It came after reading a letter from an 18-year-old stranger.
"This has changed my life," the letter said. "If I didn't have this surgery, I could have lost my leg."
Hamilton, who works at Skyline Graphics and has lived in Tallahassee for 16 years, received the letter six months after his son Austin's death. Austin, who would have been 23 in July, was accidentally shot while stationed at Fort Hood in Texas, mere months after he returned from a tour in Iraq. A registered organ donor, Austin's decision had saved the leg of someone he would never know.
Hamilton decided to found the Austin Spencer "Ash" Hamilton Foundation to raise awareness of the importance and benefits of donating organs. It was something that was important to Austin, he said, and the letter had helped him understand what a dramatic impact it can have on someone's life.
"There really isn't somebody out there talking about organ donation awareness," he said. "It's just something that I could do. He would be honored that I was out doing it."
The foundation is just getting off the ground, but has already held two different events to help raise money for the cause. It is completely volunteer-run, meaning all funds collected go to further the message.
The experience has been an educational one for Hamilton, who did not know much about organ donation before he started the foundation. He received training from LifeQuest, which provides organ recovery services and education for Florida.
"It's amazing what you learn," he said. "One person donating all their organs can save eight people.
"Ash was a total donor," he added. His donation, according to theashfoundation.org, has been credited with saving at least five lives.
"It helps to have an outlet and talk about what good my son has done," said Hamilton, who at first found it difficult to speak about Austin's death. Starting the foundation in his name helped, he said.
"I found it to be kind of a release of the pain," he said.
Barbara MacArthur, nurse and the vice president and chief nursing officer at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, said that often organ donation can ease the pain of loved ones left behind.
"We have found, over years of research, that donation actually provides comfort," she said. "It is the only positive thing that happens: you can't bring your loved one back."
One of the goals of the foundation is to help people understand what organ donation really means, and how to ensure that if you are a donor, your last wish is met.
"I don't want people thinking about their death. I want them thinking about the lives they can save or improve," Hamilton said. It was a gift of life, he said.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there are 111,925 people waiting to receive an organ. Of that number, 18 will die every day waiting for that organ.
"I don't want to think about my death. But I know at some point I am going to die," Hamilton said. "What are you going to do with those organs in the grave? Nothing."
MacArthur said that a patient listed as an organ donor gets the same treatment as a patient that is not. The decision doesn't impact care or influence doctors in any way, she said.
"We provide the highest level of care to all of our patients. We don't know if they are a donor or not a donor," she said. "We don't change our plan of care at all.
"We do all that we can to take care of that patient and support the requests of the family."
The concept of organ donation is relatively new: transplant surgery has only been around since the '80s, MacArthur said. It may not be a dinner table conversation yet, she added, but it should be thought of as any other plan for the future.
"We buy life insurance, we prepare a will, we tell our families who we want mother's dishes to go to," she said. "It is a personal decision. If there is some way that one of us could choose to help somebody else in a major way, why wouldn't we?"
The next step for Hamilton and the foundation is getting the word out on local college campuses and continuing to hold events and raise money for the foundation.
"It's not a death thing. It is about life," he said. "There are a lot of people that are alive because of my son."
0 COMMENTS:
Post a Comment