with life-giving donation

By BETH LAKEY

Staff Writer

Friends and family are mourning the death of a Troy man who met his untimely death in a four-wheeler accident.

Philip Jay McLean, 32, died Tuesday at Jackson Hospital in Montgomery from injuries he sustained in a four-wheeler accident this past weekend.

According to Alabama State Troopers, McLean was injured when the all-terrain vehicle he was driving overturned on County Road 6 near Spring Hill Church, 10 miles south of Troy, around 6:15 a.m. Saturday.

But, out of the McLean family’s tragedy, others will have the chance to live because his last gift was that of organ donation.

McLean’s mother, Patricia Ann McLean, said her son signed his donor card as soon as he got his driver’s license.

"That’s something he always prided himself on," she said of her son’s gift. "He was a wonderful man."

She said donating his organs has given her comfort because she knows someone else has a chance to experience life’s wonders.

"Your loss is someone else’s gain," she said.

Sherry McLean lost more than a husband. She lost a friend who was her "rock" during bad times and good through 16 years of marriage.

"His family was most important to him," Sherry McLean said.

"He loved his children more than life itself," she said of the three children left to mourn the loss of their father.

"He was a great guy, that’s for sure," she said of the former youth softball coach.

"He loved being a kid. He never really grew up."

She said her late husband’s love for motorcycles and four-wheelers had resulted in previous injuries, but those were visible like broken bones.

This time was different. His rebellion against helmets cost him his life.

But, the McLean family’s loss has given other men and women the chance to possibly watch their children grow, see a bird soar through the blue sky and feel the sunshine.

"I knew that’s what he wanted," Sherry McLean said of fulfilling her husband’s last wish by donating his organs.

McLean is survived by his wife, Sherry; one daughter, Nikki Presley; two sons, Aaron McLean and Cody Presley, all of Troy; mother, Patricia Ann McLean of Homestead, Fla. and one brother, James J. McLean, also of Homestead.

Visitation will be held from 6-9 tonight at Skeen Funeral Home. Funeral services will be at 4:30 p.m. Friday in the funeral home chapel.