Temple Telegram

By Janice Gibbs

Medical Writer

KILLEEN - Nettie Howard of Killeen couldn't believe her 32-year-old son Marlon was dead.

He was warm to the touch and his chest was moving up and down. Marlon was on a ventilator, which was supporting his heart and lung functions.

Marlon, a barber in Killeen, was thrown from his motorcycle when he hit a speed limit sign on a Friday night last October. A doctor at Scott & White Memorial Hospital told Mrs. Howard her son died on impact.

``I didn't want to believe that,'' Mrs. Howard said. ``He was such a free spirit and full of life, but he got on a motorcycle without a helmet.''

She told the individuals who talked to her about donating Marlon's organs that she would give her OK if he died when the ventilator was turned off.

``That's what he would wish for me to do, to help somebody else, because he had a kind heart,'' she said.

Howard said her son had voiced an interest once about organ donation when he was quite young. She and Marlon had discussed the topic when he asked her about the red dot on her California driver's license, an indication she was a registered organ donor.

However, Howard fully expected Marlon to start breathing on his own without the mechanical assistance.

``I looked at him and thought `Oh he's going to be all right, he's fine, he's young and strong.'''

On Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009, the day after the accident, Marlon was declared brain dead. In time, Howard became an enthusiastic advocate for organ donation.

Howard will meet some of the individuals who benefited from Marlon's final gift during Southwest Transplant Alliance's annual Donor Family Celebration 2-4 p.m. Sunday at Hilton Garden Inn.

In addition to the donor family celebration, a Wall of Heroes dedication will be at 1 p.m. at Scott & White Memorial Hospital Center for Advanced Medicine, North Tower ICU waiting room.

The wall will honor organ, eye and tissue donors and their families.

As information has been made available, Howard began keeping tabs on the people who were given Marlon's organs. She's received letters and cards, and a smiley face heart from a young girl in El Paso who received one of Marlon's kidneys.

Howard is especially concerned about the El Paso teen, who has been in the hospital and was recently moved to University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

Initially, there was fear the kidney was being rejected, but the girl's mother texted Howard earlier in the week to tell her that kidney function was improving.

``I don't want anything to happen to that little girl,'' Howard said. ``I need to know these people are going to be all right.''

Josh, a 24-year-old in Louisiana, has her son's heart and Howard believes that on Sunday she'll be meeting the 54-year-old man who received Marlon's liver.

Through correspondence, Howard learned the liver recipient was able to dance with his daughter on her 15th birthday because of the successful transplant.

When Mrs. Howard learned from Josh's mother he was feeling depressed, Howard asked to speak to him. She told Josh it wouldn't be unusual for him to be feeling a little out of sorts.

``I told Josh not to worry if he began to crave soul food, or out of the blue developed an appreciation for rap music, after all, while Marlon's blood was red, his heart was all black,'' she said. ``His mother told me after that talk Josh began to smile again.''

Marlon was the fifth of seven children and was born on Mother's Day.

``He was a delightful child and he was always happy,'' Mrs. Howard said.
Howard said the booklet ``Something More'' she received from Southwest Transplant Alliance after Marlon's death helped her and her family a lot. It explained that many of the feelings she was experiencing were not uncommon.

``It breaks down the information and after I read it I completely understood,'' she said. ``When it's all happening, there's too much to take in.''There will always be fond memories, but there will also be sadness.

``There are good days and bad,'' Howard said. ``It's especially hard to hear when someone else was killed riding a motorcycle.''

Howard had her share of personal loss before Marlon was killed. In 2005, Howard, a New Orleans native, had six family members die as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
Her mother, she said, died of broken heart after moving from the city. That death wasn't totally unexpected, Mrs. Howard said, but Marlon's was.

``It's the hardest thing in the world. They're there one minute and gone the next,'' she said.

jgibbs@tdtnews.com