SAN ANGELO, Texas — Lee Pipkin is the father of a heart transplant recipient.
"So many times, the donor families don't hear thank you from the recipient's family.
Sarah received her heart on June 30, 2010.
Soon thereafter she got a letter and she said 'It's from TOSA. It's from my donor's family. Come home and let's read it together.'
So, we all sat down and read it together. The letter was very generic, there was no reference to names, titles, locations, anything like that. It was just that a 14-year-old man had died tragically and had donated his heart to Sarah.
Now part of Dylan's story was that a couple of weeks before, Dylan was with his dad doing chores out on the farm. And dad said, 'what did you learn in school today?' and Dylan said, ' we had someone come talk to us about being an organ donor, and dad if something ever happens, I want to be an organ donor.'
About two weeks later, that tragedy happened in Dylan's life but through that donation I know that my daughter lives. And that's a very hard road to go down because at one time, you're thinking, 'isn't there somebody out there who's got a heart that will help fix my daughter?' but at the other time you know for that to happen a tragedy has to occur.
So, we began to tell the story because we feel that story is important. You can see the facts, and you can see the figures, but it's black ink on white paper. Until you hear the story and you feel the story and you tell the story that it really brings it all home.
She never does it alone. She may be riding in the car alone or running a marathon by herself but it's never Sarah. It's always 'Dylan and I,' and in that respect she's blessed that she has that partner, that forever partner that will be with her.
If you're a donor or a donor family, just please on our behalf, receive the words 'thank you.'"
At Shannon's Women and Children's Center Tuesday, there was a ceremony to honor organ donors from West Texas. Family members of the donors got to place leaves on a tree signifying their loved one's donation.
According to the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance, 22 people die daily waiting on a transplant, and there is a shortage of people who are registered to donate.
“Nationwide, 113,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant right now. In Texas over 10,000 people are waiting for a transplant,” Sandra Sanchez with the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance said.
TOSA also says one healthy person can save eight lives.