{"id":158319,"date":"2026-02-17T12:44:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/158319\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T12:44:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:44:27","slug":"local-mother-promotes-organ-donation-in-sons-honor-during-black-history-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/158319\/","title":{"rendered":"Local mother promotes organ donation in son’s honor during Black History Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PETE, Fla. \u2014 A St. Pete mother is using Black History Month as an opportunity to share her story about the son she lost, the families she\u2019s gained, and the importance of organ donation.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery friendly, he had a lot of friends, big football player, he always wanted to be an NFL football player,\u201d said Marcia Welch about her son, Jacquez.<\/p>\n

Marcia still remembers where she was sitting that Friday night in September 2019, when her son collapsed while playing football for his beloved Northeast High School Vikings.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI thought he was having a seizure because he wasn\u2019t responding, his eyes were rolling back, and he was clutching his teeth, so I was like, \u2018he didn\u2019t have any medical history or anything, yea, we probably need to get him up and go to the hospital,\u2019\u201d said Welch.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Marcia soon discovered Jacquez was born with a rare medical condition called Arteriovenous Malformation. The promising young football star had no idea his life was in danger.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cVeins in his brain that are tangled up and they are not supposed to be tangled and what happens is eventually they burst and he had a stroke on the field,\u201d said Welch.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Jacquez died in the hospital. It was a time of tragedy, but also a time of hope, because when Jacquez got his driver\u2019s license, he chose to be an organ donor.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cHe was just that kind of person, he would do anything for anybody, and he just felt like if I can\u2019t use it, then somebody else can,\u201d said Welch.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Jacquez\u2019s organs went on to save four lives, ironically, the same number he wore on his uniform, while his tissue went on to help more than 70 others in need.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s like he\u2019s still here; he might not be here physically, but mentally he is still here,\u201d said Welch.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Marcia has now teamed up with The LifeLink Foundation to raise awareness of the power of organ donation, particularly among minorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cNationwide, there are more than 100,000 people waiting for an organ transplant, 60 percent of those people are black and brown, yet black and brown people are the least likely to sign up to donate and that\u2019s a problem,\u201d said Sherri Day, with the LifeLink Foundation.<\/p>\n

Day says having a voice in the community, like Marica, is a huge help to promoting their message.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd for her to look past her grief, to hold onto the hope, and to try to make sure that other people have that information, it is really amazing,\u201d said Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in the black community, I think we are uneducated and quick to say, \u2018no\u2019 because we don\u2019t know, so I feel like they should get educated,\u201d said Welch.<\/p>\n

For more information on the LifeLink Foundation and becoming an organ donor, go here<\/a> <\/p>\n

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We all take pride in where we live, and Robert Boyd takes pride in highlighting why we feel that way. Whether it\u2019s people doing good or underrepresented communities that deserve a spotlight, Robert wants to know about them. Just use the form below to reach out to Robert.
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Largo family loses home in morning fire, forced to start over<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETE, Fla. \u2014 A St. Pete mother is using Black History Month as an opportunity to share…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[205,75870,75871,75872,75873,75874,596,18143,202,204,203,199,201,200,5910],"class_list":{"0":"post-158319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-abc-action-news","9":"tag-jacquez-welch","10":"tag-lifelink-foundation","11":"tag-marcia-welch","12":"tag-northeast-high-school","13":"tag-organ-donation","14":"tag-pinellas-county","15":"tag-robert-boyd","16":"tag-st-pete","17":"tag-st-pete-headlines","18":"tag-st-pete-news","19":"tag-st-petersburg","20":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","21":"tag-st-petersburg-news","22":"tag-tampa-bay-28"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}