Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
The gift of organ donaton
Young man’s donated organs give life, hope to recipients and bereaved family members
A life cut tragically short. Other lives saved as a result. Mourning, for the family that lost. Rejoicing, for the families that gained. An inevitable bittersweetness.
During a sun-drenched fall day in downtown Little Rock, sweetness reigned. A special event had been arranged by ARORA — the Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency. It was a face-to-face meeting between the family of the late Joshua Allen Bourland and four of six recipients of Bourland’s organs — Whittney Edwards, Deandre Robinson, Khalil Felton and Martin Green — along with their families.
That October day, the families came together for a buffet breakfast at Next Level Events in Little Rock’s Union Station.
Bourland, 19, of Atkins, died in a motorcycle wreck Oct. 10, 2010. An
honors graduate of Atkins High School, he was a student at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. Remembered as someone who was always there for his friends, always willing to help people and who honored his parents, Bourland was as giving in death.
Josh’s parents — Tammy Johnson and Russell Bourland, both of Atkins — and a host of other family members wore white T-shirts bearing Bourland’s name and photo. So did the organ recipients, including young kidney transplantees Whittney and Deandre, who dashed around and autographed others’ shirts.
Yolie Edwards of Van Buren says it was a 2007 E. coli infection that led to her daughter’s kidney failure. “In a matter of days she went from a completely healthy child to ... getting flown to Children’s [Hospital in Little Rock] from Fort Smith.” Whittney underwent surgery and doctors predicted she had less than 24 hours to live. But she survived and took dialysis treatments for almost four years.
Edwards recalls the day she was told that a kidney was available not only for her daughter, but also for Deandre, with whom Whittney had become friends while the two took dialysis together.
“That was a double blessing in one day,” Edwards says. Both children underwent transplant surgery on Oct. 12, 2010.
Only two days later, Edward says, Whittney was ready to get out of bed. “When she got out of ICU, I could not keep that child in the room. ... There was no stopping her.”
Whittney named her new kidney Princess Chocolate Strawberry.
‘FAMILY REUNION’
Edwards remembers the Oct. 8 meeting as a “big family reunion.”
“It felt like we knew each other, even though we’d never been introduced,” she says. “You could feel that there was a bond between each family. Even when we went to go eat afterwards, it felt like just a big family reunion.” A single parent whose blood relatives live in California, Edwards feels that she does have a new family. So does Whittney, who enjoys a special relationship with Russell Bourland and his wife, Donna, Josh’s stepmother.
Whittney’s had one complication since her transplant. On March 5, she underwent another surgery at Children’s Hospital for reflux problems involving her bladder and the kidney. The Bourlands went to Little Rock to support Whittney and to help answer phones during a Children’s Hospital radiothon.
Sorting through his emotions, Russell Bourland didn’t have much to say on that fall day.
Now, looking back, he remembers feeling like a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
“Just a lot of pain went away,” he says. “It kind of gave me a second chance on life, I guess you could say.”
Now devoted to raising awareness of organ donation, Bourland recalls talking to a woman in his town whose husband was killed and whose organs were donated. “It kind of gave her a little bit of hope,” he says.
‘THE PERFECT ONE’
Khalil Felton, 3, wasn’t running during that October gathering; he was snug in loving parental arms. He was still 2 when he became the recipient of Bourland’s liver. The donation “has absolutely been a blessing to our family,” his mother, Lakenya Felton of Montgomery, Ala., said.
Khalil was born at 25 weeks. A 1-pounder, he was already battling sickle cell anemia and hydrocephalus, fluid on the brain. The previous summer, a large mass had been found on his liver.
Khalil’s doctor told her that he was in search of the perfect liver, his mother said that day. “He turned down six. And we got that phone call that Monday evening. When I said ‘Hello,’ he said, ‘I found that perfect one.’” Only a week had passed since Khalil had gone on the list.
“I did what the Bible says, call on the elders of the church,” Felton said. “And they came and prayed before we left.”
And, with the exception of some minor issues, Khalil — who turns 4 in April — continues to do well, Felton reports. “He is getting around more ... and getting into things.”
“He’s the most positive child I’ve ever known. He loves church.”
Felton now keeps in touch with Josh’s parents, whom she refers to as “Miss Tammy” and “Mr. Russell.” She and Johnson talk regularly; she and Bourland on occasion. She’s hoping they will still be able to visit soon.
She echoes Edwards’ description of the Oct. 8 meeting as a family reunion. It was there, Felton says, that she gained a true appreciation for the value of life.
“No matter what shade your skin is ... it doesn’t matter, because God made us all. ... Life is very precious,” she says.
‘NEVER FELT THAT GOOD’
Deandre, 7 on that October morning, was the darling of the room. “He’s a crowd-pleaser, now. He loves the spotlight,” his mother, Teresa Robinson of Monticello, said on that day.
Deandre had been on dialysis since he was 8 months old. He went on the donor list in June 2010, and didn’t have long to wait. His mother called his post-transplant transformation “spectacular,” recalling the times when Deandre was too weak to walk. “Now I have to chase him to catch up with him. ... All I can do is smile because he’s never just felt that good to be able to run and play and ... just be normal.”
Robinson had met Bourland’s family the weekend before. At first, she had some trepidation about meeting them. But the family welcomed the Robinsons with open arms.
“We talk all the time and we text one another,” Robinson said. “It’s like we’ve known each other forever.”
A LIFE REMEMBERED
A regular blood donor, Josh Bourland had not formally signed up as an organ donor, Tammy Johnson said the day of the meeting. But “we knew when he died that this is what he would want — to give his organs to help other people, because he was the most helpful person you’d ever meet in your life.”
Johnson said she was excited about meeting the donor recipients and their families.
“It just makes you know that, outside of having him back, this is the best thing that could have happened,” she said. “He gave life to ... people who either wouldn’t have had life, or their life would have been less pleasant than it is now.”
Her words were borne out in the testimony by Martin Green, the recipient of Bourland’s heart. During a particularly touching moment, Bourland’s mother, then his father, took a stethoscope and listened to their son’s heart beating in Green’s chest.
“Mr. Bourland, thank you very much. I have no way to thank you,” Green, 50, of Murray, Ky., said to Russell.
CIRCLE OF LIFE
During their gathering, the families went outside the party room to release a bevy of colorful balloons.
In death Josh Bourland saved not only the lives of his organ recipients, he also saved the potential beneficiaries of those who have been inspired, thanks to his story, to sign on as organ donors.
“It’s a blessing you leave to your family ... when you’re gone,” Johnson said. “That part of you still lives on.”