Southwest Transplant Alliance

Her son's head hit the pavement after wind caught a canvas he was holding in the back of a truck and the canvas knocked him out of the vehicle. Within 24 hours, doctors pronounced him brain dead.

"Chris was a little stubborn about things … he didn't want to lay it (the canvas) down in the truck; he didn't want to get it dirty," his mother, Barbara Zimmerma,n of Tyler, remembers.

The family was informed of the mishap and wound up at the hospital, that day in September 2008.

"When your child passes away, I don't know that there's anything that makes you feel really better," Ms. Zimmerman said Sunday, but remembered "one little bright spot in all of the bad."

That was the donation of her son's kidneys.

Ms. Zimmerman and her son's father, Mike Forzano of Whitehouse, were among several families honored during Southwest Transplant Alliance's annual Celebration of Giving and Living honoring local donors of organs.

Approximately 150 people attended the ceremony at Tyler Rose Garden Center, which also honored recipients of life-saving transplants.

To Ms. Zimmerman, donating the kidneys of her son, Christopher Jeffers Forzano, 28, was "the natural thing to do."

She said, "We were losing Chris. We had to withdraw life support when he got to the point where his body was shutting down. I didn't want this to be a totally terrible thing unless something good could come out of it, so we asked about organ donation."

Chris' father said that at the time, he didn't know if it made him feel better, but "it does now as we get farther (along)."

Ms. Zimmerman and her son had earlier talked about organ donation. "We assumed I would go first," she said. That's the way it's supposed to be, his father said, but Ms. Zimmerman injected, "It didn't turn out that way."

Deciding to donate her son's kidneys "was easy for me," Ms. Zimmerman said. She acknowledged it's not an easy decision for some people, yet encouraged others to donate.

Because of the family's experience, Mike Forzano now says, "I will donate whatever I can donate."

Bob Evans, a senior vice president with East Texas Medical Center Regional Health Care System, thanked family members and donors "for the precious gifts that they've given."

He told the crowd, "We're here to honor you for providing that one vital resource that we (medical personnel) cannot provide, and that's that precious and thoughtful gift that you have given to your fellow East Texans to make their lives better and to extend their lives. That gift is beyond comprehension for those families in terms of how valuable that is."

After musical entertainment and the reading of a poem, Tom O'Leary paid tribute to his son, Chris O'Leary, 20, of Whitehouse, who died in October 2008 from injuries sustained when his motorcycle was struck by a Chevy Suburban driven by woman who later pleaded guilty to intoxicated manslaughter.

His voice breaking, Tom O'Leary said of his son, "I miss him."

He described his son as his best friend and a great, amazing young man, a straight "A" student, a hard worker and a truly good man who touched a lot of people and looked after others. At the time he was killed, Chris O'Leary was a sophomore at Texas A&M University, who had a goal of becoming a mechanical engineer.

His son lives on because four lives were saved through donation of his organs, the father said.

The Duffer family of Wells Point presented the recipient's perspective of the organ donation process.

Sonya Duffer recalled that early last December, her son Harley, 12, woke up with chest pains and trouble breathing, so the parents took him to be checked out.

"We had no idea where this journey was going to take us," Mrs. Duffer said.
Although there had been no symptoms previously and the boy had always been active, tests showed his heart was three times its normal size and he was placed on a transplant waiting list at Children's Medical Center in Dallas.

"This was quite a shock to us," Mrs. Duffer said. "The month we waited for a transplant," she added, "was the longest month of our lives."

Crying with joy, Mrs Duffer said, "But we were very blessed that on Christmas Day, Harley received a new heart and we are all very grateful."

Looking healthy, the boy stood quietly in front of the crowd Sunday with his mother and father, Taylor, and sister, Carlson, 11.

"He doesn't feel like talking today," Mrs. Duffer told the crowd, "but he wants all of the donor families to know how much he appreciates the fact that there are donor families that think of other people and that he knows that without his donor family, he would not be here today."

He has had no signs of rejection and he's making the most out of his life and taking care of his new heart, Mrs. Duffer said. "We really appreciate donor families because this whole experience has opened our eyes and our community to how important organ donation is," she added.

Giving closing remarks for the ceremony, Robert Stovall, chaplain at East Texas Medical Center, commended the families of organ donors and recipients of organ transplants. In their journey of life, he said, "You had the heart to write a new chapter … a new chapter that would turn a tragedy into a victory."

Families of organ donors have given an incredible gift in the midst of a need experienced by recipients, Stovall said.

On hand for the ceremony were the families of David Morgan Benton, Kendall Clay, Julie W. Dolsen, Christopher Jeffers Forzano, David Lair, David Marroquin, Trevor Shane Martin, James McDaniel, Thomas Christopher "Chris" O'Leary, Michael Angelo Ray Perez, Jorge Francisco Rivera, Adam Strimpel, Marion Jeannette Watson and Brandon Whitfield.