CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC) and the Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) honored those individuals who gave the gift of life through donation at the annual Tree of Life ceremony Friday.
The ceremony by CAMC and CORE was done virtually, the week that late Charleston Police Officer Cassie Johnson donated her organs at CAMC following her death.
According to CORE, more than 100,000 people across the nation, including 500 in West Virginia, are waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. One person can save the lives of eight people and heal the lives of 75 through organ, tissue and cornea donation.
“If not already a donor, I challenge each of you to search your heart and enroll today. Consider the potential great outcome and the comfort it could bring to your own family today,” Rhonda Mitchell, mother of an organ donor from CAMC said.
Mitchell’s son Trey White was an organ donor following his passing at 27 years old. She said once she knew her son would not make it, she made a decision with CORE.
“I inquried about the viability of his organs. Shortly afterward, CORE was speaking to me and my family and to everyone involved in this process, it was unbelievably kind and appreciative, honorable and respectful,” she said.
Susan Stuart. President & CEO of CORE said during the presentation that the organization had a successful 2019 with 60 cornea recipients, 42 transplant recipients and more than 3,000 tissue transplants.
The event featured donor and recipient stories from West Virginians, as well as a tribute to CAMC’s organ donors from 2019.
Donors that were honored: Cody Beverly of Colcord, WV; Brooklyn Rayann Bird of Dunbar, WV; Michael Dwayne Cresong of Man, WV; Lloyd C. Davis of Maysel, WV; George Wilbur Fore of Charleston, WV; James Edward Hammock III of Buffalo, WV; Gary Lowery of Beard Ford, WV; Jack Miller of Anstead, WV; April Naylor of Mt.Hope, WV; William O’Dell of Poca, WV; MacKenzie Abraham Taggart of Charleston, WV; Carl Wellsted of London, WV; John George Zekan, Jr. of Charleston, WV
“A transplant center is so much more than a hospital. it’s a center that gives hope to those awaiting a life-saving transplant. And hope is the anchor that keeps them holding on,” Stuart said.