Organ donors, recipients walk to honor sacrifice

LIMA - They walked for those whose deaths saved others, and for those who died before they could be helped.

Lifeline of Ohio, Allen County's organ donation organization, held a Hero's Walk Saturday from St. Rita's Medical Center to Forest Park United Methodist Church. Families of those who gave organs along with organ recipients made the walk.

People like Bonnie Rice, who got a kidney from her brother, and Bob and Vicky Sunderman, whose son, Brad, died 11 years ago and donated his organs.

Debra Barton is the recipient of a kidney and a pancreas. She was a diabetic and on dialysis for a couple years before getting the call that organs were waiting. She remembers the call coming at 9:41 p.m. March 19, 1999, as she was watching to see who would play Ohio State in the Final Four.

She said the transplant means everything to her. Since then, she's gone back to college and gotten a bachelor's and a master's degree.

While Barton's been tempted to find out where her organs came from, she's still not learned who the donor was. She'd like to meet the donor's family.

"It would be so fantastic to know that and to share that with them, and to be there for them. It would be like having more family."

Ray and Kelley Deavers' son, Jeremy, died in a motorcycle accident on Sept. 18, 1998, on his way to propose to his girlfriend when a car ran a stop sign, Kelley Deavers said.

Organ donation was something Jeremy felt strongly about, Kelley Deavers said.

"The way he saw it, he wasn't going to have use for the organs," she said. "Knowing that others out there are benefiting, Jeremy lives on."

His heart went to a young father of two who lives in West Virginia and loves motorcycles, hunting and fishing, all things that Jeremy loved.

"That's my son. It was appropriate."

Knowing his organs continue to help others makes his loss a little easier to take.

"It makes it better, because I know he's out there," Kelly Deavers said.