Donor's family meets recipient for the first time

WANE, Fort Wayne, IN 
WABASH, Ind. (WANE) - It was an emotional day in Wabash when the family of an organ donor met the recipient for the first time.

"It was nice to finally meet the person she saved. Without her, he probably wouldn't be here today," Justin Mann said.

Justin made the difficult decision to donate his mom's organs after Tracy Driscoll suddenly passed away from a brain aneurysm in January. She was only 41 years old.

"I thought about it long and hard," Justin said. "She wasn't married and I'm her oldest, so I had to take care of everything. She always wanted to save people's lives. She wanted to be a nurse, so we went ahead and did it."

Tracy's kidneys went to two different people. Her liver went to Kirby Cochran. The 44-year-old Franklin man developed liver disease from his Lupus. He had been on the transplant list for 52 days when he got the phone call.

"I was happy in one sense and sad in another because someone had to pass for me to survive. These folks lost a mother and daughter and aunt. The ride to the hospital seemed like forever. There was a lot of emotion in the car," Kirby said.



______________________________________________________ 
"You have the power to SAVE lives." 
To register as a donor in California: 
www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org 
Outside California: 
www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net

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