By Karen Garloch, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.
Apr. 4–Boy’s gift links death, life Garrett Terrell’s organ donations
have helped more than 90 people Karen Garloch
Because Garrett Terrell had diabetes, he and his mother, Myra, often talked of the possibility that he might need a pancreas or kidney transplant when he got older.
Instead, in September 2003, Garrett himself became an organ donor.
He suffered a stroke, an unusual complication of diabetes in someone so young. A week later, when doctors in Concord declared him brain dead, Myra Terrell didn’t wait to be asked. She called LifeShare of the Carolinas and offered to donate her son’s organs.
“Garrett was the type of kid who would give you what he had,” Terrell said. “The decision to be a donor wasn’t a hard one. I was just his mouthpiece.”
So far, more than 90 people have benefited from Garrett’s organs, corneas, heart valves, bones and other tissue. And on Monday, his mother got to meet one of them.
“Oh, thank you,” said Cindy Marshall-Hope, the 49-year-old Gastonia grandmother who is living today with Garrett’s liver.
She spoke through sobs as she wrapped her arms tightly around Terrell in the unusual, arranged meeting at Carolinas Medical Center. “I’m so sorry for your loss,” Hope said.
Awkwardly at first, they sat and spoke as nine other people, from LifeShare, CMC and the Observer, watched.
Terrell offered two photo albums full of pictures from Garrett’s short life.
“He’s so handsome,” Hope said, as she turned the pages, learning about his love of Legos and monkeys, his Cub Scout camping trips and his middle-school friends.
“How have you survived?” Hope whispered.
“Day by day,” answered Terrell.
Hope struggled through emotion to say the words she had come to say: “You know I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for your loss. At first I felt real guilty. I struggled with the sympathy for you, but at the same time, I was so grateful that I was going to live. I just thank you.”
Until Monday, the two women hadn’t known much about each other. They had exchanged four letters, always with last names and identifying information deleted by the LifeShare censors.
Custom in the United States is to keep donor families and organ recipients anonymous unless they express the desire to meet. This was the first time in its 35 years that LifeShare had arranged such a meeting, according to spokeswoman Debbie Gibbs.
The timing coincided with Monday’s visit to Charlotte by Reg Green, whose 7-year-old son, Nicholas, was killed in 1994 during a family vacation in Italy. His organs were donated to seven Italians, and the story prompted an international movement in support of organ donation that has been called the Nicholas Effect.
With Green looking on, Terrell and Hope shared details of their lives.
Terrell, a second-grade teacher assistant and bus driver for Weddington Hills Elementary in Concord, introduced her mother, Margaret Terrell. She also brought an 8-by-10 picture of a 2-year-old in Georgia who received one of her son’s heart valves. She hopes to meet him and his parents soon.
Hope, executive director of Gastonia’s Potters House, a Christian home for women who struggle with substance abuse, brought her son, Caleb Marshall, 15, and daughter, Shannon Rollins, 29, and pictures of her two grandchildren. Hope said she dedicated one of her Potters House buildings to Garrett’s memory.
When Garrett died on Sept. 22, 2003, Hope had been waiting four months for a liver transplant.
Her liver was failing due to hepatitis C, a disease she had contracted during 17 years as a heroin addict, Hope said. That addiction ended about 18 years ago, she said, when she became a Christian while in jail. Later, she got a college degree and started the Potters House to help women like herself.
“This affected a whole bunch of people,” Hope said. “The Lord knew what he was doing.”
The women haven’t decided what happens next.
“Do you ride horses?” Hope asked. “I’ve got six horses.”
They talked about going out to eat.
“This is one of those moment by moment things,” Terrell said. “… My circle of friends has just gotten bigger.”
To Become a Donor
— Sign a donor card, witnessed by two people. In the Carolinas, if a brain-dead accident victim is carrying a proper donor card, laws allow doctors to transplant organs and tissue without approval from the donor’s family.– Indicate your desire on your driver’s license. This is not a legal document, but an indication of intent.
— Tell family members about your wishes. Even if you have indicated your wishes on a donor card or driver’s license, it may be family members who give final consent.
More Information
— LifeShare of the Carolinas, (704) 512-3303, www.lifesharecarolinas.org . Provides organ donation services for the Charlotte area, Western North Carolina and York County, S.C.
— South Carolina Organ Procurement Agency, (800) 462-0755..
— Coalition on Donation: www.donatelife.net . Provides organ donation rules for all states.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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