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“I’m lucky to be alive. I truly live each day for myself and my donor.” – Heather Cook Heather Cook’s mother, uncle and grandfather died from colon cancer–all before they were 50. So when the Evansville resident had her first colonoscopy at 28, the news wasn’t good. Doctors found hundreds of polyps in her intestines and diagnosed Heather with familial adenomas polyposis, a genetic disease characterized by cancer of the Read More »

“For us, it was important to make sure that her legacy of loving, of caring and sharing went on.” – Mark Mikel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXtLOdIZSUY Mark Mikel shares the story of when he lost his 16-year-old daughter in an accident. Prior to her accident, she had signed up to be an organ donor. Mark and his family honored her decision and his daughter, Kelsey, went on to save four lives through her Read More »

“As hard as it’s been for them, I can see how much they can see something positive in what’s happened.” – William Lewis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F4gt68JCxI William and Kimberly Lewis began talking about organ donation in the late 1990s when both had relatives on the transplant waiting list. “There are so many in the black community in need of organ donations, but not many of us agree to donate,” William says. “After Read More »

“We wanted to try and prevent any other parents from going through what we were going through.” – Drew Vanderkleed https://youtu.be/YFEFRktEBCE Drew and Lisa Vanderkleed tragically lost their son in an accident when he was nearly 2 years old. “When they told us things weren’t looking good for Logan, Drew and I told each other we didn’t want this to be the end, and we started discussing organ donation,” Lisa Read More »

“Her life is gone here, but let’s go save others.” – Minerva Coker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM6sxlqT5Pg Minerva Coker will forever remember her daughter’s warm smile and how happy and full of life she was. A beautician, Ayania loved styling her mother’s hair and painting her nails. “She made me feel beautiful,” Coker said. “She always made me feel good about myself.” Tragically, Ayania, 20, suffered a gunshot wound Dec. 5 while driving Read More »

“I just got a feeling our son was saying to us, ‘What are you doing? Don’t let tragedy breed tragedy; let a tragedy create a miracle.’” — Wil Worthington https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6QVksCvv-c At first, Wil and Rhena Worthington didn’t want any part of it, but minutes after refusing to discuss donating their 11-year-old son’s organs, they both — almost at the same time — had second thoughts. “I was sitting at the Read More »

By Whitney I’m so honored to share with Indiana Donor Network a glimpse into my life as a widow. My name is Whitney, and my husband Ethan died from suicide in 2014. I can’t say that Ethan and I were the lovey-dovey type of married people. We didn’t go all out on Valentine’s Day. We were just too cool for that (ha!). Still, it’s hard not to think of him Read More »

By Lisa Vanderkleed To have or not to have another child? The question was on my mind and my heart as my husband, Drew, and I left the hospital shortly after the passing of our son, Logan, in August 2017. As we walked to our car, I looked over at Drew and said, “I want to have another baby.” Drew immediately turned to me and agreed, “Yes, let’s try to Read More »

What you may not have considered by Mandy Montgomery When your loved one passes, there is paperwork to sign, things to go through and decide whether to keep or sell, and the everyday steps of moving on. It’s hard to fathom there are bigger things – living things – to consider. One of these things for our family was deciding what would happen to Chris’s dogs. Chris had two dogs, Read More »