HONORING WHAT THEIR LOVED ONES LEFT BEHIND.Byline: Susan Abram Staff Writer Leah Barrett passed on a heart of gold. The heart was her son Matthew's. In her own heart, Barrett said, she knows she did the right thing. She knows it when the little girl who received Matthew's heart visits her. ``I feel so close to her,'' Barrett, a Sun Valley resident, said of the 6-year-old girl who received her 4-year-old son's heart after he died two years ago. ``And she's so cute, too.'' Barrett joined more than 500 donor families and recipients from as far as Santa Barbara Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. on Sunday for a special luncheon at Burbank's Castaway Castaway Arden, Enoch shipwrecked sailor; lost for eleven years. [Br. Lit.: “Enoch Arden” in Benét, 316] Bligh, Captain commander of H.M.S. Bounty who was cast adrift by mutinous crew. [Am. Lit. Restaurant, to celebrate the lives of those who gave and received the gift of an organ. The event, sponsored by the OneLegacy Transplant Donor Network, was Barrett's first. Her son, Matthew, saved the lives of four people, she said: two children, a college-age student, and an older person. ``For those families who have lost someone, this event helps them share stories of their loved ones loved ones npl → seres mpl queridos loved ones npl → proches mpl et amis chers loved ones love npl ,'' said OneLegacy spokeswoman Gloria Garcia Bohrer. ``It brings them a sense of comfort to know that their loved ones live on. In a time of tragedy, some good comes out of it.'' The Southern California-based network helps build connections between donors and transplant recipients. Sunday's event featured a presentation by Reg Green, a journalist, author and donor father of Nicholas Green Nicholas Green was an American boy who was shot and killed in an attempted moving automobile robbery in Italy in September 29, 1994. When he died his parents asked the hospital if his organs could be donated. The lives of five very sick Italians, four of them teenagers, were saved. , a young boy who was killed in Italy in 1994. The boy's organ donations spawned a great movement and awareness in donor history, now dubbed dub 1 tr.v. dubbed, dub·bing, dubs 1. To tap lightly on the shoulder by way of conferring knighthood. 2. To honor with a new title or description. 3. in transplant circles as the ``The Nicholas Effect.'' According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the National Kidney Foundation Not to be confused with American Kidney Fund. The National Kidney Foundation, Inc. (NKF) is a major voluntary health organization in the United States. Its mission is to prevent kidney and urinary tract diseases, improve the health and well-being of individuals and , more than 79,000 people nationwide are waiting for an organ transplant organ transplant: see transplantation, medical. . Nearly 3,000 new patients are added to the waiting list each month. Each day, about 17 people die while waiting for a transplant of a vital organ, such as a heart, liver, kidney, pancreas, lung or bone marrow. Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. resident Janet Colleran is more than aware of those odds. On Thanksgiving Day in 1996, she received a liver when her own had just about failed due to an infection. She met her donor's family almost two years ago. Her donor was a 37-year-old man from Texas who had a 16-year-old son. ``I asked his son, who was walking side by side with me, if he thought it was worth it,'' Colleran, 62, said. ``He said he felt like his dad was standing next to him, and I said he is. ... He's right here.'' Colleran, a member of the Ventura County chapter of the Transplant Recipient International Organization, said some members of the support group have died while waiting for a donor. In her heart, she knows she is fortunate, she said. ``Today is about giving thanks,'' she said. ``This is an opportunity to acknowledge the loss of someone, just as it is to celebrate life.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Leah Barrett and her daughter, Samantha, 11, at Sunday's OneLegacy banquet in Burbank, were there for Barrett's late son, Matthew, whose organs were donated to other patients. Joel P. Lugavere/Special to the Daily News |
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