Jordy Carper fulfilled many hopes during the 18 months after his rare surgery to have lung parts transplanted from two donors.
He attended classes and went four-wheeling and fishing. He was befriended by National Football League Hall of Famer Sam Huff and honored with a "Jordy Carper Day" declared by Gov. Cecil Underwood.Jordy's long struggle against cystic fibrosis ended Saturday when he died in his mother's arms at a Washington hospital, two weeks before his 12th birthday.
Carper's fight against the illness had prompted an outpouring of support, from airline officials who donated tickets for his June 1997 surgery in Los Angeles to hotel managers who offered rooms.
Surgeons replaced his diseased lungs with healthy lung lobes from a relative and a family friend. Doctors had predicted he would survive only a year without the surgery.
Jordy was comparatively healthy for 12 months but then began to experience setbacks.