Kali’s Story: Local family shares their donor family story
Your Houston News | Jennifer Summer
Photo: Michael and Rhonda Sparks had the opportunity to visit with the donor recipient family who received Kali’s heart.
When he first listened to the heart beat, tears filled his eyes.
Oakhurst resident Michael Sparks listened to his daughter Kali’s heart beat in the donor who received it after she was killed in an automobile accident near Chattahoochee, FL in 2008 on the way to Florida with a couple of friends for vacation.
Sparks’ daughter, Kali, had just finished her sophomore year at the University of Arkansas and decided to take a trip to Florida to see Disney World. Though she had visited the theme park already, the group of six of her friends had not and they saved all of the money they earned working in a restaurant to make the trip happen.
“She was bubbly, outgoing and loved to laugh. Kali always got in trouble for laughing too loud at work. The most amazing thing is when we had the memorial, there were over 1,000 people who came to pay their respects; we were blown away,†Michael said.
The Sparks’, who lived in Arkansas at the time, received a call from Kali around 10:30 that night and they could hear laughter in the background, but everything was okay at that time. It was sometime after 8:30 a.m., when the driver lost control of the car and six of the seven people in the car were ejected; six of the seven people were not wearing
Read more
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
Photo: Michael and Rhonda Sparks had the opportunity to visit with the donor recipient family who received Kali’s heart.
When he first listened to the heart beat, tears filled his eyes.
Oakhurst resident Michael Sparks listened to his daughter Kali’s heart beat in the donor who received it after she was killed in an automobile accident near Chattahoochee, FL in 2008 on the way to Florida with a couple of friends for vacation.
Sparks’ daughter, Kali, had just finished her sophomore year at the University of Arkansas and decided to take a trip to Florida to see Disney World. Though she had visited the theme park already, the group of six of her friends had not and they saved all of the money they earned working in a restaurant to make the trip happen.
“She was bubbly, outgoing and loved to laugh. Kali always got in trouble for laughing too loud at work. The most amazing thing is when we had the memorial, there were over 1,000 people who came to pay their respects; we were blown away,†Michael said.
The Sparks’, who lived in Arkansas at the time, received a call from Kali around 10:30 that night and they could hear laughter in the background, but everything was okay at that time. It was sometime after 8:30 a.m., when the driver lost control of the car and six of the seven people in the car were ejected; six of the seven people were not wearing
Read more
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
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