Hospital’s tree fetes organ donors

Winston-Salem Chronicle | Layla Garms

This has been a devastating year for Rockwell resident Carol Cook.

She buried her husband of 25 years and her 19-year-old son, Morton Michael Cook II, three months apart. Her husband, Morton Michael Cook, succumbed to a massive heart attack and died in her arms in February. Morton II, whom Mrs. Cook describes as “lovable, handsome and intelligent,” was killed when he was thrown from the bed of a friend’s pickup truck.
“He loved hanging out with his friends, being with his family and riding his horse,” his mother recalled. “He was just learning to ride his father’s motorcycle … and he was getting ready to go back to school. He was going to start law school.”
Morton II was among the 26 organ donors whose memories were honored Oct. 30 on the Tree of Life in the Davis Memorial Chapel at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Each year, organ donors’ names are engraved on metal leaves that are placed upon the Tree of Life as a statuesque reminder of the sacrifices organ donor families make.
“The ceremony today is a celebration of the gifts of organ and tissue donation, in recognition of life saving donations given by so many in the face of tragedy,” said Dr. Robert Stratta, director of the Abdominal Organ Transplant Program at the medical center. “…Organ donation is about the resilience of the human spirit, about having something good come out of something terrible… We must constantly remember that the need is great, the choice is painstaking, and the reward is priceless.”
The ever-expanding number of names that appear on the tree each year is bittersweet.
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