Laura Kadechka | WTSP News
Tampa, Florida -- It was just days before Thanksgiving in 2009 when Jose and Dorothy Nicoletti found themselves making the heart wrenching decision to remove their only son, Erik, from life support.
The popular 20-year-old University of Tampa student and a friend who was visiting from out of town were run down on Kennedy Boulevard as they walked with friends.
Doctors told the Nicoletti's there was nothing they could do to bring their son back, he was brain dead.
"We left the hospital in shock and blind grief," Dorothy Nicoletti told the driver who killed her son during his sentencing on Tuesday.
The driver, 28-year-old Andres Trujillo was sentenced to 15 years in prison to be followed by 15 years probation for the crash that killed Nicoletti and permanently injured 21-year-old Cree Riley.
As the grief stricken Nicoletti's walked out of Tampa General hospital that night, a few miles away 43-year-old Louie Olivarez got a phone call at his Seminole Heights home.
"I got a call saying, we've got Louie's organs, you need to get to TGH really fast," the now 44-year-old told 10 News reporter Laura Kadechka.
Olivarez had battled diabetes since his 20's. Over the years though, complications from the illness damaged his kidneys and liver.
In the summer of 2009, he learned that diabetes was only part of his battle.
"We came back from LA and there was three messages on my voicemail saying we really need to talk to you. Something's gone wrong," said Olivarez.
Doctors told him they found a cancerous tumor on his liver.
If he was going to have a chance of survival, he needed a new liver and a new kidney.
"I was floored," he said.
Doctors put him on the transplant list and since he was a diabetic, they told him if he got new pancreas, he'd be cured of diabetes.
That early November morning, Olivares' life was saved and he became the first triple transplant recipient at Tampa General and the first in the area.
Six months later, the puzzle of who saved his life came together during his first post-operation vacation to the Keys with his family.
The conversation came up during a poker game with his nephew.
"He said, Louie, I think I know who your donor is and I was like, yeah right," recalled Olivarez.
They started piecing together what happened that night. Olivarez knew his donor was a young man, but he didn't have a name. This was after all, part of organ donation protocol.
He had drafted a letter that he knew would be sent to the family of the young man, but hadn't sent it yet.
Olivarez says his nephew then told him about a young woman named Chelsea who lives in the Keys with her family. She had attended the University of Tampa and was lost her boyfriend in a hit and run crash in Tampa.
He says they picked up the phone and called Chelsea's dad who is well known in the Keys and got the name of Chelsea's boyfriend...Erik Nicoletti.
"Our mouths around the table dropped, like Oh my God," he said.
He tells 10 News he remembered watching the story on the news about the University of Tampa student who was fighting for his life at TGH. But, he didn't know that young man had died as he rushed to TGH to recieve the life saving transplants.
The next day, as he sat on a party boat with his family he made the connection.
"This girl was like, so you're the guy that got the organs, the triple transplant and I said, yes, I'm that guy. All of the sudden, from here to this bench," he pointed, "Chelsea was there and she actually overheard that."
He started to get teary eyed as he went on to say, "She turned around, she was just crying. She hugged me and from then on we just started talking."
"Right away she called me," recalled Nicoletti's mother, Dorothy, "And right away, I called Louie, so it's a phenomenal story."
Doctors confirmed that Erik was Olivares' donor.
"The way we met Louie was just a very freakish kind of supernatural coincidence," said Dorothy Nicoletti.
She says she's received several anonymous thank you notes from other people who received Erik's other organs, but there is one person she'd really like to meet...the man who got Erik's heart.
"I would love to give everybody a hug," she said.
Dorothy Nicoletti and Louie Olivarez could have just parted ways after their first phone conversation, but they didn't.
The two have grown to be close friends.
"That's my other family now. That's my sister," Louie said of Dorothy.
"On a daily basis we either text or Facebook each other," he said.
The two finally met when Dorothy Nicoletti came to Life Link in Tampa for a ceremony to honor organ donors and their families.
That was the day Nicoletti gave Olivarez her son's favorite green shirt.
It's the shirt Erik is seen wearing on the billboards put up by Olivarez and his partner, Stan Lasater to help raise money for the EVN Foundation, which was set up in Nicoletti's name.
"I'm so glad to be here, I feel sorry that a tragedy had to happen in order for me to be here today, but Dorothy goes, don't ever say that. That's just not us," said Olivarez.
While his bond with Dorothy grew deep, he still hadn't had the chance to meet Erik's father, Jose Nicoletti.
Maybe he just wasn't ready, Olivarez assumed.
On Monday night, he finally heard from Jose through an email.
It came through as Olivarez was at dinner with his partner, Dorothy, Erik's friends and Cree Riley.
And then Tuesday, before they walked in the Hillsborough County Courthouse, Jose and Olivarez met each other face to face.
There were no news cameras there as the two embraced for the first time.
