Organ donation brings a mix of joy and sorrow

Mail from strangers usually ends up in the recycle bin. For Aimie Abrams Lopez, a letter from a stranger brought uplifting news.

When her husband, Erick Lopez, died in 2009, his organs were donated to save others’ lives.

“One of the recipients was a 16-year-old boy,” she said last week

. “He sent me a letter, and so did his mother.”

The teen had a congenital kidney defect, Lopez said. Her late husband’s kidney essentially cured him. “I’ve got the letters,” she said.

Four people were helped by Erick Lopez’s kidneys, liver and heart, according to LifeCenter Northwest.

The nonprofit organ procurement organization, one of 58 in the country, facilitates organ and tissue recovery in Washington, Alaska, northern Idaho and Montana.

Erick Lopez, a 33-year-old from Everett, was one of six people in Washington whose organ donations were recognized in Olympia on Wednesday. His widow and his mother, Jama Lopez, were there when Gov. Chris Gregoire presented them with a Washington Gift of Life Award.

Created by a state Senate bill in 1998 and passed into law in 1999, the Gift of Life Award calls on the governor’s office to annually recognize six families or individuals involved in organ donation. Those six are meant to represent all who make the choice to fill a critical need. More than 100,000 people in the United States are on waiting lists for donor organs.

An engineer who worked for the Boeing Co., Lopez died Nov. 18, 2009, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Aimie Lopez said her husband suffered from bipolar disorder.

She remembers the man from San Antonio, Texas, who had his pilot’s license. He was in a flying club when he attended Texas A&M University. At Boeing, she said, he worked in support and hydraulics, and played a part in many aircraft projects.

He had honed his skills in aviation photography. His images of Boeing jetliners can be seen online at the website airliners.net.

Erick Lopez was treated at Seattle’s Harboview Medical Center for two days before he died. “They did everything they could to save him,” Aimie Lopez said. When she was approached at Harborview about organ donation, Lopez said her answer was, “Of course.”

“It was a family decision,” she said. It’s a decision Andrea Gregg wishes more families would think about.

Gregg, director of community relations for Bellevue-based LifeCenter Northwest, said one reason the need is so great is that very few patients are suitable organ donors at the time of death.

“It’s only about 1 percent of all deaths that are eligible,” Gregg said. “It’s such a rare and special opportunity. We need as many people registered as possible.”

Almost always, as in Erick Lopez’s case, it’s a tragic and sudden death that makes organ donation possible, Gregg said.

“Nobody is prepared to put themselves in the shoes of that family member,” Gregg said. “It’s very easy to imagine saying, ‘No, somebody else can do it.’ In actuality, if you’re given the opportunity to say yes, that’s huge.”

In our state if someone is registered as an organ donor, which can be done with driver’s license renewal or through LifeCenter Northwest, a family cannot decline the donation. Gregg said first-person authorization is part of Washington’s Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. The law also spells out that relatives, in hierarchical order beginning with spouses and parents, can decide to donate a loved one’s organs even if the deceased is not registered.

“You should let people around you know if that is your personal choice,” Gregg said. “If, God forbid, somebody else is making the decision, your family should know that would be your wish.”

Gregg attended Wednesday’s ceremony in Olympia, where Aimie Lopez and her mother-in-law were joined by family members of other donors. The others honored posthumously were Carlos Fernandez of Seattle, Andrew Bible of Washougal, Charles “Kim” Slaughter of Bremerton, Cassandra Jones of Deer Park near Spokane, and Alfredo Jeronimo of Malaga in Chelan County.

“For all these families, it was their first time being with someone who’d been through the same trauma. It brings healing to find out you’re not alone,” Gregg said.

Gregg said it was by design that those chosen had died two years ago. “In the second year, people get to a point where they can think about it out loud,” she said.

Aimie Lopez, who works at the University of Washington, will live the rest of her days knowing that her husband saved a teenage boy’s life, and the lives of three other people.

At the time of her own worst nightmare, she had the presence of mind to make a lifesaving choice — for strangers.

“You just think you don’t want anybody else suffering to the extent that you’re suffering,” she said.

Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com.

How to register as organ donor

There are three ways to register as an organ donor in Washington:

Ask for an organ donor designation on your driver’s license when you renew with the state Department of Licensing.

Call LifeCenter Northwest and request a registration brochure: 877-275-5269.