Organ Donor Will Help Up to 50 People

[paddbear0000]

   Very heart-warming...

Organ Donor Will Help Up to 50 People
While wife was recovering from surgery, she said goodbye to stroke victim and honored his wish.

By Anthony Gottschlich, Staff Writer, Dayton Daily News

WEST CARROLLTON -- Danny Bailey kept a Bible by his side, taught Sunday school at Moraine City Baptist Church and looked forward to "being up there on those streets of gold."

The heavyset truck driver and Middletown native also believed in organ donation, saying, "What am I going to do with them when I'm gone? Let someone else have them," recalled his wife, Tweda Bailey.

But when Danny Bailey suffered a sudden, massive stroke late Thursday, March 6, and died two days later, it came at a particularly challenging time for his wife, medic transporters, doctors and organ transplant teams.

Tweda, 56, had just undergone open heart surgery on Thursday at Kettering Medical Center. The following day, one of the heaviest snowfalls of the season pounded the region.

Medics rushed Bailey, 49, to Sycamore Hospital in Miamisburg. But when doctors discovered they couldn't save their patient, they had him transported to Kettering hospital to be with his wife of nearly 20 years for his remaining moments.

Tweda, still plugged in to various tubes and monitors, visited her husband in the intensive care unit three times overnight, she said. And when Danny was declared brain dead at 11:30 a.m., Saturday, she consented to donate his organs, fulfilling his wish.

The blizzard kept a transplant team from arriving in Dayton until Sunday morning, but the team was able to recover Danny's liver and two kidneys, which have since been transplanted into patients in other states, said Cathi Arends, spokeswoman for Life Connection of Ohio in Dayton, the nonprofit organ recovery group.

Doctors also recovered heart valves for use by patients at a later date, Arends said. Plus, a team at Community Tissue Services in Dayton removed bones, corneas, skin and other tissues that will benefit up to 50 people.

"It's just phenominal, that against all those odds, it did come together and they were able to honr (Danny's) gift," Arends said.

Tweda Bailey said besides the Lord, that's what gives her comfort. "That's the greatest thing, he could help so many people," said Bailey, herself an organ donor. "He's probably dancing in heaven knowing he helped so many people live."