Donation Stories

One act of generosity becomes a lifetime of impact.

Driven: A NASCAR Driver Pays it Forward

April 19, 2017

Joey Gase may be a rising star in NASCAR but he’s also a 24-year-old who, not too long ago, had to make the hardest decision he may ever face. Joey was 18 when his mother, Mary Jo, suffered a brain aneurysm at the age of 44 which tragically took her life. Since his parents were divorced, it…

Chesterfield Family to Honor Son’s Legacy, Award Service Scholarships

Tyler Patnaude / Eye & Tissue Donor

It started off as a happy day – Peter and Yvonne Patnaude’s daughter, Payge, was celebrating her birthday and her older brother, Tyler, was preparing to graduate from Cosby High School. Then with one knock on the door, everything changed. A parent’s worst nightmare- Tyler was dead. The car he’d been riding in hit a…

Superhero: How the Gift of Life Saved a Family Again and Again

Kyndall Hodgins / Kidney Transplant
& Luke Edmonson / Living Donor
David Edmondson / Heart Transplant

They say that the things you go through make you stronger. For David Edmondson, Meghan Hodgins, and their daughter, Kyndall, this strength would double, then triple, and then prove to be a seemingly indestructible force against whatever life could throw at them. And life has thrown a lot their way. Kyndall, now 18 years old,…

Finding the Light: Through My Sister’s Eyes

Jackie Hall / Cornea Transplant
& Erma Bagby / Cornea Donor

Jackie Hall lost her older sister, Erma, to breast cancer in 2015. Six years had separated them, but not much else. The two had already been through so much together—the passing of their father and the near-total degeneration of Jackie’s eyesight due to a disease called keratoconus. Her corneas had begun to thin and reshape…

Heart of an Activist: The Unstoppable Dr. Rodgers-Rose

February 18, 2017

Well into her 80th year and her second heart, Dr. La Francis Rodgers-Rose hasn’t slowed down. After a lifetime on the go, the community activist, university teacher and heart transplant recipient is currently gearing up to host the 14th annual Organ Donation Gala. It’s a full circle journey for an African-American woman born into segregated…

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.