CHARLESTON, W.Va. — While organ donation and transplants are often only a “what if” scenario for most, for some, they become a reality that changes their life forever.

That was certainly the case for Cross Lanes resident Susan Wade and her son Jacob, who became an organ donor at Thomas Memorial Hospital after he passed away in September 2023.

Susan Wade is now a volunteer with the Center for Organ Recovery and Education, or CORE, and she joined other CORE representatives and those at WVU Medicine Thomas Hospitals Tuesday for a flag raising ceremony to recognize National Donate Life Month and to share her son’s story.

Wade said donating your organs to others who vitally need them is one of the best things you can do.

“It’s not going to hurt you, it’s a very giving thing, I mean, you’re helping eight people with your organs, so many people with your tissues, and there’s lots of people out there who need them,” Wade said.

Wade said her son Jacob became an organ donor on September 9, 2023 when his life was taken by his ongoing battle with substance use addiction.

She said her son loved boating, fishing, skateboarding, snowboarding, riding his side-by-side and any other outdoor and adventurous activity, but the main quality Wade said he will be remembered by was his giving nature.

Wade said he was always helping someone in need, even once administering CPR to someone who was having a heart attack.

However, she said his overly-giving and friendly nature was also to his detriment as it was ultimately what led him down the road of addiction with his so-called “friends.”

She said, regardless, Jacob battled with his addiction long and hard. She said he was working full-time in 2023 and doing well when he relapsed on that Sunday in September and was rushed to the hospital, but unfortunately, did not make it.

Wade said that’s when she and her family worked with members of CORE through the process to get her son registered to become an organ donor as a way to let Jacob’s giving nature live on.

“Jacob was always a giving person, and although it was not on his license at the time, because he was 16 when he got his license and they don’t think about that, but we knew because he was a giving person that it’s what he wanted to do, so we made that decision for him,” his mother said.

Because of this, Jacob was able to donate his liver and both kidneys.

Wade said about a month later, they received a heart-felt letter from one of the recipients.

According to CORE West Virginia Community Outreach Coordinator Cheryl King, the annual flag raising event during Donate Life Month highlights the continued need for organ donations and celebrates those who have been touched by donation and transplantation.

Cheryl King

“We are putting these flags all over the state, Donate Life flags, and when people see those, it’s a reminder of what we’re about, and what we’re about is saving and healing lives,” said King.

King said over 100,000 people are awaiting an organ transplant nationwide, and here in West Virginia, 500 patients are waiting for one with someone new being added to the transplant list every ten minutes.

Additionally, she said a total of eight lives can be saved by one organ donor and one tissue donor can heal approximately 75 lives.

Tuesday’s event was held at Thomas Orthopedic Hospital on the Saint Francis campus in Charleston. However, King said they will be holding other flag raising ceremonies, memorial wall rededications, and runs in various locations throughout the month of April.

WVU Medicine Clinical Coordinator for Critical Care and CORE Advisory Council Representative Susan Garrett said it’s very important they bring awareness to organ donation.

“It’s important that we get people doing the hard discussions with their family about what their wishes are, and that we start that conversation so that we can get people to bring awareness about that,” she said.

Thomas Memorial Hospital had a record-breaking year for organ donors in 2024 with a total of nine, whom of which, helped bring about 20 organ transplants at the hospital. In addition, Thomas Hospitals had approximately 32 tissue donors and 27 eye donors.

Garrett said as a nurse, she sees first-hand just how crucial organ donation truly is.

“You have people born with defects from childhood, whether it be genetic or anything like that who didn’t have the chance or the right organs that worked correctly as someone else may have, and it gives them a chance at a better life,” Garrett said.

CORE and Thomas Hospitals encourages anyone who can to become an organ donor. You can register to become an organ donor online or designate yourself as one at your local DMV.