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Boy who got new heart inspires tribe to boost organ donation
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Micca Madalena, center, reads to his father, Darryl Madalena, left, and grandfather Myron Ami in his native language of Towa after getting home from school at Jemez Pueblo, N.M., Oct. 7, 2022. Darryl Madalena is advocating for more Native Americans to consider joining the organ donation rolls. - photo by AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan
Greyson Parisien’s time on Earth was short. But the boy with dark-rimmed eyeglasses who was enchanted by the music in “Frozen,” the sound of ripping paper and his dad playing the guitar is having an outsized impact on his tribal community in the far reaches of North Dakota. His journey to correct a heart defect led the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians to add an organ donation box to tribal IDs, which it unveiled during a November ceremony.