Be The Gift
My son, Kevin Daniel “Sunshine” Yates, took the opportunity to be a Superhero by giving the gift of himself to save others so they could live. And you can too! Two years prior to being killed by a drunk driver, Kevin had a friend that died who was an organ donor. After Blake’s funeral, Kevin talked to his mom about the fact that he thought it was so cool that Blake had saved lives. He said, “Mom, it's like Blake is a Superhero because he saved lives. If anything ever happens to me I want to be an organ donor too!” Tiki, Kevin’s mom, told Kevin how proud she was that he made such a selfless CHOICE. She never thought she would someday be faced with making that decision for him.
When there was nothing more that could be done and Kevin had been pronounced brain dead, the only CHOICE left was to honor Kevin’s CHOICE to be an organ donor. And the CHOICE Kevin made to donor saved the lives of four people.
KEVIN’S HEART went to a 48-year-old male named Melvin Ellis. We received our first letter from him on April 2, 2012, what would have been Kevin’s 26th birthday (our first one without him). It was the best gift we could have received! To hear from the man who carries Kevin’s heart was wonderful. We immediately wrote back and soon after on July 7, 2012, we got to meet!! Melvin let us listen to Kevin’s heart with a stethoscope. There are no words to describe the emotion of that day.
We spent the weekend together and bonded as a family. We mushed all our names together and now call ourselves, “The FINYATELLISONs”!! We are one big family now. We talk on the phone, text, Facebook, and try to travel a couple of times a year to visit since we are on opposite sides of Tennessee.
KEVIN’S LIVER went to a 72-year-old male.
KEVIN’S RIGHT KIDNEY went to a 48-year-old-male.
KEVIN’S LEFT KIDNEY and PANCREAS went to a 49-year-old woman.
Kevin also donated tissue and bone.
The communication process has begun with the other recipients, but we have not yet received anything back from them. We are patiently waiting and very much want to meet them.
BE THE GIFT – If Kevin’s story has inspired you to be a SUPERHERO too, please register today at www.BeTheGiftToday.com. If you register on Donate Life Tennessee, when answering the question, “How did you hear about the registry?”, choose “Kevin’s 1N3 story” in the drop-down box. This lets us know how many have chosen to be a superhero like Kevin!
“I cannot put into words how much this message impacted me.”