Stories of Hope

Our goal at Donate Life Northwest is to educate and encourage people to sign up on their state donor registry. Why? To offer hope to the parents of an 11-year-old boy given six months to live unless he receives a heart transplant. To give grieving families the knowledge their loved one left a selfless legacy. To join in celebration of lives saved and sight and mobility restored because a person's decision to donate was known and honored at their time of death. Because organ, eye and tissue donation is about one human being offering the gift of life to another. Submit Your Story

Photo of Earl and Tammy

Tammy Yorba

Tammy is a proud graduate of Vernonia High School, Class of 1985, along with classmate and friend, Earl Cramer-Brown. Years later, when Tammy learned her friend needed a kidney, she stepped up to help.

Young bearded man wearing a blue jacket and ball cap with his arm around a young woman wearing glasses, and a blue jacket, with her hair in a bun under large blooming trees

Hayley Resk

In January 2024, Hayley received a liver transplant at the University of Washington, thanks to a generous donor. But it wasn’t Hayley’s first time in this particular position.

Smiling Hispanic teen boy with short, curly hair and a thin goatee in front of a medium blue background

Jose Magdaleno

Jose’s family has believed in the impact of donation ever since his grandmother, Josefina, became a cornea donor over 20 years ago. When Jose passed in 2022, they saw the power of donation at work again.

Smiling Caucasian woman with chin-length blonde-brown-streaked hair posing with a smiling boy wearing a cowboy hat and a young woman with long blond hair and a bright smile

Jeanne Leason

Jeanne has worked in healthcare most of her life. But in 2024, she found herself on the other side of the bed as a patient in desperate need of a liver transplant.

Ken Reese

An average kidney transplant lasts between 10-15 years. The kidney Ken received from his mother has lasted 50 years -- still going strong and looking forward to the future.

Young Caucasian woman smiling back at the camera over her left shoulder

Abby Richter

Abby Richter has a promising future ahead of her thanks to a generous liver donor.

Close-up of a smiling Caucasian teen boy with wavy, brown, shoulder-length hair

Wyatt Owens

Wyatt's family always believed in organ donation – and they talked about it. When the time came, there was no doubt that he wanted to give the gift of life.

Black teenage boy wearing a white basketball uniform that reads BEND 10 and he is holding a basketball in his right hand.

Donovan Williams

At the age of 14, Donovan “Dono” Williams gave an extraordinary gift to five strangers: life.

A couple sitting on concrete porch stoop, man on the left wearing blue flannel shirt, woman on right wearing denim jacket, with a gray and brown doggo between them.

Rose Naughtin

Rose’s health journey hasn’t been an easy one, but she is here and healthy thanks to three generous donors.

A smiling Dad, surrounded by a woman and four teenaged children

Greg Tyree

It was during a routine physical for a life insurance policy that Greg learned he was in kidney failure. Now, he's hoping to find a kidney donor to save his life.