Source: Charlotte Observer
When NFL player Chris Henry died, his mother knew he would want to help others live. Now four people he never met are thankful.
Carolinas Medical Center, Organ Donation to be Highlighted in Thanksgiving Day CBS Sports Feature and Los Angeles Times Feature. CBS will air the full story on Thanksgiving Day between noon and 12:30 p.m. on NFL Today.
Good things can come from bad things, a thought worth remembering on this day of thanks.
Two people in the Charlotte area are holding that close today. A visiting NFL player who died here 11 months ago lives on in them.
A fateful phone call
On Dec. 16, 2009, authorities were called to Oakdale Road in Charlotte. Chris Henry, 26, a Cincinnati Bengals receiver, had fallen from the bed of a pickup driven by his fiancee, Loleini Tonga, during a domestic dispute.
Gravely injured, Henry was rushed to Carolinas Medical Center.
Authorities reached his mother, Carolyn Glaspy, in Cincinnati. She caught a flight for Charlotte. She got to the hospital about 10:30 p.m.
By then, Henry was unconscious and in neurological decline.
"I didn't know it would be my last time seeing my baby. That was one of the hardest days of my life I'll ever have," she says.
Friends and family sat with Henry throughout the night. Around dawn, a test showed he'd lost all neurological function. At 6:36 a.m. Dec. 17, he was pronounced dead.
Option for organ donation
Matthew Kinney is a family support coordinator for LifeShare Of The Carolinas, a Charlotte-based organ-procurement organization. He had been involved in the case since Henry was brought to the hospital.
Around 7:30 a.m., he gathered Glaspy, Tonga and other close family members. He talked about making arrangements to release the body and other administrative matters.
"There's another bit of information I need to share with you," he told them.
Kinney said that because Henry was young and athletic, his organs could save others. But Henry had never registered for organ donation. It would be up to his next of kin.
Kinney knows there are 109,000 people awaiting transplants in the United States. More than 3,000 are in North Carolina, about 1,000 in South Carolina.
"While someone may die today, it means another one might not," says Kinney.
Decision for mother
Glaspy returned to the room and sat down next to Henry, still on a respirator.
"I went back and held Chris' hand. I could feel his heart still beating. Chris was always a giver. He always wanted to do something for someone else.
"I talked to him about the decision I would have to make. I told him, 'They're asking me to donate your organs and tissues, and I think you'd want that,'" she says.
She went back to Kinney and signed the papers.
Waiting for a kidney
Brian Polk, 33, of Charlotte was always a big kid. He played tackle for Independence in high school. He was prescribed medication for high blood pressure when he was 16, but didn't always take it.
"I was still a kid. If I don't feel sick, I'm not sick. So I'd skip my pills."
In his early 20s, he was diagnosed with kidney failure and was started on dialysis. By then, he no longer felt like a kid. He felt like an old man.
Three times a week for four hours at a stretch, he'd get dialysis. It framed his life with debilitation. If he wasn't recovering from yesterday's session, he was getting ready for the rigors of tomorrow's.
"I was a prisoner to a dialysis machine for 10 years," he says.
In 2004, at 395 pounds, he began slimming down in hopes of getting a kidney transplant. Exercise bike, swimming, weights, diet.
By 2007, he was down to 245 and waiting on the donor list.
On Nov. 17, 2009, he was on his way to the Y to work out. Got a call. Get to the hospital. Might have a kidney for you. Someone's higher on the list, but we're having trouble locating them. You're the backup recipient.
Tests at the hospital showed he had abnormally low pressure. That's normal for Polk, but doctors elected not to operate.
"I went to dialysis the next day and cried like a baby. I thought I was done with dialysis."
Another close call
Donna Wyatt Arnold, 56, of Mooresville found out at 16 she was diabetic. She went on insulin, three shots a day, then an insulin pump.
Eventually she got on a home dialysis machine she was hooked to each day from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. But the diabetes had ravaged her kidneys and pancreas. In August 2009, she went on the transplant waiting list for both organs.
In early December 2009, she got a call from the hospital. Can you come down right now? We've got a kidney and a pancreas.
She went. But the pancreas wasn't suitable. She returned home and resumed the waiting game.
Looking for recipients
A search for recipients began immediately after Henry's death.
At LifeShare Of The Carolinas, Susan Galbraith was gathering tests on Henry's blood, tissue and antigens. By 2 p.m., seven hours after Glaspy's authorization, she was sending information to a national clearinghouse.
Within three hours, recipients would be identified for Henry's heart, lungs, pancreas, kidneys and liver. Within five hours after that, surgeons would begin removing them.
Another call, another chance
About 4 p.m., Arnold got another call from the hospital. We've got another pancreas and kidney. Come now. She did.
