The gift of life
YRMC honors families, loved ones of organ, tissue donors
For Sabrina White, knowing that one of her father’s last gifts enabled another to see again brings her peace, she said.
Her father, Gerald Norton who went by the nickname “Chuck,” passed away from congestive heart failure in February of last year.
“He fought a good battle for 21 days,” White said. “He fought hard and strong and I think it was just his time. The lord was ready for another angel.”
Norton donated his bright blue eyes and skin for burn victims. White noted she, along with her two other sisters, inherited the vibrant color of her dad’s eyes.
“My dad loved to fish, hunt and was a chef who ran his own restaurant for a few years in Montana,” White said. “After he passed I got the best part that he left which was his dog, a large Chihuahua named Casper. The first two months my dad was gone Casper escaped from my yard every single day and I swear he was out looking for my dad. I think he still looks for him occasionally to be honest but he’s pretty settled with me.”
White, along with other in-
dividuals and families of those who have chosen to donate organs and tissue, were recently honored at a ceremony held at Yuma Regional Medical Center.
“I’ve had really hard time with the grieving process,” White said. “I’ve lost people in my life, but I’ve never lost anybody this close to where it means so much. And to know that we were able to help somebody else, I know my dad would have been very blessed.”
Rick Plummer, director of marketing at YRMC, wrote in an email that there are two types of donations, organ (heart, lungs, liver, etc.) and tissue (eye, skin, bone, heart valves, etc.).
He said there was one organ donation at the hospital last year that saved the lives of three people. As for tissue donation, there were 19 tissue donors from YRMC and out of that number, eight donors were previously registered.
YRMC’s Donor Recognition Ceremony was held in the lobby of the Heart Center at the hospital and included about 11 families. The reception served as a way for individuals and families of organ donors to have their loved one remembered, remember their loved one by telling stories, and in their loved one’s honor they also received a Ben’s Bell.
A Ben’s Bell is a symbol of kindness and was created by Tucson mother and former University of Arizona professor Jeannette Maré, who is now executive director of the Ben’s Bell Project. She began the project after her young son Ben died suddenly at the age of three from a croup (upper airway infection that blocks breathing, characterized by a barking cough).
On the first anniversary of her son’s death, she, along with others, spread hundreds of Ben’s Bells around Tucson with a bright flower on each and message to take home the bell and spread kindness.
The bell’s were presented to each individual and family from a resident chaplain.
“Those were the chaplains who accompanied the families during their death experience with their family member,” said Cathleen Wolfe, interim director of Spiritual Care and Advocacy at YRMC. “It was a reconnection of compassion and love between the spiritual care department and the community.”
Marcel Pincince, director of Donor and Family Services at the Donor Network of Arizona, said YRMC holds the donor reception every three years to recognize individuals and families of donors for their own kindness after suffering a loss.
“We do hold it every three years so there will be a number of families who will be able to attend and be of support to one another,” Pincince explained. “The nice thing about doing this particular event is the families get to be with one another. They get to hear from one another each other stories and then they don’t feel so alone. All of them were in the same position.”
Pincince said that the individuals and families of organ donors had to make a difficult choice at a very trying time in their life.
“Their loved one came to the hospital and the hospital did everything they could to save their loved one’s life,” Pincince said. “When that was impossible we spoke to these families and asked them to be generous toward others. All of them made that incredible decision — ‘I want to help someone else.’”
The knowledge that their loved one gave the gift of life to another after passing can be helpful in the grieving process, he noted.
“Our hope is not only that it is healing for the recipient but it’s healing for the family. They get to remember that their loved one’s last gesture on this earth was to give life to someone else. Not everyone can say that, and these families all get to say that my loved one is a hero and did something that very few people will ever get to do.”
Pincince has been working within the Donor Network for almost twenty years, and in that time he feels that he has gleaned the most knowledge from family members of donors.
“The truth is I’ve been in this field since 1998,” Pincince said. “Everything I know about donation is not from books, it’s really from listening to these families. An event like this is really teaching me and teaching all of our staff that attends these events what donation means to these families. It also gives us the courage because the work that we do is challenging.”
According to Plummer, every death is sent to the Donor Network of Arizona for review. In order to preserve organs, the review needs to be completed within an hour of death.
“It would be easier if we could meet families a month after the death of their loved one,” Pincince said. “They would be in a very different place, a better place. We are meeting them shortly after the death of their loved one and that timing is terrible. We rely on a great deal on the graciousness from that family that they invite us in and allow us to have that conversation about giving life to someone else.”
“All these families have taught me how amazing people can be — loving, kind and generous in the worst moment. That’s what is edifying about this work,” he added. “It just shows the best that we can be as human beings and that’s what all these families testify to.”