After her mother Laralee Bergstrom was fatally injured in a January 2006 auto accident in New Mexico, Sheri Bergstrom-Casey donated her kidneys, corneas and liver. She has since met the liver recipient, U.S. Marine Chris LeBleu, and his wife Melanie. Says Sheri, "They truly feel like family to us."

Sheri and Laralee's Story

On January 27th, 2005, my sister and I received that phone call that no one ever wants to get. A hospital from New Mexico called, saying that our Mother was in a horrible car accident and that we needed to get there (from Colorado) as soon as possible. Within two hours we left on the longest ride of our lives. Seven hours later, we arrived to find that she had only a 20% chance of survival. With every hour things worsened and by late morning the next day, the doctors informed us that we’d better be prepared for the worst. We held our Mother’s broken hands, and together with her friends, we said goodbye. At 8:40 am on January 29th, we got the phone call that she was brain dead. No words can describe how hard that was to hear.

We went down to the hospital to find out what to do next. The doctor informed us that the “donor people” were here, and that he cannot recommend what to do because it is his job to save lives, but it is an option we needed to consider before we shut everything off. We knew our Mother wanted to be a donor so there was no hesitation whatsoever. We met with them and asked for our Mom to remain anonymous.

The next morning, we were flooded with phone calls from our hometown in California saying that a Marine in Loma Linda, California just underwent a liver transplant with a liver received from an “anonymous woman killed in a car accident in New Mexico.” We all knew that had to be our Mom. We immediately called and asked for her name to be released to the press. Our phones went crazy. CNN called, along with the local news in Colorado and we were able to share our Mother’s story with the world.

Shortly thereafter, we received letters regarding my Mother’s corneas and kidneys and how they have transformed several other’s lives.

In August of that year, we were given the opportunity to meet Chris and Melanie LeBleu at Disneyland. They have remained in contact with us ever since and they truly feel like family to us. Melanie had put a photo album together for us with pictures of them and their family and everything that they had gone through with Chris’s sickness. It was amazing to see how healthy he was before the illness.

The following January, my father was on his way to meet my sister and I for lunch, when he had a brain hemorrhage while driving and crashed. We were driving by the accident when the nurse called from our Dad’s phone. After seven days of being on life support without waking up, we had to make the horrible decision of pulling the plug on our father. 14 hours later he died.

Because of the way he passed we could only donate his corneas. Two months later we received a letter that a 46-year-old man in Okinawa can now see again because of our Dad.

Two weeks after my father’s passing, I was scheduled for in vitro surgery. My husband and I had been trying for five years to have a baby and found that we needed some extra help. We went through the egg donor program and after selecting a donor, I was pregnant within 48 hours of the surgery. As of writing this, I am due to have my first child any day now.

Because of our experience, my sister, Cindy, is collaborating on a book about donor families and recipients to share their stories to teach people how donation changes lives and promote donor awareness. We are also starting a foundation in my Mother’s name to help generate more money towards donor awareness.

I am proud to ride the Donate Life Rose Parade Float. The experience of being a donor family has changed our lives profoundly.