Source: MLive.com
TODAY IN HONOR OF KERRY HUTCHINS, DONATE LIFE ORGAN DONATION BLOG WILL ONLY POST ONE STORY.
OUR DEEPEST SYMPATHIES TO THE FAMILY OF KERRY WHO INSPIRED SO MANY TO BECOME ORGAN DONORS.
Kerry Hutchins wondered from her hospital bed not too long ago what it would take for more people in Michigan to sign up to be organ donors.
The 33-year-old Sparta woman, born with cystic fibrosis, figured telling
her story might help.
“When are we gonna start talking more about it?” Hutchins said earlier this month. “Maybe when you can put a face to it. When you can say, 'Remember that girl we read about with CF? The one who needs lungs?’”
Hutchins died Saturday morning at the University of Michigan Health Systems, where she had been living since April, hoping for a double lung transplant that would save her life.
"She lost the good fight,” her dad, George Roby, said. She was surrounded by family.
Hutchins’ doctors took her off the organ transplant waiting list Wednesday, after deciding she was no longer strong enough to survive transplant surgery.
Hutchins got part of her wish -- she moved many people to sign up as organ donors.
So far in August, 309 people who signed up as organ donors at Gift of Life Michigan cited stories about Hutchins as their motivation, says Tim Makinen, communications director for Gift of Life Michigan, who explains those who sign up can choose to mark a box on the form saying where they heard about organ donation.
The number of people from Kent County who signed up in the week following the story about Hutchins, whether or not they indicated their motivation, was 776, he says, more than twice a typical week.
“The increase was substantial and impressive,” Makinen says.
Roby says the family talked about that with Hutchins in her last days.
“She is making a big impact,” Roby says. “People have told us from all over the country that they read about her, and signed up.
“We really hope Michigan can get on board,” Roby says.
Michigan ranks 42nd nationwide in the percentage of registered drivers who have officially expressed their wish to be organ, eye and tissue donors.
Many residents aren’t aware it isn’t enough anymore just to sign the back of their driver's license or state ID. You have to join the Michigan Organ Donor Registry by going online or visiting a Secretary of State office.
Registered donors receive a red heart sticker to affix to their driver’s license.
Comments from readers in The Press and on MLive.com have been streaming in, telling how people heard about Hutchins, then went online to register as organ donors.
“Please extend the sincerest sympathy of a stranger to Kerry and her family,” writes a woman named Sarah. “Please tell them that I registered to be a donor online... and I attached the sticker to my driver’s license last week. They are all in my prayers and I hope it is a comfort to know that Kerry's story added at least one person to the registry.”
“I always thought I was an organ donor, just by signing my license, and was surprised to read that this is not so,” writes a pediatric nurse named Sue.
“I became an ‘official’ organ donor shortly after reading your first article. I wish more people were aware that they need to go that extra short step to make being a donor a reality. I guess I just wanted to thank you for opening my eyes, even more, to the need for donors.”
At Gift of Life Michigan, Makinen says Hutchins’ story and a video they produced about her are now part of the organization’s orientation for new employees, and all current employees have seen them.“Kerry puts a beautiful face on the people we’re trying to help,”
Makinen says. “And her story provides motivation to redouble our efforts.”
Funeral arrangements are pending for Hutchins, who is survived by her husband, Matthew Hutchins, of Sparta; sons Aiden Hutchins, 4, and Cordell Brown, 13; father and stepmother George and Glenda Roby; mother and stepfather Beckie and Bill Southwell, brother Lee Roby and others.
George Roby says Gift of Life has been contacted, so that Hutchins, a registered organ donor, might give life to someone else.
PLEASE REGISTER TODAY TO BE AN ORGAN DONOR. TO LEARN HOW TO DO SO IN YOUR STATE PLEASE CLICK HERE.
PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE DYING ON THE WAIT LIST; SADLY HOWEVER, OVER 19 EVERY DAY DO SO.
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