In a Time of Tragedy, We Found Our Hero

About a year and a half ago, I lost my best friend and the father of my three beautiful children. He was only 31 at the time. We became boyfriend and girlfriend right out of high school. I went into nursing school and would come home from school with all kind of medical discussions. One of them donation. I told him that there was no way that I would donate my organs. I said that if I died before him, he wasn’t allowed to do that. He told me the complete opposite…. that he could care less what happened to his organs. When we found out the news of his brain damage and the fact that we needed to make some very huge decisions…. I told the nurse right away of his donation decision. We met with Autumn, our family care representative from Indiana Donor Network. She was an angel and explained the whole donation process. I was able to take her explanation about organ donation to our three children. Owen, our oldest who was 10 at the time, took the education I had given him to his classroom and taught his classmates about his father’s choice. His teacher said he was blown away by his speech. Because of Charles, I am now a registered donor and would tell everyone they should also decide on this wonderful gift. In a time of tragedy, we found our hero. This past Mother’s Day, I received our first organ recipient letter and found out that she is going to become a mother for the first time thanks to Charles’ gift of life. It was one of the best gifts I have ever received.