Marc Portell Elizondo
No one was surprised when they found out Marc Portell Elizondo had signed up to be an organ donor.
Raised in a tight knit family, Elizondo was known for his caring nature and strong Catholic faith.
“Anytime I was with him … I could be myself,” his friend Andres Contreras said. “He was the type of guy you could call at any point in the night and talk you through” anything.
Elizondo died Jan. 11 after being in a car accident the day before. He was 19.
“He donated his liver, pancreas, kidneys, lungs and heart … saved five lives,” said his mother, Arleen Elizondo. “He made that decision when he first got his license at 16.”
A flag-flying ceremony for Elizondo is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday at University Hospital in the Medical Center.
Educated in Catholic schools, Elizondo was a talented athlete.
Playing a variety of sports early on, he was especially good at tennis, which he’d been playing since he was 3.
“Every year of high school, he was in the top three TAPPS 5A,” his sister, Clare Elizondo, said, referring to the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools. “He loved competition.”
Even so, “I never saw him angry on the tennis court,” said his father, Louis Elizondo. “He even laughed a lot on the tennis court.”
A National Merit finalist who graduated as salutatorian from Antonian College Preparatory High School last year, Elizondo was awarded a full scholarship from the Craig and Galen Brown Foundation to attend Texas A&M University, where he started in August. He earned a 4.0 grade point average his first semester.
Studying biomedical engineering, Elizondo had vowed to find a cure for ulcerative colitis, an autoimmune disease that affects the large intestine, after being diagnosed with the disease about two years ago.
“He was devastated when the doctor told him it was chronic,” his mother said. His plan was to eventually “be in the room with some young boy when he got diagnosed to say, ‘This is no big deal, we can fix this for you.’”
Starting the Marc Elizondo Memorial Fund to create a scholarship to help Catholic school students attend A&M, Elizondo’s parents are accepting donations at www.gofundme.com/marcelizondo.
“He was … a great student and he loved A&M,” his mother said. “We thought to honor him it would be nice to help other kids have the same opportunity.”
No one was surprised when they found out Marc Portell Elizondo had signed up to be an organ donor.
Raised in a tight knit family, Elizondo was known for his caring nature and strong Catholic faith.
“Anytime I was with him … I could be myself,” his friend Andres Contreras said. “He was the type of guy you could call at any point in the night and talk you through” anything.
Elizondo died Jan. 11 after being in a car accident the day before. He was 19.
“He donated his liver, pancreas, kidneys, lungs and heart … saved five lives,” said his mother, Arleen Elizondo. “He made that decision when he first got his license at 16.”
A flag-flying ceremony for Elizondo is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday at University Hospital in the Medical Center.
Educated in Catholic schools, Elizondo was a talented athlete.
Playing a variety of sports early on, he was especially good at tennis, which he’d been playing since he was 3.
“Every year of high school, he was in the top three TAPPS 5A,” his sister, Clare Elizondo, said, referring to the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools. “He loved competition.”
Even so, “I never saw him angry on the tennis court,” said his father, Louis Elizondo. “He even laughed a lot on the tennis court.”
A National Merit finalist who graduated as salutatorian from Antonian College Preparatory High School last year, Elizondo was awarded a full scholarship from the Craig and Galen Brown Foundation to attend Texas A&M University, where he started in August. He earned a 4.0 grade point average his first semester.
Studying biomedical engineering, Elizondo had vowed to find a cure for ulcerative colitis, an autoimmune disease that affects the large intestine, after being diagnosed with the disease about two years ago.
“He was devastated when the doctor told him it was chronic,” his mother said. His plan was to eventually “be in the room with some young boy when he got diagnosed to say, ‘This is no big deal, we can fix this for you.’”
Starting the Marc Elizondo Memorial Fund to create a scholarship to help Catholic school students attend A&M, Elizondo’s parents are accepting donations at www.gofundme.com/marcelizondo.
“He was … a great student and he loved A&M,” his mother said. “We thought to honor him it would be nice to help other kids have the same opportunity.”
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