At first hesitant, family doesn't regret donating organs

[okarol]

At first hesitant, family doesn't regret donating organs

By Adriana M. Chávez / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 10/30/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

EL PASO -- As Brandon Garcia, 12, lay in a hospital bed on life support and doctors told family members they didn't expect him to survive, his family was reluctant to donate his organs.

"Everyone besides me said no, they didn't want to do it," said Yvonne Garcia-Earsley, Brandon's sister. "I told them we have this opportunity to save other people and help them live the life that my brother can no longer live."

After discussing the decision at length, Brandon's family decided to go ahead with the donation, and since then they have not regretted it.

"It helps tremendously with the grieving process. My brother was still able to give, even though he was gone," Garcia-Earsley said. "The end result is only one family mourns, but several other families get to rejoice."

Garcia-Earsley, who spends her time volunteering with the Region 19 Education Service Center and raising her two children, said she was looking for a job to save money to travel to Dallas in hope of meeting the recipients of Brandon's organs.

Five people, four of them Texans, received organs from Brandon's body.

Samuel's story

Samuel Sprick, 7, of the Dallas area, received Brandon's left kidney after suffering from kidney problems since before he was born.

Samuel's grandfather Tom Lemon, who lives in El Paso, said Samuel
Advertisement
received his first surgery in vitro when his mother was five months pregnant. Doctors placed shunts in Samuel's kidneys to help them function properly, but the surgery was only partly successful, Lemon said.

"He's been living with less than 50 percent function in one kidney for the seven years he's been alive," Lemon said. "The last year and two months, he's been on dialysis since he outgrew the ability of what the kidney had left."

Since then, Samuel had been on a state recipient list for a left kidney, and he was the first on the list when Brandon died. Samuel's family was told the kidney came from a 12-year-old boy in El Paso. After reading an article in the El Paso Times about Brandon's death, Lemon made the connection.

Transplant organizations are unable to immediately put recipients in contact with donor family members.

"I said to my wife, 'That's the kidney Sam's going to get,' and my wife immediately cried," said Lemon, who made a donation to an account set up to help Brandon's family pay funeral expenses.

"It's magnificent for any family going through such an extreme tragedy to have the presence of mind and give the truly unbelievable gifts they gave out," Lemon said.

Lemon said Samuel remains hospitalized and is dealing with stomach problems unrelated to the transplant. But doctors have declared the operation very successful. Samuel is taking anti-rejection medicines and is expected to be released from the hospital next week.

Arnulfo's story

Brandon's heart went to Arnulfo Ornelas, 6, of Snyder, Texas, a town about 360 miles east of El Paso.

Arnulfo's mom, Daisy Ornelas, said he was always less active than her 8-year-old son, but she always assumed it was just Arnulfo's nature and nicknamed him her "lazy baby."

Ornelas first suspected something was more seriously wrong at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 4, when she was called to pick up Arnulfo from school after he had fallen ill.

"They said he had almost passed out, and when I saw him, he was pale and cold," Ornelas said. "I asked him if he ate breakfast and he said he didn't, so I picked up him up, bought him a dollar menu burger from McDonald's and that's what he ate."

Ornelas took Arnulfo home, laid him on the living room couch and covered him with a blanket. After waking from his nap, Arnulfo looked as if he was back to normal, but Ornelas noticed he still tired easily.

Eight days and two doctors later, Ornelas was told Arnulfo wasn't lazy or ill with the flu as one doctor had suggested. Arnulfo was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy, a serious disease in which the heart becomes inflamed and doesn't pump blood normally. Arnulfo eventually was taken to the Children's Medical Center in Dallas to await a heart transplant.

In Dallas, Ornelas remained by her son's side, praying and hoping for a miracle to save him.

It took a tragedy in El Paso to answer her prayers.

Adriana M. Chávez may be reached at achavez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6117.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_10850568