Donna Warren's second-born son, Jesse, died in a car accident at age 27 on the day after Thanksgiving of 2004 and donated his corneas, eyes, skin, tendons, bones, arteries, veins and ligaments to many people in need. Donna's fourth son Tyler had a congenital heart defect. In 2000, at the age of 16, he received a heart transplant from a Latino family that would give him four more years of life.

Donna, Jesse and Tyler's Story

Donna Warren's fourth son Tyler, was born with a congenital heart defect as well as Central Core Disease, a form of muscular dystrophy that also affected his siblings. To correct the heart problems Tyler required eight open-heart surgeries beginning at the age of 4 weeks. At the age of 16 Tyler received a heart transplant. His new heart came from a 20-year-old Latino man who died in a car accident. Ironically Tyler also passed away at the age of 20 in June of 2005.

“We enjoyed four-and-a-half more wonderful years with Tyler, and that was a blessing,” says Donna. “We are eternally grateful to the family that allowed us to enjoy those years with Tyler by providing ‘the gift of life.’”

Donna’s next experience with organ donation was via her second-born son, Jesse. On the day after Thanksgiving of 2004, six months prior to the loss of Tyler, Jesse was driving to work when he hit a patch of black ice, lost control of his car and ran into a light pole that took his life. Jesse, 27, was an artist and an avid paintball enthusiast. Of Donna’s four sons, Jesse was considered to be the “healthy” one in the family.

“When we had to identify Jesse, I asked for his driver’s license and donor card. Jesse had the pink dot on his license, and I saw that as his way of reaching out to me one last time. He was telling me that he could do one more thing even though he was gone,” says Donna. Since more than seven hours had passed since Jesse died, the Warrens were told it was too late to donate his vital organs. But, Donna and her husband, Gil, who lead volunteers for the California Transplant Donor Network in Northern California, knew differently. After talking with the coroner, she was allowed to connect with the San Francisco Tissue Bank and Jesse was able to donate his corneas, eyes, skin, tendons, bones, arteries, veins and ligaments to many people in need.

“As a family, we received ‘the gift of life’ for Tyler through a heart transplant. Then Jesse was able to ‘donate life’ – a better life for others by providing the gift of sight via his corneas and the gift of better health and mobility by donating his tissues to others,” says Donna. “That’s a beautiful thing and has been very helpful in processing his loss.”

As a family and as individuals, the Warrens are passionate about organ and tissue donation and continue to promote organ and tissue donation as a tribute to Jesse and Tyler. “It’s our way of giving back and to educate people about a subject that so many people don’t know enough about.” Part of Gil and Donna’s positive outlook can be traced back to the years when they were performers with the “Up with People” group that toured the country singing about the sunny side of life.