Valley teen's legacy lives on through organ donation

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - Zakkiyya Elby's legacy will always live on at Sierra Linda High School, even though she was tragically killed in a car accident as a teenager.

"She was always funny, she always smiled, was full of jokes," Sushyla Perez said. "She was just a good person to be around."

"She was funny, her laugh was funny, she was really nice to people," Jasmine Orona-Hardee said.

Jessica Drey struggled through a life of poor health.

"It's a necklace I had made for me and Zakkiyya," she said. "I have half the heart, and her father has half the other heart. I was diabetic at a young age and ended up with kidney failure, and I got on the list and had a lot of trouble with diabetes that caused complications."

She needed a kidney, and she got it from Zakkiyya.

"She's living inside of people, she gets to be apart of their life, and doing what they do," Drey said.

The story of Zakkiyya is about life choices and her choice to become an organ donor, which saved the lives of others.

"I don't know how to thank them for what they did for me, but we're a family, they love me, I love them," Drey said.