By: Judy Manis, Donor Wife, MRDS Volunteer
I would like to tell you a little about a very special man in my life. My husband, J.C. We were the typical high school sweethearts. We have been married for 26 years, have one daughter and son-in-law, Renee and Wes, one son and daughter-in-law, Michael and Kendra, and one very special grandson, Ben. J.C. was also a loving son, brother, uncle and friend. He was a very giving person. He had been a leader for the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts. He had coached baseball, football, basketball and softball for our children, for the church and for work. J.C. was also an ordained deacon of our church where he had served as chairman for the past seven years. He was a lifetime blood donor.
However, on Friday, December 21, 2001, J.C. gave his ultimate gift - he became a tissue and bone donor. While on the way to the emergency room because he wasn't feeling right, he suffered a massive heart attack and died in my arms. We had thought we would grow old and gray together and have to help each other up out of our rockers. We had life insurance, mortgage insurance and retirement all in order. But we had never taken the time to sit down and fill out any donor cards, because we had plenty of time for that when we got older. But that time came on December 21st. Had it not been for the donor services (MRDS) contacting us that evening we would have totally missed the opportunity for J.C. to be a giver one more time. There were no delays with our funeral arrangements. If we had not told our family and friends about the donations, no one could have looked at him and ever known. The only requirement was that he needed to have a long sleeve shirt on to cover any stitches.
Our family gave permission for any bone, tissue and eye donations. It was not until a couple of weeks later that we learned exactly how much he was able to donate. Due to the nature of his death, he was unable to be an organ donor. His corneas were transplanted on Saturday the 22nd-one to an 11-year-old boy and one to a 56 year old man. They both have regained their sight. His heart valves were to be used to replace defective valves. The pericardial sac (the sac around the heart) will be used to repair holes in babies hearts; ribs can be used in place of steel rods; hip joint, knee caps, and rotator cuffs can be used instead of plastic. The vertebra can be used to replace damaged discs and the skin grafts will be used at the burn hospitals.
Since J.C.'s death I have learned some comforting information about the retrieval procedures. My first image was of a room in the back of the funeral home. That is the farthest thing from the truth. The recovery is performed in a hospital operating room with sterile instruments and clothing just as if this was a normal operation. I have been assured that the body is treated with the utmost respect and gratitude because the recovery team realizes what a sacrifice has been made in order for there to be a donation. We have found a calming peace in knowing that J.C.'s death was not a total loss but that other people are able to benefit and improve their quality of life. We also realize how close we came to missing this chance. Had we only taken just a few minutes to fill out our donor cards and told the rest of our family, then there would never have been any doubt about what our wishes were. |
JC'S STORY