SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) – Firefighter/Paramedic Jan A. “Jay” Sanders Jr., who served Charlotte County for more than 35 years, died June 18 after what the agency described as occupational cancer. After his death, Sanders was transported to Moffitt Cancer Center to donate tissue for cancer research.
Sanders’ donation is part of Moffitt’s rapid tissue donation program, which has been operating for about 10 years and has identified new mutations never before documented in peer-reviewed literature.
Matthew Schabath, program leader for cancer epidemiology at Moffitt, said the program has consented about 160 patients and completed about 90 tissue collections to date.
“It’s relatively uncommon,” Schabath said, citing space limitations and the program’s focus on specific patient populations. “We only have one autopsy suite. So we’re really limited on space.”
The program, called Targeted Autopsy Collections, or TACs, partners with patients, their doctors and researchers to study patients through their entire journey from diagnosis through treatment to end of life.
Unlike organ donation listed on driver’s licenses, the program collects tissue samples from areas where cancer was present and from healthy tissue where cancer was not. It does not remove entire organs.
“We’re going to collect tissue from the involved, where that cancer may be, or healthy tissues, where maybe the cancer was not,” Schabath said. “But we’re not removing entire organs. We’re just removing large amounts of tissue to allow us to study this.”
Funeral Service for Firefighter/Paramedic Jay Sanders
The process is complex and expensive. Moffitt’s operations team coordinates with patients’ families, transports deceased patients to the facility for collection, and then transports tissue back to the family’s desired location.
Charlotte County Fire & EMS will honor Sanders during his “Last Alarm” on Thursday, June 25, 2026, at noon at the Charlotte Harbor Event & Conference Center, 75 Taylor St., in Punta Gorda. Doors will open at 11:30 a.m. The service will be livestreamed.
Following the service, firefighters, first responders and public safety personnel from across the region will participate in a procession honoring Sanders’ life and legacy. The public is encouraged to safely line the route to pay respects.
Sanders served as a firefighter, paramedic, mentor and friend to Charlotte County citizens and visitors. He was also an Honor Guard member and deployed to wildland fires across the western United States.
A memorial for Sanders was placed outside Charlotte County Fire & EMS headquarters on Airport Road in Punta Gorda. Engine 15, described as Sanders’ last assigned apparatus, was draped in mourning bunting.
After Sanders was transported to Moffitt for tissue donation, first responders lined parts of Interstate 75 from Tampa to Charlotte County to honor him as he was brought back home.
Moffitt’s major research areas are lung cancer and gastrointestinal diseases, driven by available research funding. Schabath said Sanders’ donation qualified for the program based on his disease type and treatment.
The program initially focused on lung cancer patients before expanding institution-wide about two and a half years ago following a grant from the state of Florida.
The state of Florida grant has allowed Moffitt to expand the program’s infrastructure, moving from Excel spreadsheets to cloud-based systems for real-time data tracking and patient management.
Moffitt is currently investigating how to accept patients from outside the institution. All patients who have consented and donated to date have been Moffitt patients, but the center hopes to eventually offer the program to people throughout Florida.
“There’s obviously legal and ethical issues, and so we are investigating, and we’re hoping one day we’ll be able to offer this to people throughout the state of Florida,” Schabath said.
People interested in donating tissue after death from cancer can contact Moffitt at rapidtissuedonation@moffitt.org.
Cancer patients who are registered organ donors may not qualify for traditional organ donation but could qualify for tissue donation through the rapid tissue donation program.
Moffitt is also developing a toolkit with standard operating procedures that it plans to share with other institutions in Florida and across the country, allowing them to establish similar programs.
“We’re the premier cancer center in the state of Florida, so we’re willing to work with anybody in the state or outside the state to help get this up and running,” Schabath said.
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