BALDWIN, Fla. – The mother of a 16-year-old Jacksonville girl who was killed last week in a crash on I-10 in Baldwin said her daughter's eyes will now give two people the ability to see.
Autumn Branham died last Tuesday when her car crossed the median on I-10 and drove into the path of a Ford F-350 pickup truck and the collision knocked her car into the path of a semitruck towing a car hauler.
Chauna Branham, Autumn's mother, said she has found some peace in knowing that part of her daughter's legacy will live on and that her wishes to be an organ and tissue donor will be honored.
Autumn's eyes will help give vision to two people, and Chauna said she hopes to meet them someday.
“I hope that I can look into their eyes -- and I know it's not her eyes; I know it's theirs -- but I know when I look in their eyes I will see the gift that she gave them,” Chauna Branham said.
She said her daughter made it clear that she wanted that gift passed on when she got her driver's license in March.
“She turned around to the clerk and said, 'I want to be an organ donor,' and she turned back around to me and said, 'I want people to have my eyes, so that they can see the world the way that I see the world,'” Chauna Branham said. “Not the way that the world is, but she wanted someone to see it through her eyes, so her dying wish came true.”
Chauna Branham said about 80 people have benefited from donations of Autumn's organs or tissues.
Autumn finished her GED at 15 and worked at a KFC for a while before leaving to finish her cosmetology training at Aveda as a full-time student. She would have finished before her 18th birthday.
Her gifts remain unopened under her family's Christmas tree. As she continues to mourn her daughter, Chauna Branham said she wants to make sure Autumn's life of giving carries on.
“I look back, and they are all things that were preparing me. And I am not saying that I am prepared, by no means, she was my best friend, and I love her,” Chauna Branham said. “What I want is for her to tell me how to carry her legacy on, how to be the good person that she was and is. Where do I pick up and keep her belief and her mission going? That is what I am struggling with trying to figure out -- how I can bring peace like she did.”
She encourages everyone to consider becoming an organ and tissue donor.
Her family plans to celebrate Autumn's life at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Hardage Giddens funeral home on San Jose Boulevard.
Autumn's family has set up a GoFundMe account to help with the cost of her burial. She did not have life insurance.
The cosmetology school is hosting a fundraiser to help Autumn's family. The cut and style makeover day will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Mandarin Landing, 10601 San Jose Blvd. in Jacksonville.