2016 Lauren Deshaine

LAUREN DESHAINE

Organ, Tissue, and Cornea Donor

Age 15 ~ Las Vegas, NV

Donated on 01/01/2014

at St. Rose Dominican Hospital – Siena

Honored by dignitymemorial.com

Lauren was wise beyond her years and child-like in spirit. An honor roll student who was involved in everything, Lauren wanted to become a writer and was just starting to think about getting her driver’s license.   While getting ready to go on stage to sing, she started to have a really bad headache.  She was taken to the hospital and her family was told that she had suffered a stroke.  Within thirty hours, she was gone.  Lauren’s mother said, “Even if Lauren hadn’t told me she wanted to be a donor, we would have done it anyways because she was such a giving person and that’s how she lived her life.  She lived to make a difference in people’s lives.  We are so proud that she did.”

Lauren’s Story

Lauren was wise beyond her years and child-like in spirit.  Her close friends called her “Lola” and they also called her “the lighthouse” because they would go to her for advice or when they felt lost.  Lauren loved unconditionally and would defend her friends and family to the end.  She was never afraid to speak up if something was wrong and would always see the good in people.  Lauren’s mother, Catherine, said, “Lauren had a heart that you wouldn’t believe.”  An honor roll student who was involved in everything, including Best Buddies and the Garden Club in high school, Lauren wanted to become a writer and was just starting to think about getting her driver’s license.

Lauren was 15 ½ years old when she was getting ready to go on stage to sing when she started to have a really bad headache.  She was taken to the hospital and her family was told that she had suffered a stroke.  Within thirty hours, she was gone.

Catherine recalls that two weeks before her daughter was hospitalized, Lauren had said, “If anything ever happens to me, I want to be an organ donor.”  This did not surprise Catherine because her family had discussed donation before she herself needed surgery following a plane crash and Lauren’s aunt had donated her body to science after she died of cancer.

“Even if Lauren hadn’t told me she wanted to be a donor, we would have done it anyways because she was such a giving person and that’s how she lived her life.  There wouldn’t have been any question.”  Lauren’s family is proud that she was able to help two women who were in need of kidney transplants.  Catherine said, “I know how important family is.  If we can give someone else a chance to live for their families, then it’s our responsibility to do it.”

Lauren was a wonderful daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt, niece and cousin.  “She is missed, but not forgotten.  She lived to make a difference in people’s lives.  We are so proud that she did.”