Murder of Nicholas Green

Nicholas Green (September 9, 1987 – October 1, 1994) was an American boy who was shot and killed in an attempted automobile robbery while vacationing with his family in Southern Italy. When he died, after two days of agony, his parents chose to donate his organs. The lives of seven very sick Italians, four of them teenagers, were saved. Two of them, who were facing blindness, received Nicholas' corneas.

Impact on organ donation in Italy

At the time organ donation was rare in Italy. News spread around the world and the story was decisive in the growth of the awareness and number of donations in Italy. Since then, organ donation rate almost tripled in Italy, making it the second Country in Europe after Spain.

His name continues to be associated with organ donation and generosity. All that came out of the parents' decision is being referred as "The Nicholas Effect" (l'Effetto Nicholas), considering not only the organ donation deed, but also all the goodness and change of attitude that came out of Nicholas' story.

Memorials

A book by his father Reg, The Nicholas Effect, was a bestseller in 1999 both in the USA and Italy. It has been translated in many other languages.

A TV movie, Nicholas' Gift, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Alan Bates, was made from the story. Through the years, hospitals, parks, schools, streets, awards, even a bridge, have been named after Nicholas, throughout Italy. The name of Nicholas is linked also to a scholarship established by the Nicholas Green Foundation and the National Association for Gifted Children, NAGC, awarded yearly to a primary or middle school student of every State of the USA, to promote excellence among students who have shown talent during the year. Since 2001, almost yearly, jointly with the World Transplant Games Federation, the Nicholas' Cup, a competition reserved to children who suffered a transplant, takes place. It has been held in Switzerland in 2001, Bormio in Northern Italy in 2003, Poland in 2005 and Rovaniemi in the Artic Circle in 2008. To Nicholas Green has been also dedicated, twice, the Providian Relay, a 199 miles relay that takes place every year in Northern California.