Oakley mom of lung recipient raises donor awareness as Brentwood mom donates kidney to son

Silicon Valley Mercury News | By Tammy Hansen

Every month is organ awareness month for Vickee Jenkins, whose daughter received a lung transplant three years ago. But now she is putting together a prayer vigil for the latest member of a club nobody wanted to join.

Brentwood's Colt O'Bryan, 15, received a kidney from his mother, Cindi, on Tuesday, a few weeks after successful heart-kidney transplant patient Aaron Tanner of Brentwood celebrated his seventh birthday.

Jenkins knew the O'Bryans before their lives as transplant families crossed. Her daughter Ally, 17, and Colt went to middle school together. Altruistic strangers donated Ally's organs. The teenager had two double lung transplants -- the first was rejected by her body -- in 2009 and 2010. Since then, Jenkins has become a sort of unofficial resource for families in similar situations. It's a way of giving back.

Vickee and Ally are hoping their planned 5K fundraiser race this summer will help kick-start Ally's fledgling nonprofit geared toward helping local families during the difficult times that come with organ failure and transplantation. The goal is to bring others the sort of hope they gained when the community rallied around Ally after a 2009 diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension.
Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_20532646/oakley-mom-lung-recipient-raises-donor-awareness

{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}