Parents share emotional meeting with men who received donor organs from their 19-year-old daughter

M Live | Sue Thomas
Photo: Alicia Stillman wipes tears and laughs as she talks to two men who received organs from her daughter Emily. At left is Joseph Steponski, of Grand Rapids, who received a lung.Fritz Klug | MLive.com

LANSING, MI â€" Seven months after 19-year-old Emily Stillman’s sudden death, her parents met two of the men whose lives were saved by her donated organs.

With tears and hugs, Alicia and Michael Stillman greeted Joseph Steponski, a Grand Rapids man who received one of her lungs, and Randy Schumacher, a man from Ubly, who received a kidney.

“Part of our Emily is inside you. And that is such a blessing,” Alicia Stillman said.

The Stillmans met the transplant recipients and their families Wednesday, Sept. 18, in view of media cameras and reporters, before taking part in a Donate Life Capitol Celebration in Lansing organized by Gift of Life Michigan. Although they were nervous about the meeting, the parents said they hoped the public meeting would help call attention to the need for organ donations.
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______________________________________________________ 
"You have the power to SAVE lives." 
To register as a donor TODAY
In California: 
www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org 
Outside California: 
www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net

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