Donor Registry14-Year-Old to Meet the Recipients of His Mother’s Heart and Kidney
“Reunion” takes place during National Donate Life Month
FORT WORTH, Texas – Thirty-three-year-old Rosemary Carrillo died on August 15, 2004, at Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital, following injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Despite their loss, her family shared the precious gift of life with three individuals through the donation of her heart, kidneys and liver.
On Saturday, April 21, her 14-year-old son, David Carrillo, and her mother, Elvira Resinos, will meet Rosemary’s heart and kidney recipients for the first time – the ultimate celebration of National Donate Life Month. David Carrillo was just 12 when his mother, Rosemary Carrillo, died following head trauma from a car accident. He and his grandmother, Elvira Resinos, now 52, live in Fort Worth. The family also made a directed donation of Rosemary’s other kidney and liver to Rogelio Herrera, who resides in Silverberry, Md.
Margaret Jackson, now 58, received Rosemary’s kidney during a transplant at Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital on August 15, 2004. Jackson lives in Everman and works as a supervisor at the TCU Bookstore.
Bobbi McKinney was just 27 years old when she received Rosemary’s heart during a transplant on August 15, 2004, at Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma. Now a resident of Adair, Texas, McKinney contracted the chicken pox at age 17. The virus settled around her heart, causing the organ to fail.
Celebrated each April, National Donate Life Month is an opportunity to celebrate the tremendous generosity of those who have saved lives by becoming organ, tissue, marrow and blood donors – and to encourage more Americans to follow their fine example to make the decision to donate the gift of life. Individuals can learn more and join the Texas registry to become an organ and tissue donor at www.DonateLifeTexas.org.
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Celebrating 20 years of saving lives, LifeGift is a not-for-profit organ procurement organization which recovers organs and tissue for individuals needing transplants in 109 Texas counties in North, Southeast, and West Texas. To register as an organ and tissue donor or for more information, visit http://www.lifegift.org.