Denmark High football star could save dozens with heroic organ donation

FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. - On Saturday, family, friends, and Northside Gwinnett Hospital staff honored a Denmark High School football player who died from a pulmonary embolism earlier this week. 17-year-old Finley Kruchten was honored with a hero walk after his family decided to donate his organs to help dozens of others.

"It's actually been really beautiful in the light of this tragedy to see the number of people that Finley has touched," Finley's mother, Veronica Kruchten, said.

Veronica said Finley developed a cough in June that was getting worse. He underwent several tests to figure out what was going on until he called his mom from the locker room after practice at Denmark High on Oct. 1 saying he couldn't breathe.

Veronica Kruchten

"I ran into that locker room and I called the athletic trainers, and we were able to get an ambulance there," Veronica said.

Finley suffered a massive pulmonary embolism where blood clots break loose and block arteries in the lungs, resulting in severe brain trauma. He passed away on Oct. 9.

His family has since learned that Finley had the clotting disorder Factor V Leiden. They hope more testing for that condition can be done for kids in the future.

"He was a very healthy athlete, very strong, didn't complain a lot, and so we didn't know," she explained.

His family says Finley was a helper, and they say that he would have wanted to continue helping others, which is why they moved forward with organ donation.

"The stories people are telling us … it's always about Finley being a helper," Veronica said.

"He'd always say hi to people in the hallways," Finley's brother, Ian, added.

According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, one organ donor can save eight lives and improve the lives of up to 75 more.

"I would never have known all the wonderful things he had done and all the people he's touched. What a gift that has been to make this horrific experience more tolerable," Finley's father, Jed Kruchten, said.

A GoFundMe campaign has been organized for the grieving family.