Today, a Texas family will say goodbye to their 2-year-old little boy who, before his passing, helped save the lives of three other children.
Today, a Texas family will say goodbye to their 2-year-old little boy who, before his passing, helped save the lives of three other children.
Malachi Israel LeBlanc’s funeral is this morning in San Antonio.
And as I look at this photograph from his final days, I keep coming back to what surrounds him.
His hospital bed was blanketed with handwritten Bible scriptures.
Words of faith.
Promises his parents were desperately holding onto as Malachi was prepared for his honor walk through the hospital.
His mother Grace leaned over and kissed her little boy.
Then she and her husband Myron walked beside him toward the operating room, where Malachi would give one final extraordinary gift.
His heart, kidneys and liver were donated to children in Houston and Dallas.
Three children were given another chance at life because of him.
Today, it is Malachi’s own family that needs to be carried.
His visitation begins at 10 this morning, followed by a noon funeral service at Northern Hills United Methodist Church.
The family has asked that in-person attendance be reserved for relatives, church and direct community members, friends and those who had a personal relationship with Malachi or the family.
They are kindly asking everyone else who has followed their son’s story to honor him from afar.
And I think we can do that right here.
Because Malachi’s dad has now shared something deeply personal about what it feels like to bury his son.
“Losing my son Malachi has been the absolute hardest thing I have ever gone through.”
Myron says whenever he heard about another parent losing a child, he would pray it would never happen to him.
“I’m not strong enough to handle something like that.”
Now he says he’s learning that he doesn’t have to find that strength by himself.
“You have to rely on God to give you the strength to be able to handle what you cannot handle on your own.”
Myron says Malachi was a joyful little boy who sang and danced everywhere he went.
“He was such a little worshiper.”
And somehow, in the middle of a father’s unimaginable grief, Myron is also thinking about the children his son helped save.
“Those babies who will receive Malachi’s organs will get a chance at life.”
That may be one of the most remarkable parts of this family’s story.
Grace and Myron prayed for their own miracle after Malachi was found unresponsive in a swimming pool.
They didn’t get the miracle they desperately wanted.
But when doctors declared their little boy brain dead, they made the decision to allow Malachi to become a miracle for other families.
That’s called love.
Please leave Grace and Myron your condolences below.
Pray for them as they say goodbye to their little boy.
Pray for the children carrying pieces of Malachi with them now.
And pray that on one of the hardest days of their lives, his parents somehow feel just how many people are standing beside them.
