gift of all for a member of his own family and four Americans -- the hope of a longer life.

Shortly after 18 year old Darren Minors of Warwick, succumbed to his injuries at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital last August, an anaesthesiologist suggested his parents might consider donating his organs.

He had been injured in a bike accident on North Shore Road, Pembroke four days earlier.

They agreed, and not long after, Darren's liver, heart, lungs and kidney were flown to the US to be transplanted into patients at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Of the five patients, one was Darren's cousin, Menelik Isaac, 24, who was flown in from Bermuda to receive his relative's kidney.

And last night he paid tribute to his young relative, who gave him the chance of a normal life again.

"It'll be seven months on the 18th. I'm getting better -- I'm getting stronger by the week,'' he said. He said the experience helped him plan how to live the remainder of his life and created some golden rules for him.

"I would take advantage of every opportunity you can get.

"Go to school, learn something, read a book or go for a walk. Don't put it off, just go do it. Express yourself.

"The whole situation sort of hurt me. I knew Darren when we guys were younger.

"As we got older, I never really had a chance to sit off and talk with him.

I'm sad I couldn't say thank you. But maybe I can live my life through him -- through that tragic accident.'' "I matured over the time I got sick up to the transplant. After six months on dialysis. I had to do a lot of thinking and figuring things out.

"How to think things through.'' Menelik said it was getting hard to do the most simple things.

"Now, I look toward the future. It matured me for sure.'' And in next week's edition of People Magazine, the incredible story of five lives transformed by the Minors' family good deed is featured.

Yesterday, Darren's father, Robert Minors, told the Royal Gazette he would always remember his sons smile and charm.

When asked if young Darren out-guiled his father, Mr. Minors laughed and said: "Fathers and sons, after a while we get past the smile. I could see right through him, I could see what he was up to.

"Like the average kid, Darren didn't do as much as you would like him to do but when he studied he had the ability to do what he wanted to.'' Darren went to Purvis Primary, Sandy's Secondary School and aspired to be a computer technician when he entered Bermuda College.

People reported that about 21,000 organ transplants are done each year in the US. But at any given time there are 75,000 people on waiting lists, and last year more than 6,000 of them died.

Darren's mother. Tacklyn told People: "It was like a dream, a gray dream. I said if it comes to that, I would want whatever could be done to be done.

"I wanted there to be something more with his life; I could hold on to him a little longer," added Mr, Minors "It's what he would have wanted too.'' On August 18 surgeons at the New England Medical Center in Boston gave Darren's liver to Greg Satterlee, 35, of Scotia, New York. Meanwhile at nearby Brigham and Women's Hospital, four surgical teams performed an extraordinary quadruple transplant: John Perry, 56, of Taunton, Mass., received Darren's heart; Harriet Courtemanche, 50, of Charlestown, New Hampshire, and Lucinda Bethke, 46, of Hinsdale, New Hampshire, were each given a lung.

Surgeon David Sugarbaker, who led the teams at Brigham and Women's, told People: "For four matches to line up at one hospital is very, very rare. It was a grand slam.'' Thanks to People Magazine Gift of life: Darren Minors' organs gave hope to many people, both here and abroad.