Sunday, November 11, 2007

By Janice Gibbs TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

Nanette Baird understands grief like only a mother who has lost a child can.

Her son, Chris Jacobs, 17, died in October 2004 when he lost control of his car and hit a tree early one morning.

He was a senior at Belton High School at the time of his death.

There's no getting over the shock and distress of the accident and Ms. Baird expects to live with that for the rest of her life. However, because of the life-altering event, she's preparing to follow a new path that probably wouldn't have been an option she'd have considered if not for the tragedy.

A paramedic for 10 years, four at Scott & White, Ms. Baird will soon become in-house coordinator for Southwest Transplant Alliance at Scott & White.

Southwest Transplant Alliance is a non-profit organ and tissue donor program serving hospitals and patients throughout much of Texas.

Educating people about organ donation became a mission of Ms. Baird after she donated her son's organs at the time of his death.

Ms. Baird said she got a call from a fellow Scott & White paramedic about Chris' accident about 7 a.m. on a Friday and was told he was being flown to Scott & White.

'His prognosis was not very good ... he had a severe head injury,' Ms. Baird said.

Because of Christopher's age, the neurosurgeon, according to Ms. Baird, wanted to see if anything could be done surgically, so Chris was transferred to an Intensive Care Unit.

'It was pretty much an emotional roller coaster from Friday until Sunday,' she said.

Chris' condition went from bad to better, back to bad, a number of times, Ms. Baird said. On Sunday his condition began to deteriorate and an electroencephalogram (EEG) revealed there was no brain activity.

'Christopher planned to join the Air Force to become a firefighter,' Ms. Baird said.

Oddly, he and his mother had discussed his career plans the night before he died.

'Christopher said he wanted to be a firefighter ... he said he wanted to be like me and be a hero and help people,' she said.

During the time Ms. Baird sat at her son's bedside with Amanda, her daughter and Christopher's sister, they discussed what could be done to honor him. Memorials and scholarships were considered.

'It came to me,' she said. 'Chris was young and his brain was the only organ injured ... organ donation made sense,' she said.

After discussing the plan with her family, Ms. Baird decided to go ahead with the donation.

'I'm so glad we did,' she said. 'It's given us a lot to hold on to, knowing he's helping someone else and they're living because of him.'

Four or five people benefited from Chris' heart. Others received his liver, kidneys and eyes.

This year Ms. Baird finally felt ready to contact the organ recipients and sent a letter to Southwest Transplant Alliance to be passed along to those who had received Christopher's organs. The letter she sent was all about her son.

'I wrote about what he liked to do, his hobbies and what kind of kid he was,' Ms. Baird said.

Although she has not been in contact with any of the recipients, Ms. Baird has been told all are doing well.

Through her position as in-house coordinator for Southwest Transplant Alliance, Ms. Baird will become integrated with the medical and nursing staff at Scott & White in order for more organ donors to be identified and to make sure families are offered the option of donation in a compassionate way, said Jim Cutler, Southwest Transplant Alliance CEO.

'Nanette will be able to bring a unique empathy to the position based on her own personal experience,' Cutler said. 'She can help to serve as the bridge between the family and the health care team. She has the health care experience, but then she also has the experience of been there, done that.'

The clinical side of the job is interesting to Ms. Baird, but she said she is really looking forward to interacting with the families.

'I want to help them through the process, because I've been that family,' she said. 'It's a lot different talking to someone who just says 'I understand,' or 'I'm sorry for your loss,' than someone who has been in that position.'

Ms. Baird said she knows exactly what the families will be feeling, what it's like to be giving up so much when the decision is made to donate a loved one's organs.

Before the coordinator job became available, Ms. Baird had been in contact the transplant alliance because she wanted to begin educating people about organ donation and sharing Chris' story.

'I wanted to get education for us in the field as paramedics - to be able to handle those situations' she said. 'We come across patients every day who would be good organ donation candidates and education is needed in order for those organs to make it to a recovery status.'

Like her mother, Chris' sister's path was altered because of the accident.

Amanda became involved in Child Life at Scott & White and attended several grief camps following her brother's death. She now plans to pursue a career working with children.

'During the grief camps I got close to some of the younger kids and spent most of my time helping them,' Amanda said. 'Seeing them happy made me feel a lot better about myself.'

For months following Chris' deaths, Ms. Baird said she had a million questions - did she make the right decision, was Christopher aware, was he in pain, could he hear her.

Training for the new job Ms. Baird thinks may offer some answers for herself and those families she will ultimately help.