THIS STORY ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JAN. 27, 2011.
FROM THE ARCHIVE -- Officer David Moore's final act of service has given several Hoosier patients a second chance at life.
The Indiana Organ Procurement Organization confirmed the Indianapolis police officer's organs were harvested late Wednesday, several hours after his death from injuries suffered when he was shot three times Sunday, 6News' Stacia Matthews reported.
Sam Davis, the agency's director, said between eight and 10 patients, from Indiana and one other state, received Moore's organs.
Although health care privacy laws prevent the identities of the recipients from being released, Dr. David Hormuth, a heart surgeon at Methodist Hospital, told 6News he got a call late Wednesday saying there was a heart for one of his patients.
"It was a great heart, a fantastic heart, as a matter of fact. It was a young heart and it was a really in excellent, excellent condition," he said.
Hormuth said that in nearly every transplant he's done, the patient will ask about the donor, but that in this case, it wasn't necessary.
"It was a very heroic effort and a very kind gesture to live on," he said. "And that's what people who donate organs do, they live on through others."
Moore's mother, Sgt. Joanne Moore, in an emotional news conference Wednesday with her husband, retired Lt. Spencer Moore, said the family was comforted knowing their son would be giving to others, even after his death.
"I can get through today with my son passing because there are other families who are getting a beautiful phone call, and I hope that he saves them," she said. "Somebody's going to get a darn good heart."
Hormuth said his patient is doing very well following the transplant.
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