LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – This National Donate Life Month, a Lubbock mother is sharing her story of peace and a lasting legacy.
Sharon Fitch and her husband donated the organs of their son, Matthew, after he died at just 41 years old. He wasn’t previously registered as an organ donor, but Sharon says the decision was an easy one to make.
“To hear those words that he could actually bring life to other people, we didn’t even hesitate,” Fitch said.
According to LifeGift, more than 100,000 people across the U.S. are on the organ transplant waiting list.
Even though it’s a life-saving decision, Barbara VerWey, the community engagement specialist for Life Gift, said misconceptions about organ donation prevent people from signing up.
“That’s the number one myth we hear out at community events, ‘Oh I don’t want to have that little heart on my driver’s license because the doctors won’t try to save me and just want my organs,’” VerWey said. “The fact is if they don’t try to save you they can’t recover organs anyways because it’s absolutely necessary that you be on a ventilator when you pass away to be a donor.”
More than 6,000 people die while waiting for an organ every year, and a new name is added to the list about every 10 minutes.
“We need everyone that can be a donor to please be a donor,” VerWey said.
One organ donor can save up to eight lives.
The heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, and intestines can all be donated. Tissue donors can also help save and enhance numerous lives.
Donations are solely decided by the authorized donor or their family, like in Matthew’s case.
“It gave me a lot of hope. It was really impactful for something good to come out of such a tragic thing,” Fitch said.
The families of organ donors often do not know where those organs end up. Organ donations are private unless both the recipient and the donor’s family agree.
Sharon says she was closely following Matthew’s heart and the recipient it was going to.
Unfortunately, Sharon said she was notified that the heart recipient died on the table during the transplant.
“It felt like Matthew died all over again,” Fitch said.
Though the heart was a crushing loss, Sharon said good news was around the corner.
“It was the first birthday after [Matthew] died. It was a bad day all around and I was praying – I didn’t even have the words, but I was just saying ‘I need to know where he is’,” Fitch said. “I’m sitting there and pulling up my email, and I see ‘from thankful lung recipient’. The first lines of the letter say ‘We are so thankful for Matthew. He lives on in me’.”
“Wow. To let a mother know, okay he’s living. That’s what it told me, that he was still alive,” Fitch said.
The Fitch family eventually built a correspondence with the lung recipient. He’s even traveling to Lubbock to meet them next month.
“I really clung to the verse in Romans that says ‘In all things God works for the good of those that love him’,” Fitch said. “Just that God wasn’t through with [Matthew] when he died. He had more plans for him.”
Most people sign up to be organ donors while renewing their driver’s license at the DMV. People can also sign up online and choose which organs they would or would not consent to donating upon their death. No one is excluded from registering to become a donor.
Donation is a gift that comes at no cost to donors or their families.
To learn more about organ donation you can visit LifeGift’s website here.
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