Jefferson Hospital celebrates organ donors

By ERIC SEIVERLING

eseiverling@yourmvi.com

Six years ago, Laura Gillum experienced a parent’s worst nightmare.

Her 23-month old son, Dean, snuck away out of her sight at their Canonsburg home and fell into the family’s pool.

He struck his head and was knocked unconscious and drowned in the pool.

“He was a healthy little boy with nothing wrong, and one day everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong,” Gillum recalled. “When I went outside, I found him floating face down in the pool. I did CPR on him until the ambulance came and they got him life flighted to Children’s Hospital, and after a week of testing, there really wasn’t anything they could do. We didn’t plan that weekend on our son dying.”

Doctors and hospital staff tried to revive the boy with life support, but a few short weeks later Gillum and her family said their final goodbye to Dean.

But Dean’s story doesn’t end there.

Thanks to the gift of organ donation, Dean’s kidneys, liver, heart and tissue were donated to hospitals and other families waiting for an organ donor.

And now, the 23-month-old boy continues to be a hero to numerous families across the country.

Gillum and other organ donation advocates spoke about her experiences and organ donation Thursday at Allegheny Health Network’s Jefferson Hospital to raise awareness for April being National Donate Life Month. The presentation was a partnership between AHN, Donate Life America and the Center for Organ Recovery and Education — also known as CORE — a federally designated nonprofit organ procurement organization.

The event also featured a Donate Life flag ceremony, with hospital staff and EMS raising a Donate Life flag at the hospital’s entrance.

Gillum said she didn’t have to think twice when she was approached by doctors about donating Dean’s organs.

“It wasn’t a question at all,” she said. “I’ve been an organ donor since I’ve had my driver’s license.

“With my son being the way he was, such a kind and sweet little boy, that ended right there. We said ‘Yeah, absolutely, that’s what he would have wanted.’ He would have wanted to help people.”

According to CORE, there are 110,000 people across the country waiting for an organ transplant, with 2,500 of them in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. At least 20 will die each day due to not receiving an organ donation.

AHN Jefferson Hospital Chief Medical Officer Dr. Mark Gannon said the hospital received 22 tissue donations last year, which helped save 1,500 lives.

“They make such a dramatic change in not only the patient’s life, but also in the family’s life and in our life,” Gannon said. 

To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Friday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.