Celebrating Lauren’s Love at the Indiana Donor Network 5k

On a beautiful day in August of 2017, my daughter, Lauren, and I proudly walked in the Indiana Donor Network 5k in Fort Wayne. We were there to celebrate and recognize a friend’s husband who was an organ recipient. What we didn’t realize at that time is how different life would be one year later.

As we walked the family fun route, Lauren ran around with pure joy as she spent quality time with her friends. I spent the morning talking and laughing with friends. When the walk was over, Lauren and I both commented on how much fun we had that morning with friends. We went home and went on with our day. That was the end of the story, or at least we thought it was going to be the end of the story.

In March of 2018, our life came to a screeching halt. Lauren unexpectedly died at the age of five and became an organ and tissue donor hero.

Lauren truly had an amazing ability to love! She had a heart of gold. She loved to help others, she loved God and she loved life! That is who Lauren was! It gave us comfort knowing that Lauren’s heart and heart valves, which symbolizes her love, were being shared with other people. Even after her death, she continues to love and bless many people.

Five months later, as the 5k for Fort Wayne was approaching, my husband and I had a conversation and discussed whether or not to create a team. We were hesitant at first to create a team. Fears and doubts quickly plagued us. We were concerned about whether or not people would really support us and our efforts of raising awareness and funds for Indiana Donor Network. We decided to take a leap of faith and create the team “Lauren’s Love”.

I don’t think anyone was prepared for what happened next.

We decided to invite friends, family members, co-workers, church members, neighbors and anyone else who knew Lauren to join our team. People were signing up as quickly as we were spreading the word. In the blink of an eye, we surpassed our original goal of having a “small team with a few people”. Next thing we knew, there were 50 people on our team. Soon after that there were 100 people on the team and then 150 people on our team. On the day of the 5k, our team roster totaled up to 205 people!  205 people!

We all wore red shirts (her favorite color) to honor and celebrate Lauren. It was the biggest team in the history of the event. It was a sea of red, full of people who loved Lauren so much.

On top of that, people became passionate about helping us raise funds. Our army of over 200 people raised $5,000 for the 5k! Several others helped by spreading the word about organ donation. And so many of those 205 people went home and made a decision to register as organ donors that day.

When the 5k was over last August, we couldn’t help but feel an immense amount of pride and love for our daughter, Lauren. When I think back to the 5k walk that Lauren and I did two years ago, I never imagined that a year later my walking partner would be bringing organ donation awareness to so many people. I never imagined that I would become an advocate for organ donation. I never imagined that my little girl would show so many people the power of truly loving others unconditionally. And I never imagined that Lauren would be a true hero and give the ultimate gift to others; the gift of life.

• Jennifer Clark, Lauren’s mother