Recipient of Boy’s Donated Heart in Critical Condition

A 30-year-old Northern California woman who received a heart donated from an Anaheim Hills boy remained in critical condition at a Stanford hospital Monday.

The woman, identified as Elvira Nunes of Antioch, was in a respirator and in critical condition, said Rebecca Berntson, a Stanford University Medical Center spokeswoman.

The heart transplant occurred Saturday at the medical center, one day after the parents of Jeffrey Allen Bush, 13, decided to donate the boy’s organs. Their son was pronounced brain-dead Saturday morning after a shooting accident.

The donation was made as a symbol of the boy’s adventurous and kindly spirit, said the father, Dale A. Bush of Anaheim Hills.

“We know he would have wanted us to do something like this,” the father said.

Accidental Shooting

The boy was playing with another 13-year-old boy when a shotgun aimed towards the boy’s head accidentally discharged, police said.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at McAulay and Wallace Mortuary, 902 N. Harbor Blvd., Fullerton, with burial in Loma Vista Memorial Park in Fullerton.

The Bush family has asked friends to donate turquoise-colored flowers, Jeffrey’s favorite color, for his funeral services.

“We’re doing that because we feel that Jeff gave so much with his own heart that we’re asking that he gets something in return because he loved flowers,” Dale Bush said.

In addition, Jeffrey will be buried with a favorite toy, a remote-controlled car he bought for $250 with money earned by mowing lawns and doing odd jobs, his father said.

Students and faculty at El Rancho Junior High School, where Jeffrey was a seventh-grader, have begun a collection to help donate flowers.