Local organ donation helped to save three lives
Trending
STEUBENVILLE -- Trinity Health System saluted a man Monday whose death saved the lives of three people he never met and helped 21 others heal.
Stephen Michael Stock, 50, died March 30, 2022, at Trinity Medical Center West, but before his passing his family decided to gift his organs, tissues and corneas to those in need.
"It was a hard decision," his daughter, Sierra Johnson said. "I can remember in the beginning, I thought about not doing it, but I'm glad we ultimately did."
Jessica Porter, clinical director for Trinity's intensive care unit, said one of his kidneys went to a woman in Virginia, the other to a man in Michigan. His liver went to someone in Illinois. Six people received cornneal donations, while 15 others benefited from tissue donations.
Stock's family may never know exactly who his organs and tissue helped, but his daughter said it's enough to know other people lived because of him.
"It gives me a little peace to know (that)," she said.
It was all part of National Donate Life Month, designed to encourage people to encourage organ donation. Trinity raised a "Donate Life" flag Monday to celebrate Stock's gift.
Porter said it's a painstaking process: Potential donors are identified and evaluated. Once a patient is deemed a suitable candidate for donation, Lifeline of Ohio personnel come in and talk with the family. With the family's approval, the patient is medically maintained while matches are identified.
"(He) made the ultimate sacrifice to choose donation, to help others," Porter said. "Today we're honoring not only that family, but everybody else who has made that sacrifice."
She said it's a three-day process.
"The patient gets one-on-one care -- multiple scans, bloodwork every two hours, drips," Porter said. "We adjust every medication, hour-by-hour, to keep them stable."
A year ago, Porter was a staff nurse, assigned to provide Stock with that one-on-one care. Porter herself had lost a parent not long before, so she and Sierra had a lot in common.
"We kind of bonded over grief and some other scenarios," she said. "We formed a relationship and kept in touch with each other during the past year, at special events we reach out to each other to make sure everything's OK."
She said it's a hard decision for families to make, "but it truly makes a difference in peoples' lives."
"It's the ultimate gift and the ultimate sacrifice, it's a very hard decision for families I know that," she said. "It's tough for them to make that call but it truly makes a difference in somebody else's life, so you see sadness and joy at the same time."
Faith Hilterbrand, director of external relations for Lifeline of Ohio, said last year, 155 individuals in Central and Southeast Ohio donated their organs and 685 others made tissue and corneal donations.
"(And) 53.3 percent of Jefferson County residents are registered organ donors," Hilterbrand said. "That's greater than the national average."
Johnson said it was a rough experience, "but it made it a little easier to know even though my dad was gone he helped three people go forward in their life."
"Especially the last six months of my dad's life, he really questioned his reason for being here," she said. "Just knowing the honor our family knows now, because of him, is definitely life changing. To see my dad able to do that ... to know he did that, it's an amazing feeling."