Nicholas Lanners' Impact: Helping Others Even After Tragedy

A former St. Cloud prison Lieutenant, Royalton football coach, and father continued to give selflessly even after he died. Nicholas Lanners, who was injured in a car crash, leaving him a quadriplegic, gave the gift of organ donation recently, helping countless others in need.

RELATED: Nick Lanners' Obituary and Funeral Service Information

Image Credit: Paul Shea/TSM

A New Flag Flying

The St. Cloud Hospital is flying another flag right now, in honor of a man who gave hope to others even in death. The flag, which is underneath the Minnesota State flag at the hospital, is white and has the words 'Donate Life' on it. According to Nicholas Lanners' sister, the flag is being flown in his honor.

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Always Willing To Help Others

I had the chance to ask Nicholas 'Nick' Lanners' sister, Chastity, about what kind of person her brother was, and from everything I read, he seemed like a guy who was all about others, even more so when it came to his family, as he was so proud of being a father.

Here is what Chastity shared with me about her brother Nick:

"In July of 2022, Nick was driving to his job at the St. Cloud prison. He was at a complete stop at a stop sign when a vehicle behind him rear-ended him at 60+ mph. Nick broke his neck from the impact and could no longer feel or move from the chest down. He was left a quadriplegic.

Fast forward to now.

Nick was found pulseless at home on Sunday, May 25th. CPR was started while waiting for first responders. When first responders arrived, Nick was still pulseless. After some time, first responders were able to get a pulse. He was transported to the hospital, where tests were run to determine what happened and how badly his brain was damaged. The initial findings were not good. Doctors wanted to give Nick time to recover through the week to see if there were any improvements.

On Thursday, May 29th, Nick was pronounced brain dead. That evening, Nick was transported to the U of M, where they made sure Nick was a good candidate to donate his organs and find the right people to receive them.

On June 1st, Nick successfully donated his heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, eyes, and skin tissue. Nick was always a man who would do anything for anyone. If you needed help, you knew Nick would be there, no matter the time or day. He would make it work. Nick always knew that if he wasn’t able to continue living his life and if he was healthy enough, he wanted to donate his organs to help others continue living.

Nick was a lieutenant at the St. Cloud prison, a member of the honor guard, a football coach at Royalton High School. The people he has impacted while he was here on this earth is endless. Nicholas Lanners, Lieutenant Lanners and Coach Lanners. He had so many titles but his favorite title was dad."

Treat Others With Kindness & Be Willing To Help

Take a moment today or in the next week, take a look around, and do something kind for someone. By doing that you are doing two things, one you are probably making someone's day a little bit better, but the second is you are setting the precedent to others around that it's OK to be kind, you never know who is watching you.

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Source: A Local Hero’s Legacy Lives On Through Organ Donation