off a picture button of his dad Erich while his mom Bethany sits nearby during a visit to Tewinkle Park in Costa Mesa. Kieran's Halloween costume this year was his "super hero dad" whose donated organs were a benefit to 64 people after his death in 2009. (Don Leach / Daily Pilot / November 13, 2013)

When one California Elementary School first-grader started preparing his Halloween costume, he told his mom he wanted to be a superhero.

But Kieran Vogel did not want to be a masked nocturnal crime fighter or hammer-wielding mythical god. The 6-year-old wanted to be a superhero like his dad.

He wanted to be Donor Man.

"I picked it because my daddy was like a superhero," Kieran said, "because he saved like a hundred or something lives."

His father, Erich Vogel, died in 2009 of a heart attack, and the man's eyes, tissue and bones have been donated to 64 people. Erich will be featured on the Donate Life float in the 125th Rose Parade in Pasadena on Jan. 1.

At first, Bethany Vogel "kind of giggled" when she heard her son's Halloween request and told him, "But Daddy wasn't a superhero."
______________________________________________________ 
"You have the power to SAVE lives." 
To register as a donor TODAY
In California: 
www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org 
Outside California: 
www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net

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