By: Katherine Bates (mother)
Stacey Lydell Bates was born May 18, 1969. Stacey was born several months premature and this was just the beginning of several health issues. The major problem was, as a baby Stacey was unable to keep his milk down, so at the age of nine months doctors took him off of milk and only gave him 7-up. He never drank a bottle again.
Stacey was a very bright child. He attended the Hinton Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois where he excelled in gymnastics and graduated as Salutatorian. Stacey then attended the Magnet Program at the Hyde Park Career Academy. In addition, during his four years at the academy Stacey was involved in a program that allowed him to attend the University of Chicago. Stacey's ambition at an early age was to become an attorney. Upon graduation from high school, Stacey attended the Chicago State University, majoring in Political Science.
Stacey was an only child for most of his childhood. At the age of eight, Stacey became a brother for the first time. Stacey and his sister were very close and loved each other very much. As boys will be boys, he constantly teased her, but he also protected her. Stacey was constantly looking out for her and doing things like helping her with her homework at night while I was away at school.
As a teenager Stacey was a very quiet kid. Most afternoons were spent with his three best friends working out with weights on Stacey's bench press. He used to tell me that he had to have muscles to take care of his sister and me. He felt that because he was small, he had to be powerful and he lifted weights until the day that he died, September 11, 1995.
As a result of Stacey's donation, a fifty-seven year old mother of three now has a new kidney. A forty-year-old father of four received the other kidney. A sixty one year old mother of three received Stacy's liver, and a forty-year-old father of two received Stacy's heart. |
STACEY'S STORY