Late that night, doctors said they were ready.
Arnold and her husband, N.B. Arnold, said their prayers.
And, just in case, said their goodbyes.
"I told him, I know everything is going to be all right but in case it's not, I'm ready."
'You're on deck'
For Polk, still disappointed he didn't get a kidney, it was same thing, different day. He was headed to the gym at 7:30 p.m. when the hospital called. We've got another kidney.
"I didn't let myself get excited. I asked them if I could finish my workout first. They said, no, pack yourself up and come to the hospital."
Physicians, now at peace with Polk's unusual blood pressure, put him back through a series of tests. He still wasn't getting his hopes up.
"Then the doctors came around, like in baseball, they let me know, 'Mr. Polk, you're on deck.'"
Polk started praying.
They didn't say who the donor was, but gave him a hint.
"Right before surgery, the doctor said if he was going to get a kidney, this would be the kidney he'd want. This is the best kidney you could get."
Long night of surgery
Operating rooms at CMC went through the night.
Chris Henry's lungs went to a man from Chatham, Va.
His liver went to a man from Greensboro.
His heart went to a man from Memphis, who later died of unrelated causes.
His pancreas and a kidney went to Arnold.
His other kidney went to Polk.
After the healing
"I have a new life now," says Arnold, a mother of two and free from kidney disease after 30 years. And a new friend: Chris Henry's mother. They met at a reunion Nov. 6 with the other organ recipients.
"I told her Chris would live through me. I would live my life for him. It's just a gift my family has been given."
Now, a healthy life
For a decade, Polk made friends during dialysis, four hours at a time. Many didn't make it.
"You see so many people die - the very people you get to know most talking next to them. You have to learn to turn off your emotions. ... Death was always around the corner."
Now, he's got a full life, a healthy life. He turned vegetarian three months ago, but he's taking today off. Turkey and ham are on the menu. He's partaking of both - with family.
"I'm thankful for life. Just having a second chance. I'm not really supposed to be here. ... I'm thankful to God for giving me a second chance at life."
A mother's love
It has been an emotional year for Glaspy, too.
At the reunion with the recipients, she got to hear her son's lungs working in another person's body.
"I felt something lift out of me and I thought, 'This is my closure.' I got to hear their stories. We got to be family. Now they're part of me."
She knows good things can come of bad things.
"I thank God that Chris gave us this time to share with other people. ... Other people can function and run. Look at this holiday. They'll be with their families."
Two people in the Charlotte area are holding that close today. A visiting NFL player who died here 11 months ago lives on in them.
A fateful phone call
On Dec. 16, 2009, authorities were called to Oakdale Road in Charlotte. Chris Henry, 26, a Cincinnati Bengals receiver, had fallen from the bed of a pickup driven by his fiancee, Loleini Tonga, during a domestic dispute.
Gravely injured, Henry was rushed to Carolinas Medical Center.
Authorities reached his mother, Carolyn Glaspy, in Cincinnati. She caught a flight for Charlotte. She got to the hospital about 10:30 p.m.
By then, Henry was unconscious and in neurological decline.
"I didn't know it would be my last time seeing my baby. That was one of the hardest days of my life I'll ever have," she says.
Friends and family sat with Henry throughout the night. Around dawn, a test showed he'd lost all neurological function. At 6:36 a.m. Dec. 17, he was pronounced dead.
Option for organ donation
Matthew Kinney is a family support coordinator for LifeShare Of The Carolinas, a Charlotte-based organ-procurement organization. He had been involved in the case since Henry was brought to the hospital.
Around 7:30 a.m., he gathered Glaspy, Tonga and other close family members. He talked about making arrangements to release the body and other administrative matters.
"There's another bit of information I need to share with you," he told them.
Kinney said that because Henry was young and athletic, his organs could save others. But Henry had never registered for organ donation. It would be up to his next of kin.
Kinney knows there are 109,000 people awaiting transplants in the United States. More than 3,000 are in North Carolina, about 1,000 in South Carolina.
"While someone may die today, it means another one might not," says Kinney.
Decision for mother
Glaspy returned to the room and sat down next to Henry, still on a respirator.
"I went back and held Chris' hand. I could feel his heart still beating. Chris was always a giver. He always wanted to do something for someone else.
"I talked to him about the decision I would have to make. I told him, 'They're asking me to donate your organs and tissues, and I think you'd want that,'" she says.
She went back to Kinney and signed the papers.
Waiting for a kidney
Brian Polk, 33, of Charlotte was always a big kid. He played tackle for Independence in high school. He was prescribed medication for high blood pressure when he was 16, but didn't always take it.
"I was still a kid. If I don't feel sick, I'm not sick. So I'd skip my pills."
