By CHRISTINE BOATWRIGHT / Staff Writer

CALERA – Parker Morris was a 17-year-old who “lived her life by her heart.”

“She always did things the way she wanted to. She kind of lived her life by her heart,” said Elaine Walton, Morris’ mother. “Last year she had hair that was halfway down her back, beautiful brown hair, and she and her friends talked about doing something crazy like cutting their hair short. She took it a step further, and she shaved her head. Like G.I. Jane, number-two-on-the-razor short. She looked phenomenal; it looked great.”

According to Walton, an “accident” involving a gun occurred in Thorsby. Morris was taken to Shelby Medical Center at 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 21 with a gunshot wound to her head. She was pronounced dead at 10:40 a.m. on Jan. 22.

Walton said her daughter, a senior at Calera High School, chose to be an organ donor when she acquired her driver’s license.

“I said, ‘Congratulations, that’s awesome,'” said Walton after her daughter became a donor. “You never think that’s going to happen. Just check that box, it’s fine.

“When it happened, because the injury was to her head, her heart’s fine,” Walton added about Morris’ time in the hospital. “I let them (the doctors) know immediately that she’s an organ donor.”

Morris’ heart was donated to a 17-year-old in Ohio, Walton said, and doctors were able to donate other portions of her body.

“Even though it’s hard to accept she’s gone because I’m selfish and want her with me, she gave a chance at a better life to so many other people,” Walton said. “I am blessed to have called her my daughter.”