Grandpa Von

My Grandpa Von passed away today at 82 years old after a long and unexpected additional 15 years. At 67, fifteen years ago, we thought we would lose him when his heart began dying from a degenerative heart disease called cardiomyopathy. He was placed on the organ and tissue waiting list among the other 90,000 waiting patients and a miracle of all miracles happened when he was lucky enough to receive a spry new heart from a 19-year-old boy who died in a motorcycle accident. The last 16 years have been miracle years for Grandpa Von and certainly not the easiest ones to experience as he managed to fight all sorts of side effects from a transplanted organ including cancer and overall poor health. You would have never known however that grandpa probably felt miserable because you could see in his eyes he just felt lucky to be alive.



I was six when Grandpa Von received his new heart and as I grew a older I began to realize what a gift it was to have my grandpa around because of the sacrifice of that 19-year-old boy and his family. One of the happiest times in my life was when I was able to do something to give back for those extra years I was given with my grandpa. Competing in pageants required some sort of platform to promote and knowing since 9th grade that if I ever did pageants I would choose this platform, I decided to promote organ and tissue donation. What a blessing it was for me to work with grandpa to truly understand his story and then to work with the Intermountain Donor Services to find out what I could do in Idaho to give back. It didn't take us long to figure out exactly what we could do. The senate majority leader Bart Davis helped me draft legislation to amend the Anatomical Gift Act of Idaho which stated that only 18-year-olds in the state of Idaho could chose to be organ and tissue donors. Instead we amended the bill to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to also be able to donate with parent consent. This allowed a conversation to be started in the homes about family member's wishes on organ and tissue donation. The bill passed both the senate and the house and was passed into law March 31, 2006.

These next pictures were taken the day after I won Miss Idaho Falls. My opening statement in my interview was all about my grandpa. Like I mentioned, I had spent numerous hours learning about my grandpa and his experience and shared that and my love for him in my interview. I gave him my opening statement that day and he cried quite a bit.

Last night he aspirated some fluids and stopped breathing. After six minutes of no oxygen a patient is considered brain dead and since they live a good 20 minutes from the hospital that is surely what happened. The paramedics got there in time to keep his body alive and rush him to the hospital. It wasn't until this morning that the doctors revealed he was indeed brain dead. To qualify as an organ and tissue donor there are very specific requirements that have to be met. In fact, only a small percentage of deaths are even eligible for organ and tissue donation. To qualify, a patient must die in a hospital, on a ventilator, from brain death. Of all the ways grandpa could have died he died in the one way that would allow family members to say goodbye and if he was young enough the one way he could give of his organs. To me, that was grandpa's way of saying thank you for the extra 16 years.

The reason I go into all of the organ and tissue experience is because the gift of life came full circle today when my grandpa died.

I am going to miss my grandpa. He was an amazing man who taught me a lot about how precious life is and when the Lord grants you more time, you don't take it for granted. I know I'll see him again because families can be together forever. What a wonderful blessing that is. He surely had a great reunion today with many who have missed him on the other side. I can't wait for grandpa to be on my welcoming committee someday and hope he knows how much we will miss him here on earth. Love you grandpa!