Mustang second-graders donate $2k to hospital in honor of teacher’s late son
A group of elementary school students from Mustang presented a $2,000 check to the Oklahoma Heart Hospital Friday in honor of their second grade teacher’s teenage son, who died after going into cardiac arrest earlier this year.
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A group of elementary school students from Mustang presented a $2,000 check to the Oklahoma Heart Hospital Friday in honor of their second grade teacher’s teenage son, who died after going into cardiac arrest earlier this year.
18-year-old Zach Doran passed away in March after going into cardiac arrest.
Zach’s mother, Tami Doran, is a second grade teacher in Mustang.
After Zach’s death, several of her students and former students made bracelets they later sold in Zach’s honor.
They raised $2000 from the bracelet sales. On Friday, they presented a $2000 check to the Oklahoma Heart Hospital, where Zach spent 12 days in a coma before passing away.
If there’s one thing those students know, it’s how to brighten up someone’s day. Their teacher, Tami Doran, taught them well.
“She helps us a lot when we’re struggling,” said Gracelyn Fleharty, one of Doran’s second grade students.
“She was the best teacher I’ve ever had,” said Alice Barker, another one of her students.
When her students needed their days brightened, ‘Mrs. Doran’ always knew just the guy to call. Her 18-year-old son, Zach Doran.
“He used to make us laugh so hard,” Barker said.
“He’s funny, and he loves to read books to us,” Fleharty said.
“He’s kind,” Barker said.
Zach was a senior this year at Mustang High School.
“He was on the football team, the Broncos,” Fleharty said.
“He helped our football team a bunch,” said Ian Gibson, another one of Doran’s second-grade students.
Off the football field, Zach loved MMA fighting.
“It's really his passion,” Zach’s dad and Tami Doran’s husband, Jason Doran, told News 4 earlier this year. “It's really something he's wanted to do.”
He remembers what happened when Zach went to a routine MMA practice at a gym earlier this year.
“He just, during one of the sparring sessions, he just collapsed to the ground,” Doran said.
Zach was unresponsive. He’d gone into cardiac arrest.
Zach spent the next 12 days in a coma at the Oklahoma Heart Hospital, where Dr. Thomas Hennebry was doing all he could to try to save Zach’s life.
“He was taken here and came to our emergency room, he came to our intensive care unit,” Hennebry said.
Sadly, Zach didn’t make it.
“He died at this hospital,” Barker told News 4 while standing in the lobby of the Oklahoma Heart Hospital on Friday.
Yet, even after losing her own child—Tami Doran still showed up for her students.
“He died on a Monday, and she went back to school Tuesday,” Fleharty said.
Her students knew 'Mrs. Doran’s' day could use some brightening.
So they got to work. They put together hundreds of those bracelets they sold in Zach’s memory.
News 4 watched on Friday as they handed a giant $2000 check over to the doctors and nurses who treated Zach at the Oklahoma Heart Hospital.
“I don't think there's been many dry eyes here today,” Hennebry said. “I’m a little hoarse just thinking about it.”
The hospital will put the money toward its research foundation.
Zach may not be here anymore. But for his mom’s students, it doesn’t mean they can’t still brighten the days of the other Zachs out there, who are still fighting for their lives—
“So that they can stay alive and be in the world,” Gibson said.
—Just like Zach and his mom taught them so well.
“He was my favorite,” Barker said. “He taught me everything.”