While Justin left behind the memories of an active young man that brought smiles to his classmates and family, it was his legacy of being an organ donor that left the biggest impact.
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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Jarod Doerner
Jarod has come a long way since spending his 13th birthday in the hospital waiting for a donor heart -- he's reached Eagle Scout and the Governor's office.
Sarah Pearson
Sarah received a heart in 2014. And when she passed away just 2 years later, she gave a final gift -- the gift of sight.
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.
Alysia Yamasaki
Alysia is grateful for both of the kidney donors and the donor families who are making life possible for her.
Bernadette Artharee
I was 25 years old and 7 months pregnant with my son, Hasan, when I was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease. I needed a kidney transplant to live.
Bob Dexter
With a new liver and a second chance at life, my life has changed in so many ways. I was even able to walk my daughter down the aisle.
Cal Mitchell
Cal Mitchell thought he was just going to get some results back on routine blood work that day in 2006. Instead, he learned that life had changed forever with a diagnosis of polycystic kidney disease (PKD).
Celeste Weatherman
Celeste Williams and Justin Weatherman married in October 2018, and thanks to generous tissue donors, these two walked down the aisle as two grateful tissue recipients.
Craig Johnson
“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.”
Gary Langenwalter
At a routine appointment with his eye doctor, Gary learned that his weakening vision was anything but routine. Cornea transplant has given him back his active lifestyle.