When Naiyareh Karimimanesh lost her life, a gift was passed along to two other women through organ transplants.

Now the parents of this young Baha'i are promoting organ donation — most recently through a three-hour broadcast on a Persian-language satellite television network.

Karimimanesh, a 27-year-old human rights lawyer, was driving to her job in Atlanta, Georgia, the morning of April 26, 2007, when she slowed to avoid a dog walking on the freeway.

Naiyareh Karimimanesh

Another vehicle rear-ended her car and the spare tire was propelled forward, hitting her in the head. Paramedics reaching the scene found Karimimanesh unconscious but breathing. At Grady Memorial Hospital, the area's premier trauma facility, she was pronounced brain-dead.

Soon after, the shocking news reached her parents, Mahmood and Carelle Karimimanesh of San Mateo, California.

They immediately broached the subject of organ donation. Naiyareh had registered as a donor when she proudly received her drivers' license at age 16. A process was initiated through LifeLink of Georgia that resulted in one woman receiving Naiyareh's pancreas and one kidney and another woman receiving her liver and other kidney.

Two years later both organ recipients are said to be doing well. The liver/kidney recipient lives in rural Georgia with her husband, son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. The pancreas/kidney recipient, Maureen Templeton-Adams of Atlanta, no longer has to endure the Type 1 diabetes that had led to nine foot surgeries and near-total vision loss.

For the April 25, 2009, TV program on Appadana International Television, Maureen Templeton-Adams and her husband, Lee Adams, agreed to be interviewed. Their remarks were broadcast in English and translated into Persian.

"Maureen and Lee [explained] how grateful they are for their gift of life, how much knowing us has changed their lives, how we have introduced them to the Baha'i community in Atlanta and to Persian culture and food, and the affinity they feel for us," recalls Carelle Karimimanesh.

Carelle and Mahmood Karimimanesh, in their portion of the program, described the tragic accident and how the transplants came about.

Lee and Maureen Adams, Mahmood and Carelle Karimimanesh, Arezoo Rahim and Sattar Deldar

They then brought on Arezoo Rahim, placement coordinator for the California Transplant Donor Network, to assure people that no major religion prohibits organ donation.

In the final segment, Mahmood Karimimanesh and station founder Sattar Deldar took phone calls from viewers. "We had calls from all over the world," said Carelle, "but the one that touched my heart the most, and brought me to tears after all of my strength, was from a dear, longtime family friend in California who was watching with her two grown daughters and sons-in-law.

"She herself is a widow — her late husband was a very close friend of Mahmood's. "She said that throughout all the years she has known us, which is more than 25, she has always respected us. But after seeing this program and looking at Nai's Web site www.naimemorial.com, her respect had increased a hundred-fold."

The Web site tells of Naiyareh's life and provides links to the Mona Foundation and Tahirih Justice Center, both of which are beneficiaries of donations in her memory.

Since the broadcast, the program has been rerun several times at the request of viewers, said Carelle. Also, she said, Deldar has "forwarded to me many phone numbers and e-mail addresses people left on the station voicemail."