Janiya China Hines was born on July 13, 2003. She left this earth May 13, 2017. Niya, as we called her, would spend hours in her room with her cat, reading, drawing or binge-watching Netflix. She was a very compassionate child who always looked out for younger kids, the elderly and animals. Janiya and I talked about her eighth-grade graduation which would have been that following year. We planned her future, talked over the high school she would go to and the her major in college. She wanted to be a nurse or veterinarian.

When I renewed my license in 2015 she asked why was I an organ donor? I told her I want to try and help someone else live. “Well when I grow up I want to be an organ donor too”, she said with the biggest smile. On Monday, May 8th while getting ready for school she collapsed in the shower and never regained consciousness. On May 10th, I was told that Janiya had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and was brain dead. I thought about the day we talked about organ donation and decided to go with her wishes. I miss my Niya with every breath that I take, but every now and again I smile because I know that she is still doing something that she loved -helping people.

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