Woman Honored For Raising Organ Donation Awareness
93,000 People Await Organ Transplants
POSTED: 4:49 pm EDT September 10,
2007
UPDATED: 6:08 pm EDT September 10,
2007
BOSTON -- Her daughter's death saved the lives of five others and on Monday, a local mother was honored at Fenway Park for her efforts to raise awareness about organ donation.NewsCenter 5's Heather Unruh reported that Judy Oakes' daughter, Sara, 11, died unexpectedly from a brain aneurysm in January 2004."It was just such a massive bleed that there was no way she was going to recover," Oakes said.In the midst of the family's deepest pain, they decided to donate Sara's organs."Five other lives were touched by this, by her," Oakes said.Sara's heart, lungs, liver and pancreas were donated. It was a way for her legacy to live on."My children are my little miracles, and I wanted my little miracle to make other miracles. Her life had meaning because she was just a wonderful child -- so full of love and life and this gave her death some kind of meaning," Oakes said.Since Sara's death, Oakes, a nurse, has become a tremendous advocate for organ donation."Thank you for my new heart," Oakes read from a letter from the 9-year-old girl who received Sara's heart. "Don't be sad. I'm sorry about your child."More than 93,000 Americans are waiting for organ transplants, according to the New England Organ Bank."Don't hesitate to donate organs," Oakes said. "If there is that possibility that there is no hope, it's just a way to deal with the grieving process a little bit. But this will give some sense to the senseless. It really helped me and my husband through the grieving process knowing that part of her still lives on."
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