Jonathan Thomas Kuhn – Jt – was a 16-year-old young man who lit up a room when he walked in with his infectious smile, contagious laugh and gentle giant ways. From the day he was born he brought love and joy to anyone who was around him. His ability to capture the essence of life with his love of nature, sunrises and sunsets was so special. As a young boy Jonathan had a gift for sports. He was always tall and athletic. He had a great IQ for many sports. As time moved on he found himself on the basketball court. He was a phenomenal all-around player who was looking at playing at the collegiate level. His scouting reports were impressive, however it did not come without hours of hard work, dedication, determination and respect for the game. Jonathan never took that for granted and always dug in. Jonathan’s story is filled with a lot of adversity he had to overcome, especially medically, on a daily basis but this never stopped him. He was truly a remarkable young man. In March of his sophomore year, 2019, he just finished playing in the first set of district playoffs the school had been to in many years when he was drafted to Heaven’s basketball team from an undiagnosed heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Again he was only 16. Jonathan‘s birthday is on February 14 and at that time he shared with us about wanting to be an organ donor. He told us it was just something he really felt strongly about. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to take his test and mark his card- but when that god-awful time came in the hospital, after a five day fight for his life, Jonathan‘s wish of helping others came true. Jonathan was able to donate five organs. Because Jonathan stood so tall at 6‘5“, he was able to donate two pieces of his liver which allowed for one adult and one child to receive this organ. When we think of his choice we can’t help but feel so much of Jonathan‘s love and compassion for others. We know that six families do not have empty chairs around their table today because of the choice Jonathan made.
Jonathan chose the number 0 for his jersey. This number- to us- represents all that Jonathan was- there is no beginning and no end, Jonathan will forever be that continuous teammate, encourager and friend.
