April is National Donate Life month it’s
a time when transplant recipients and
the families of organ donors honor their
loved ones and encourage others to
become donors 13 Wham Stephanie Joseph
spoke with a local man whose family made
the decision to donate life on his
sister’s behalf Steph good evening good
evening there Matt we first brought you
the story of Heather Seaman eight years
ago tonight I spoke to her brother about
how he continues to honor her memory and
spread awareness about becoming a donor
there is an day that passes where Scott
seamons doesn’t remember his sister
Heather fondly the two he says were
complete opposites growing up Heather
was The Adventurous one I was the shy
one I was always reserved I was always
standing behind my mom’s you know leg
Heather was always out there you know
meeting people in January 2015 she was
unexpectedly hospitalized when I got to
the hospital um some very close friends
of mine who I consider family um they
were there with me and you know standing
in front of her bed was very surreal
Heather was declared brain dead Scott
and his family were approached about
organ donation but Heather was not a
registered donor it was a really
difficult decision for us to make um
because you’re talking about somebody
that just a few days ago was healthy and
alive and we were saying goodbye after
careful thought the family decided on
organ donation and later found out
through a letter that Heather’s liver
went to someone in need he was a male um
he had uh two dogs he was a veteran um
it was something to
um provide us with um closure Heather is
a part of a growing number of
individuals and families choosing organ
donation ever for 12 consecutive years
the number of deceased donors and the
number of life-saving transplants that
were coordinated from those donors has
increased in the United States more than
a 100,000 people remain on the national
transplant list according to the Health
Resources and services Administration
both Scott and Nancy hope more people
choose to donate life now to help
someone in the future everything is on
the move up we can always do better we
work every day tirelessly to make sure
and until the day comes that nobody is
waiting on that transplant list it’s
it’s the greatest gift that anybody
could give it’s the gift of life um and
and I’m so proud of of my sister um
being able to provide that gift to
someone
else now Scott says he makes a point to
attend the Rochester river walk or run
which honors organ donors and Transplant
recipients this year’s 5K will be on
Sunday we’ll have a link with more
information on 13wham.com Matt
