Donation Stories

One act of generosity becomes a lifetime of impact.

Thankful for time: A Galax family heads south for Christmas

Audrey Gillespie / Heart Transplant

While other children are dreaming of a white Christmas, Audrey Gillespie is dreaming of palm trees and Mickey Mouse this year. Audrey spent her first Christmas in the hospital waiting for a heart transplant but this year, she’ll spend her fifth Christmas at Disney World. “We found out at the 20-week ultrasound that she was…

Richmond man’s holiday tradition celebrates a second chance at life

Jim Price / Liver Transplant

For Jim Price, the holiday traditions start with a brisk 8K on a cold November morning each year. “Not long after my liver transplant, I was up and walking again and I got to talking big and bragging and I said ‘I’m going to get good enough where I can do the 8K in the…

Life and Death through the Eyes of a Hospital Chaplain

November 8, 2017

Sometimes the miracle you get isn’t the miracle you asked for. That’s a truth Stephanie Hamilton often discusses with families in her role as a family communication coordinator and head of bereavement services at VCU Medical Center. When a family has been praying for a miracle – that their loved one will wake up and…

Cornea transplant lifts librarian from depression

Mary Jackson / Eye Transplant

Mary Jackson didn’t just get new eyes – she got a whole new way of looking at life after a double cornea transplant 25 years ago cured her not only of blindness, but of suicidal depression. Now pushing 80, she’s more active than she’s ever been and grateful for her second shot at life. Going…

DMV coworkers share a boss, a mission and a kidney

Frieda Booth-Pitts / Kidney Recipient
& Sandy Bloxom / Living Donor

“Do you wish to be an organ, eye and tissue donor?” It’s standard practice at the DMV to ask this question of anyone renewing their license. Sandy Bloxom and Frieda Booth-Pitts asked the organ donation question countless times during their lengthy tenure at the Henrico DMV office, never knowing they would be personally impacted. But…

Checking your status could change 75 lives

Did you know organ, eye and tissue donation can save 8 people, and improve life for 75 more? Check your status right now, and sign up to help others have longer, stronger lives.