In his early 20s, he was diagnosed with kidney failure and was started on dialysis. By then, he no longer felt like a kid. He felt like an old man.
Three times a week for four hours at a stretch, he'd get dialysis. It framed his life with debilitation. If he wasn't recovering from yesterday's session, he was getting ready for the rigors of tomorrow's.
"I was a prisoner to a dialysis machine for 10 years," he says.
In 2004, at 395 pounds, he began slimming down in hopes of getting a kidney transplant. Exercise bike, swimming, weights, diet.
By 2007, he was down to 245 and waiting on the donor list.
On Nov. 17, 2009, he was on his way to the Y to work out. Got a call. Get to the hospital. Might have a kidney for you. Someone's higher on the list, but we're having trouble locating them. You're the backup recipient.
Tests at the hospital showed he had abnormally low pressure. That's normal for Polk, but doctors elected not to operate.
"I went to dialysis the next day and cried like a baby. I thought I was done with dialysis."
Another close call
Donna Wyatt Arnold, 56, of Mooresville found out at 16 she was diabetic. She went on insulin, three shots a day, then an insulin pump.
Eventually she got on a home dialysis machine she was hooked to each day from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. But the diabetes had ravaged her kidneys and pancreas. In August 2009, she went on the transplant waiting list for both organs.
In early December 2009, she got a call from the hospital. Can you come down right now? We've got a kidney and a pancreas.
She went. But the pancreas wasn't suitable. She returned home and resumed the waiting game.
Looking for recipients
A search for recipients began immediately after Henry's death.
At LifeShare Of The Carolinas, Susan Galbraith was gathering tests on Henry's blood, tissue and antigens. By 2 p.m., seven hours after Glaspy's authorization, she was sending information to a national clearinghouse.
Within three hours, recipients would be identified for Henry's heart, lungs, pancreas, kidneys and liver. Within five hours after that, surgeons would begin removing them.
Another call, another chance
About 4 p.m., Arnold got another call from the hospital. We've got another pancreas and kidney. Come now. She did.
Late that night, doctors said they were ready.
Arnold and her husband, N.B. Arnold, said their prayers.
And, just in case, said their goodbyes.
"I told him, I know everything is going to be all right but in case it's not, I'm ready."
'You're on deck'
For Polk, still disappointed he didn't get a kidney, it was same thing, different day. He was headed to the gym at 7:30 p.m. when the hospital called. We've got another kidney.
"I didn't let myself get excited. I asked them if I could finish my workout first. They said, no, pack yourself up and come to the hospital."
Physicians, now at peace with Polk's unusual blood pressure, put him back through a series of tests. He still wasn't getting his hopes up.
"Then the doctors came around, like in baseball, they let me know, 'Mr. Polk, you're on deck.'"
Polk started praying.
They didn't say who the donor was, but gave him a hint.
"Right before surgery, the doctor said if he was going to get a kidney, this would be the kidney he'd want. This is the best kidney you could get."
Long night of surgery
Operating rooms at CMC went through the night.
Chris Henry's lungs went to a man from Chatham, Va.
His liver went to a man from Greensboro.
His heart went to a man from Memphis, who later died of unrelated causes.
His pancreas and a kidney went to Arnold.
His other kidney went to Polk.
After the healing
"I have a new life now," says Arnold, a mother of two and free from kidney disease after 30 years. And a new friend: Chris Henry's mother. They met at a reunion Nov. 6 with the other organ recipients.
"I told her Chris would live through me. I would live my life for him. It's just a gift my family has been given."
Now, a healthy life
For a decade, Polk made friends during dialysis, four hours at a time. Many didn't make it.
"You see so many people die - the very people you get to know most talking next to them. You have to learn to turn off your emotions. ... Death was always around the corner."
Now, he's got a full life, a healthy life. He turned vegetarian three months ago, but he's taking today off. Turkey and ham are on the menu. He's partaking of both - with family.
"I'm thankful for life. Just having a second chance. I'm not really supposed to be here. ... I'm thankful to God for giving me a second chance at life."
A mother's love
It has been an emotional year for Glaspy, too.
At the reunion with the recipients, she got to hear her son's lungs working in another person's body.
"I felt something lift out of me and I thought, 'This is my closure.' I got to hear their stories. We got to be family. Now they're part of me."
She knows good things can come of bad things.
"I thank God that Chris gave us this time to share with other people. ... Other people can function and run. Look at this holiday. They'll be with their families."
TODAY, PLEASE ENCOURAGE YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS AND CO-WORKERS TO REGISTER TO BE AN ORGAN, EYE AND TISSUE DONOR. TO LEARN HOW PLEASE CLICK HERE.
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