“At my sickest, I was using a walker, sometimes a wheelchair. I was going into the hospital every couple of weeks, slipping into a coma sometimes, and getting weaker after each stay.”
Be an Organ and Tissue Donor
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.
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Tanya Watson
Doctors told Tanya Watson's family she would only live to the age of twelve. She surprised everyone in life, living to age 50. And in her death, she surprised them again by being a cornea donor.
Annie Chisholm
Annie has a lot of reasons to love her full and amazing life -- a wonderful family, a deep love for animals, and lots of travels. She is hoping for a kidney donor to make it possible to continue her adventures.
Teresa Higby
Teresa was in her late 30s when she received the diagnosis for the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy that had taken the life of her brother. Thanks to the cardiology team at Cedars-Sinai and a donor named Jennie, Teresa lives a life of active gratitude.
Nelson Zepeda
Nelson's illness came suddenly and quickly led to a life of medications, restrictions, and dialysis. But now, because of the generosity of a donor, Nelson is living to encourage those still on the waiting list.
Jay Salazar
Juan "Jay" Salazar's parents and three sisters miss him every day, but they say it's remembering that Jay gave the gift of life that gives them the courage to continue on.
Arash Fathizadeh
A stem cell transplant cured Arash of Diamond-Blackfan Anemia when he was 16. Years later, his stepmother's living kidney donation saved his life. Today, this healthy registered nurse is giving back by volunteering!
Emily Lighthipe
Emily had never met Liz, but when she heard that Liz needed a kidney, she volunteered to be tested and ultimately donated to the woman who is now her friend.
Mark Tatom
Unexpectedly stricken with Necrotizing Fasciitis -- a flesh-eating bacteria, Mark spent a month in a coma. Today, he is thankful for the skin and tissue grafts that saved his life, and he spends his days giving back.
Norrine Smokey-Smith
Norrine is grateful for breath, life, and the ability to serve -- both the Donate Life community and the Native American community.
Teresa Rambaud
Thanks to four cornea donors and their families, Teresa sees and lives life in bright, vivid color.