Zan's Garden of Life
Organ donor memorial garden at Jersey Shore University Medical Center

Written by Bonnie Delaney | Staff Writer | The Asbury Press

NEPTUNE — From the windows along the fourth floor corridor that lead to the operating rooms at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Dr. John Tozzi has a bird’s eye view of the tranquil garden in the courtyard below.

Astilbes, colorful annual flowers, and butterfly-attracting perennials fill the space. Orange koi fish make ripples as they swim in the large pond. Round tables made of teak wood, with matching chairs, and green umbrellas provide a spot for hospital staff and visitors to have lunch or a take a break.

A pathway of red brick pavers, some imprinted with the names of those who have died but gave the ultimate gift of life - tissue or organs - leads to a small separate garden.

There, a bronze statue in the likeness of Alexandra “Zan” Tozzi, is forever 13 years old.

“Wow, just wow,” Dr. Tozzi said Wednesday afternoon when he and his wife, Mary Jane, of Spring Lake, viewed the sculpture, created by Toms River sculptor Brian Hanlon, for the first time in the recently completed garden.

“I look down from the fourth floor every single day and look at this garden,” said Tozzi, his eyes misting over as he took in the sculpture of the barefoot girl with medium long hair, her dress blowing in a gentle breeze, holding a butterfly in one hand and releasing butterflies from her other hand. A recirculating fountain from the base provides the tranquil sound of moving water and the granite base is inscribed with the sentiment that “in her last hour she gave a lifetime.”

Zan, who was a seventh grader at the H.G. Mountz Elementary School in Spring Lake, died on Valentine’s Day in 2004 after the van in which the Tozzi family were passengers was struck by a car and overturned, partially ejecting Zan. The family was on their way to a vacation home on Captiva Island in Florida over winter break.

“I did everything I could to save her - CPR, and I couldn’t save her,” Tozzi recalled, acknowledging his feeling of helplessness. “That moment is burned in my mind.”

“But this (the garden to honor organ donors and raise awareness) is hopefully a way of showing you can make a difference even under horrible circumstances,” the orthopedic surgeon said.

Tozzi family friend Dr. Patrick Buddle, who heads the orthopedic rehabilitation department at Jersey Shore, said planning for the organ donor memorial garden began about two years ago and funds were raised through donations and fundraisers to build it. Giejda Landscape Contractors, Inc., of Farmingdale, which does all of the landscaping at Jersey Shore, transformed the courtyard into Zan’s Garden of Life.

A memorial service to celebrate the opening of the garden was scheduled for Thursday night and on Friday family members of organ donors were able to view the garden at three times during the day during a special program.

Jan C. Hines, hospital services manager for the NJ Sharing Network, a federally certified, state-approved organ recovery organization, said that the names of more than 120 organ donors, including Zan Tozzi and her cousin, Patrick John Rein, who died at the age of 28 in 2009, are on the bricks.

Jersey Shore is one of nine hospitals in the state that has joined the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative, an initiative focused on saving thousands of lives annually through organ donation.

Nearly 110,000 Americans are waiting for life-saving organ transplants, and 4,000 of them live in New Jersey, Hines said, adding that New Jersey has the distinction of having the lowest numbersof registered organ donors in the country.

Hines said that donations of tissue and organs from one person can save or restore health for up to 75 people.

“When I think about the pain many of the organ donors and their families have gone through, knowing that I am trying to help to raise awareness invigorates me and gives me peace knowing that I might be able to plant a seed,” Tozzi said.

AT A GLANCE

Zan’s Garden of Life in the Brennan Courtyard at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, includes a statue representing Alexandra “Zan” Rose Tozzi, of Spring Lake, who died Feb. 14, 2004 at Miami Medical Center’s Children’s Hospital following a car crash. The 13-year-old was the daughter of Dr. John and Mary Jane Tozzi and the garden honors more than 120 area families and individuals who have given the gift of life through tissue and organ donations. Zan’s heart went to boy in Arkansas and her liver and one kidney went to a girl in Jacksonville, Fla. A 40-year-old woman in Miami received her pancreas and the other kidney. For information about organ donation visit NJ Sharing Network, wwwsharenj.org, on the Web.