Jan

My mother, Jan, passed away from a brain aneurysm on Mother’s Day 2014.  We called her the ‘miracle woman’ as she not only survived, but rehabilitated and went back to work full time after three brain surgeries 21 years prior.

Whenever we would discuss organ donation she would always laugh and say “who the heck would want any of my organs with all the medications I take” so the conversation ended there. Unfortunately, we were never able to have that discussion again. She became very confused on Monday, 5/4/14 so we went to her primary care doctor to find out that she had a urinary tract infection. After four days of being on antibiotics and not showing any signs of improvement, we returned to the doctor and he decided to admit her to the hospital. Several hours later he ordered a CAT scan and this is when they found the aneurysm behind her left eye. By the time the transported her to a larger hospital she was having seizures almost every two minutes.

I was able to see her one last time before she became unresponsive due to a significant brain bleed. It was at that time that I discussed the option of organ donation with my brother and we both knew it would be what mom wanted if it were possible.  So, long story short Kristen P. from Gift of Life Michigan was on the scene and just did an amazing job of staying with us to answer all of our questions.  Two days later our mom was officially pronounced brain dead and we walked her back to the operating room for Gift of Life to do their magic and help save the lives of others.  The results; two people are now off of dialysis and two people have sight because our “momma” was now a hero!!

Please take time to have the discussion of organ donation with your loved ones and sign up to become a donor yourself NOW at http://giftoflifemichigan.org/become-donor.