Following an unfortunate tragic death of a Greene County teen, the family is looking to honor his memory in a big way.

Nina McDonald is the mother of 15-year-old Harley McDonald who passed away in January of 2022 after suffering third and fourth degree burns over 90-percent of his body from when a cabin started on fire from a wood burning stove on New Year’s Day. Nina tells Raccoon Valley Radio when her son was transferred to first the burn unit at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), where he survived another 13 days, after medical professionals didn’t think he would last the next 48 hours. 

While in the PICU, Nina says the room number was the same as Harley’s motocross number, 314, and that’s one way they want to honor the memory of her late son is by re-naming the room in her son’s name. 

“Surgeons, nursing staff, everyone there went above and beyond our expectations and were crucial in the 13 days that we got to spend with Harley before he passed away, with their expertise and knowledge, we were able to keep him with us for just a little bit longer and enjoy our time with him. We believe that in the motocross world your name plate number is everything, you have it plastered on everything and anything. We believe that in honor of Harley, we would love to name the room 314 after him.”   

Nina says while she has five years to raise $100,000 needed to re-name the room, she is pushing to raise $25,000 by March 29th. She points out that with the fundraising website through the college with “GoldRush” if that amount of the money is raised by then, their story is featured for the college’s “Giving Day” where anyone across the country can read and donate directly to their cause. Nina says not only will they get to re-name the room, they are also dedicating half to the burn center and the other half to continuing education for the care providers in the PICU. Online donations can be made by clicking here.