Two Oklahomans will be featured in a Donate Life Rose Parade float.

Oklahoma Gazette News | Kevan Goff Parker
Rusty and Marilyn Yeakley

Marilyn Yeakley held up a poster that read “Maegan Ariana Yeakley,” Surrounding the name were more than a dozen photos of a beautiful little brunette girl. In one, she was nestled in the arms of her father, Rusty Yeakley. In another, the girl was smiling up at her mother, Marilyn. The Yeakleys adopted Maegan in August 2002. Months later, a routine medical checkup revealed that she had hydrocephalus and a rare developmental condition known as schizencephaly, which caused some of her cerebral lobes to deform.

A shunt was placed in Maegan’s brain and she began developmental therapy. By November of 2003, a CT scan showed marked improvement.

A month later, Maegan was hospitalized for flu-like symptoms. Doctors discovered that the shunt had stopped working. She died five days before Christmas 2003.

The 16-month-old girl left a powerful legacy, as her parents decided to help others. A young boy received Maegan’s heart; two adult men (both fathers) received her kidneys; and a little girl received her liver.

“Despite our grief in losing our child, donating her organs made it a little easier to overcome,” Marilyn Yeakley said, tears in her eyes. “We are the ones who were blessed. She was our little angel and we were lucky to have her.”

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