On May 6, 2010, Troy DeJoode received devastating news: A pickup truck broadsided his wife Heather's minivan. Riding with her were their children, five-year-old Carson, three-year-old Chase and five-month-old Claire. Chase was hurt but would recover. Carson and Claire were both resuscitated, but would succumb to their injuries in the days that followed. "I realized that organ donation was Carson's chance to be the hero that he knew himself to be," said Troy. The following day, his wife still in a coma, Troy was faced with making the same decision for his daughter Claire. Since Carson's and Claire's donations, Troy is active in the transplant community, telling their stories to trauma teams, hospital executives and state legislators.

Troy's Story

On May 6, 2010, Troy DeJoode received devastating news: A pickup truck broadsided his wife Heather's minivan. Riding with her were their children, five-year-old Carson, three-year-old Chase and five-month-old Claire. Chase was hurt but would recover. Carson and Claire were resuscitated at the scene. That evening, Troy stood alongside his good friend and pediatric physician Dan as they listened to the diagnosis.

"They told me that Carson had suffered a 'cervical dislocation,'" Recalled Troy. "I remember thinking 'Okay where do we take him? Mayo, University of Iowa...' when I saw a look of horror on Dan's face. Immediately I knew that despite my willingness to go anywhere, do anything and spend everything I had, that Carson would die."

The doctors explained to Troy that the Iowa Donor Network would talk with him about organ donation. Dan immediately took Troy aside and said, "I don't know how you feel about organ donation, but please listen to these people. There is nothing you can do to save Carson, but he can save so many others." Later that night, with his wife in a coma across town Troy decided Carson would be an organ donor.

"Carson was a huge Star Wars fan, and believed that he was a real life Jedi Knight ready to be the hero at a moment's notice. His light saber in hand, we often found him defending his baby sister from our Black Labrador, the sinister Darth Dog. I realized that organ donation was his chance in death to be the hero that he knew himself to be in life," said Troy. The following day, his wife still in a coma, Troy was faced with the same decision for his daughter Claire: she, too, would be an organ donor.

When the nurses came the next day to prep Claire for surgery, Troy asked if the transplant coordinator would send with Claire's heart, the stuffed lamb that had sat tucked under Claire's arm during her PICU stay. The parents of Claire's heart recipient, Joe and Tammy Bowers, agreed to accept the stuffed animal Troy had offered. When it arrived, they were struck to see that it was a little stuffed lamb, nearly identical to the stuffed lion that had sat on their son Landen's hospital bed. Landen's doctor's had been afraid that he would not survive the weekend, but early on Mother's Day 2010, Landen, whose nickname is "Lion," got his heart of a lamb.

Since the transplant, Troy, Heather, Tammy and Joe communicate frequently by email and share updates and pictures through Facebook. Troy is also active in the transplant community, telling Carson, Claire and Landen's stories to trauma teams, hospital executives, state legislators and whoever will listen.

"Having seen the resolve that Landen's parents dealt with in what could have been his final days has inspired me to do whatever I can to spread the word about organ donation. The best way that I know how to do that is to simply tell story of Carson, Claire and Landen wherever I can. As long as people want to hear it I will keep telling it," said Troy.