Olivarez and his partner are working with the Nicoletti's to encourage others to become organ donors and save a life.
He and Lasater also hope to convert part of a building they recently purchased to house families who do not have a place to stay while they tend to a loved on in the hospital.
If they have money to spare, they would take it, but it would go to the EVNfoundation.org.
Olivarez says he is grateful for his second chance at life and wants to make a difference in the lives of others, but he also wants to give two other things a shot...running a marathon and skiing.
"I got a call saying, we've got Louie's organs, you need to get to TGH really fast," the now 44-year-old told 10 News reporter Laura Kadechka.
Olivarez had battled diabetes since his 20's. Over the years though, complications from the illness damaged his kidneys and liver.
In the summer of 2009, he learned that diabetes was only part of his battle.
"We came back from LA and there was three messages on my voicemail saying we really need to talk to you. Something's gone wrong," said Olivarez.
Doctors told him they found a cancerous tumor on his liver.
If he was going to have a chance of survival, he needed a new liver and a new kidney.
"I was floored," he said.
Doctors put him on the transplant list and since he was a diabetic, they told him if he got new pancreas, he'd be cured of diabetes.
That early November morning, Olivares' life was saved and he became the first triple transplant recipient at Tampa General and the first in the area.
Six months later, the puzzle of who saved his life came together during his first post-operation vacation to the Keys with his family.
The conversation came up during a poker game with his nephew.
"He said, Louie, I think I know who your donor is and I was like, yeah right," recalled Olivarez.
They started piecing together what happened that night. Olivarez knew his donor was a young man, but he didn't have a name. This was after all, part of organ donation protocol.
He had drafted a letter that he knew would be sent to the family of the young man, but hadn't sent it yet.
Olivarez says his nephew then told him about a young woman named Chelsea who lives in the Keys with her family. She had attended the University of Tampa and was lost her boyfriend in a hit and run crash in Tampa.
He says they picked up the phone and called Chelsea's dad who is well known in the Keys and got the name of Chelsea's boyfriend...Erik Nicoletti.
"Our mouths around the table dropped, like Oh my God," he said.
He tells 10 News he remembered watching the story on the news about the University of Tampa student who was fighting for his life at TGH. But, he didn't know that young man had died as he rushed to TGH to recieve the life saving transplants.
The next day, as he sat on a party boat with his family he made the connection.
"This girl was like, so you're the guy that got the organs, the triple transplant and I said, yes, I'm that guy. All of the sudden, from here to this bench," he pointed, "Chelsea was there and she actually overheard that."
He started to get teary eyed as he went on to say, "She turned around, she was just crying. She hugged me and from then on we just started talking."
"Right away she called me," recalled Nicoletti's mother, Dorothy, "And right away, I called Louie, so it's a phenomenal story."
Doctors confirmed that Erik was Olivares' donor.
"The way we met Louie was just a very freakish kind of supernatural coincidence," said Dorothy Nicoletti.
She says she's received several anonymous thank you notes from other people who received Erik's other organs, but there is one person she'd really like to meet...the man who got Erik's heart.
"I would love to give everybody a hug," she said.
Dorothy Nicoletti and Louie Olivarez could have just parted ways after their first phone conversation, but they didn't.
The two have grown to be close friends.
"That's my other family now. That's my sister," Louie said of Dorothy.
"On a daily basis we either text or Facebook each other," he said.
The two finally met when Dorothy Nicoletti came to Life Link in Tampa for a ceremony to honor organ donors and their families.
That was the day Nicoletti gave Olivarez her son's favorite green shirt.
It's the shirt Erik is seen wearing on the billboards put up by Olivarez and his partner, Stan Lasater to help raise money for the EVN Foundation, which was set up in Nicoletti's name.
"I'm so glad to be here, I feel sorry that a tragedy had to happen in order for me to be here today, but Dorothy goes, don't ever say that. That's just not us," said Olivarez.
While his bond with Dorothy grew deep, he still hadn't had the chance to meet Erik's father, Jose Nicoletti.
Maybe he just wasn't ready, Olivarez assumed.
On Monday night, he finally heard from Jose through an email.
It came through as Olivarez was at dinner with his partner, Dorothy, Erik's friends and Cree Riley.
And then Tuesday, before they walked in the Hillsborough County Courthouse, Jose and Olivarez met each other face to face.
There were no news cameras there as the two embraced for the first time.
Olivarez and his partner are working with the Nicoletti's to encourage others to become organ donors and save a life.
He and Lasater also hope to convert part of a building they recently purchased to house families who do not have a place to stay while they tend to a loved on in the hospital.
If they have money to spare, they would take it, but it would go to the EVNfoundation.org.
Olivarez says he is grateful for his second chance at life and wants to make a difference in the lives of others, but he also wants to give two other things a shot...running a marathon and skiing.
1 COMMENTS:
This moved me to tears!
~Emery Nicoletti ~ Tucson, Arizona
Post a Comment