Be a hero at life’s finish line
YOU’RE INVITED TO CELEBRATE THE GIFTOFLIFE on Saturday, November 5, 2022 at the Hero Hustle 5K!
Life Connection of Ohio, the non-profit organization that serves families and saves lives through organ donation, and Community Tissue Services, the non-profit organization that serves families and heals lives through tissue donation, are partnering again for this awareness event. The goal of the Hero Hustle 5K, now in its ninth year, is to strengthen support, education, and recognition of organ, eye, and tissue donation in Northwest Ohio.
Double lung transplant recipient Tonya Gomez looks forward to participating in the Hero Hustle 5K. Tonya’s cystic fibrosis made normal, everyday activities extremely challenging. She could not laugh without getting a coughing spell, and she had to endure daily aerosol and postural drainage treatments to help loosen lung secretion.
On December 18, 2003, she was put on the waiting list for a double lung transplant. Tonya feared the end was near. She could not imagine continuing to wear oxygen 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Of fighting her exhaustion to stay awake in church. Of working up the energy to take a shower and battling the urge to sleep afterward. Of not being active with her two-year-old son. Of reading countless stories online about people who died waiting for transplants. Of not being able to sleep at night because she was afraid she would not wake up in the morning. Of trying to live on 19% lung function.
Then came the phone call that would change everything. On May 25, 2004, Tonya received a life-saving double lung transplant. “I don’t think I realized how sick I really was until I took my first breath after my transplant. It was an amazing feeling to be able to breathe,” Tonya said.
Since then, Tonya has taken her second chance at life and run with it—literally. Every day, she is thankful for her donor hero, Adam. “I’m honoring Adam by taking care of the lungs I’ve been given. I received this gift, and I feel compelled to share it with everybody,” Tonya said.
Without the incredible generosity of her donor hero and his family, Tonya would not be alive today. She looks forward to showcasing the power of transplantation at the Hero Hustle 5K.
Another family who experienced the flip side of donation also looks forward to participating in the Hero Hustle 5K. Elena Yakumithis did more in her six years of life than many people do in a lifetime. The Wayne Trail Elementary School kindergartner loved hippos, cupcakes, sprinkles, and anything pink. When she learned the lyrics to a song, she would dance around the house and sing it on repeat. She was a ballerina with a Boston accent who loved to laugh. “She was an amazing, loving, giving little girl,” Elena’s mother, Kelly, said.
Kelly remembers the morning of June 9, 2010. What started out as a normal day turned into a nightmare when Elena was in a car accident and passed away.
In the midst of their sudden grief, Kelly and her husband, Monny, found the strength to ask if their daughter could save lives through organ donation. “We understood that our daughter was not going to recover, and we weren’t going to be able to have Elena anymore, so trying to help someone else was the logical next step for us,” Kelly said.
That day, Elena forever changed the lives of two people through organ donation. Her kidneys allowed a 40-year-old father of four to spend more time with his family. Her liver saved a 13-year-old girl, who now has her whole life ahead of her.
Monny and Kelly are comforted knowing that their hilarious, kind, strong-willed Elena is loved by her recipients and their families. “Through organ donation, we get to see Elena live on, and that’s the best thing we could ask for,” Monny said.
Monny and Kelly have formed “Team Elena” and will celebrate their daughter and her generous spirit at the Hero Hustle 5K.
For more information about organ donation, visit lifeconnection.org. For details or to register for the Hero Hustle 5K, visit davesraces.com. Kara Steele is Director of Community Services for Life Connection of Ohio.
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