A woman lost three sons in nine years - and one donated organs to save five lives.<br /><br />Michelle Barbuto, 57, lost John, 18, in a fatal motorcycle accident.<br /><br />Eldest son Vincent, 29, died when he was fatally shot six years after John died, and son Frankie, 28, took his own life, she said.<br /><br />The mum-of-six has had to grieve half of her children and wanted to have Frankie’s organs donated.<br /><br />Due to the circumstances of Vincent and John’s deaths this wasn’t an option, she said.<br /><br />Frankie’s heart saved the life of a 27-year-old man and his right lung, liver, and kidneys improved the lives of two woman and two men between the ages of 23 and 61.<br /><br />His pancreas and right lung were donated for research.<br /><br />Michelle found the donation “bittersweet” but said she is looking forward to the moment she can meet the donor recipients - and hear her son's heart again.<br /><br />Michelle, a nursing home manager, from Weirton, West Virginia, said: “He saved five people.<br /><br />“It gave me light in the darkness.<br /><br />“When I got the letter about the donor recipients it was bittersweet.<br /><br />“I remember my son was gone but five families are celebrating because their loved ones are here.<br /><br />“The last thing I did was lay my head on Frankie’s heart.<br /><br />“I can’t wait to hear his heartbeat again.”<br /><br />Michelle got a call to say her son, John, had been involved in motorcycle accident in May 2014 – just a week before he was due to graduate.<br /><br />She said: “I was at work and Vincent kept calling me.<br /><br />“I said ‘mum John was in an accident. He’s not breathing’.”<br /><br />By the time Michelle got to the scene, John had been pronounced dead. <br /><br />Michelle said: “He had been on his way home.<br /><br />“We did struggle through it.<br /><br />“I didn’t know anyone who had lost a child.”<br /><br />Michelle had to grieve the loss of her son while continuing to raise her other children – Vincent, 29, Megan, 30, Frankie, 28, Maureen, 24, and Michael, 21.<br /><br />But her world shattered again when she got a call to say her eldest son Vincent had been shot in July 2020.<br /><br />The investigation for his death is still ongoing.<br /><br />She said: “I had to restart the grieving process.<br /><br />“He was so funny, the father figure.<br /><br />“It was so hard to imagine life without him.<br /><br />“My world shattered completely.”<br /><br />Instead of facing her grief, Michelle packed her bags and moved to West Virginia from the home she had been living in for 22 years in Pennsylvania.<br /><br />She said: “I didn’t give myself time to grieve.”<br /><br />She continued to support her surviving children – closely looking after her son Frankie who was struggling with his mental health and a drug addiction.<br /><br />She said: “We had Frankie in and out of hospital eight times, starting with the day we buried Vincent.<br /><br />“It was an ongoing problem, a daily struggle.<br /><br />“I knew at some point I was going to bury Frankie.<br /><br />“I just never knew it was going to be so soon.”<br /><br />Frankie had come to Michelle’s house in March 2023 after he was particularly struggling with his mental health.<br /><br />It was there that he took his own life on March 15 2023. <br /><br />Michelle said: “He was airlifted to the hospital but he had only a bit of brain function.
