Behind the Badge
Lying in a hospital bed, straining to take even one breath, Mike Adams was certain death was imminent.
The Oceanside man was in the end stages of cystic fibrosis, a disease that causes the lungs and airways to be filled with mucus. His lungs were working at 17 percent of their capacity.
A priest administered last rights the night before.
Then Adams got the call that was as uplifting as it was tragic.
Raynier Van Zyl holds a photo of organ donor Benjamin Tortorella during a Donate Life America Rose Dedication ceremony.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
Adams was on a recipient list to receive new lungs and was informed that a set of lungs had just become available — from the body of a 15-year-old boy named Tory who’d been fatally shot in the head as he was standing in front of a church.
Adams, who has been living and breathing with Tory’s donated lungs for nearly 14 years, recently shared his journey and his gratitude at Orange County Sheriff’s Department headquarters, in front of family members and friends of deceased loved ones who had chosen to donate their organs and tissue at death.
OCSD and OneLegacy, the county’s organ and tissue procurement agency, co-hosted the emotional gathering Nov. 2, officially called a Rose Dedication Ceremony.
OCSD’s Coroner Division partners with OneLegacy to assess cases in which organ and tissue transplantation is possible.
Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens hands a rose to family members of an organ donor during a Donate Life America Rose Dedication ceremony on Nov. 2.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
About 30 donor families at the ceremony, many in tears and holding photos of their deceased loved ones, wrote messages on slips of paper, which were to be placed in a rose vial and included in the Dedication Garden on the Donate Life Rose Parade float for the 2017 Tournament of Roses parade.
“With every step, I’ve thought about the gift I’ve been given and all the things I’ve done in the last 14 years I could not have done without my hero and families just like you,” said Adams, who now walks five miles a day and has been scuba diving and white-water rafting. “None of this would have been possible if (Tory’s mother) had not said yes to organ donation.”
In 2015, there were 296 tissue donors and 173 organs transplanted through the OCSD-OneLegacy partnership, Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said.
“This is a phenomenal success when you take into account that a single tissue donor can benefit up to 50 people,” Hutchens said. “We are very proud of our collaboration with OneLegacy.”
Roberto Wilkes, a cornea recipient, stands next to a poster with his face on it as he thanks family members of organ donors for his new sight during a Donate Life America Rose Dedication ceremony at the OCSD’s Brad Gates Building in Santa Ana on Nov 2.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
Organ recipient Roberto Wilkes, 37, also expressed gratitude for OneLegacy and the donor families in attendance.
In his early 20s, Wilkes was diagnosed with a severe eye disease that caused rapid vision loss.
Before long, he couldn’t play catch with his son.
Ultimately, he lost the ability to drive.
Wilkes’ mother reached out to OneLegacy and had her son placed on a list to receive a cornea transplant.
In 2013, Wilkes was the recipient of a new cornea.
Summer Revell gives a relative some support during a Donate Life America Rose Dedication ceremony.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
This past June, he got a driver license and is teaching his son to drive.
He looks forward to watching his son graduate from high school.
“As I realized I was given life from the loss of a loved one, it is overwhelming,” Wilkes told the families. “I’m thankful and I’m blessed because of a decision that my donor’s family and my donor made.”
OCSD Chief Senior Chaplain Kathleen Kooiman said organ and tissue donors are “God’s heroes.”
“The selfless act of donating an organ, so that another may live, is holy sacrifice worthy of eternal remembrance,” Kooiman said. “Only God’s heroes give everything both in life and in death. That is why heroes live forever in the souls of those who love them and in the souls of those who are rescued by them.”
Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens and Matthew Crump, vice president, tissue operations of OneLegacy, right, thanks the family members of an organ donor during a Donate Life America Rose Dedication ceremony at the OCSD’s Brad Gates Building in Santa Ana.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
OC Sheriff’s Chief Senior Chaplain Kathleen Kooiman gives the invocation at the start of Donate Life America’s Rose Dedication ceremony.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
A photo of Nathan Bayati, who was 28 when he died and his organs were donated, sits on the table in front of his parents Christelle and Adnan (not in photo) as family members are honored.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
Loretta Moody and Jonathan Lysy hold a photo of organ donor Muriel Ann Moody as they are honored by OC Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, left, and Matthew Crump, vice president, tissue operations of OneLegacy, right, during a Donate Life America Rose Dedication ceremony.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge OC
