by Janice Gibbs - Telegram Staff Writer

Published April 28, 2008

It began with a decision.

Nanette Baird spent a weekend in October 2004 at Scott & White Memorial Hospital watching over her son, Christopher Jacobs, who had been in a one-car accident that left him with a severe head injury. When it became clear that Chris, a senior at Belton High School, would not survive, his mother decided to donate his organs.

On Sunday, Mrs. Baird and her family met David Golden, the Oklahoma man who received Chris’ liver. With a slideshow of photos of organ donors serving as a backdrop, the Southwest Transplant Alliance held its annual Celebration of Giving and Living at Scott & White with donor families and organ recipients in attendance.

Though the donor families will continue to feel pain of their losses, the goal of Sunday’s event was to provide some comfort, said Dusty Milanes, Southwest Transplant Alliance coordinator.

Mrs. Baird was a paramedic at Scott & White at the time of her son’s accident. During the three days that Christopher was in the intensive care unit, Mrs. Baird said she searched her heart and did a lot of praying.

“Saying goodbye to your child is something no parent is prepared to do,” she said.

Having a medical background, Mrs. Baird said she knew organ donation was the path in which they were headed. The decision wasn’t all that difficult because her son had been preparing to join the Air Force to become a firefighter in order to help people - to save lives. Christopher wasn’t able to accomplish his goal while living, his mother said, but in death he could.

Families making the decision to donate a loved one’s organs are doing so at the very worst time in their lives, Mrs. Baird said.

“Your whole life is falling apart and chaos has taken over,” she said.

Through organ donation, there’s something to hold on to and a part of deceased lives on, Mrs. Baird said. While in the Dallas hospital following the transplant, Golden said he realized the organ he received was from a young man who was the same age as his son.

“I began to wonder what it would be like to lose my son at the same age and it’s not easy,” Golden said.

Golden has familial amyloidosis. Amyloidosis is a progressive, incurable, metabolic disease characterized by abnormal deposits of protein in one or more organs or body systems. Familial or hereditary amyloidosis is the only inherited form of the disease and each family has a distinctive pattern of symptoms and organ involvement.

In the Golden family the disease strikes when the individual is 48 years old and the excess proteins produced by the liver coat nerve endings. The symptoms begin with fingers and toes becoming numb. The disease eventually shuts down organs that can no longer receive signals from the brain. Golden’s mother had the disease, but wasn’t diagnosed until she was in her late 60s.

His brother and sister have the disease. His brother has had a heart and liver transplant and his sister has had two liver transplants. Prior to the transplant, Golden said he had no symptoms of the disease and had worked the day before the surgery. The first year of recovery was tough, but he now works five days a week doing remodeling work and his medications don’t bother him.

“Most of the time I forget I have a transplant,” Golden said.

Golden’s two sons each have a 50 percent chance of having the disease, but he said he’s hoping a treatment will be available for them. Prior to meeting Mrs. Baird, Golden said he had been open to meeting the family of the organ donor since the beginning.

“I wanted to meet them whenever they wanted to meet me … we have a connection,” he said. “I live a pretty good life and I’d like her to know the liver isn’t going to waste.”

Mrs. Baird gave up her job as a paramedic late last year to become the coordinator of the transplant alliance at Scott & White. With her background, Mrs. Baird said she can truly empathize with families she works with.

“I think it’s helped a lot,” she said.

Also on Sunday, the family of Bettina Keith, 21, of Killeen were able to meet Jessica Terrazas of Midland, the recipient of Keith’s liver and small bowel. Ms. Keith died in August 2005 after being shot by her ex-husband.