The Act of Giving is Sacred

When a family says ‘yes’ to organ or tissue donation, they give patients a priceless gift: the chance for a new and better life. The value of this gift — and the fact that it is given during a time of great pain and sorrow — is never lost on us. During the holidays, we make an effort to give back to the community that has given so much. Our Family Services Team — including Camille and Paulina, pictured here — adopted a family and organized a gift drive for them. A few days before Christmas, they left our office with a car full of gifts which they delivered to the family’s door. It’s a small gesture of goodwill to show our overwhelming gratitude to this amazing community in which we live and serve. At Lifesharing, we are humbled to carry out organ and tissue donation in San Diego and Imperial Counties. We are beyond grateful to all of our donor families and hospital partners who have helped us with our mission 🙏

Thank you all for being part of the Lifesharing family. Sending you peace and love this holiday season.

Lifesharing Honors its Organ and Tissue Donors for Día de los Muertos
(Day of the Dead) 2020

Every year, Lifesharing creates a beautiful ofrenda (altar) to honor its recent heroes. Celebrated on November 1 and 2, Día de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday where it’s believed that the spirits of our deceased loved ones return to earth.

Lifesharing team members spend hours creating traditional sugar skulls for each donor — personalizing them in unique and beautiful ways: Watch video here.

Lifesharing’s First Ever “Digital Day of Remembrance”

Lifesharing traditionally holds an annual memorial ceremony to honor its recent organ and tissue donors. This year however, COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the event due to the ban on mass gatherings. Still determined to honor our heroes, we instead created a film to honor our donors. It was officially released on October 23, 2020: Watch video here.

Art was not her only gift to the world

San Diegan Claire Tipler was an expressive visual artist who loved painting, photography and dance. When she passed away at the age of 21, she saved 3 adults and one child through organ donation. (Lifesharing found matching recipients for her heart, liver and kidneys.) Over the summer of 2020, Claire’s mother organized an art project in memory of her daughter and our team was humbled to take part. In this video produced by Lifesharing, Claire’s parents describe her passion for art and adventure and how organ donation helped them find meaning in the wake of their daughter’s death. In a second video for Lifesharing, Claire’s mother describes the organ donation process step-by-step, calling it “a sacred process.” Watch video here.

Heart Recipient Invites Organ Donor’s Family to His Wedding

In the late 1990s, Chris Truxaw collapsed at school. A firefighter approached Christopher’s mother with tears in his eyes, as he explained that her son’s heart had stopped. Chris was eventually placed on the waiting list for a new heart at the tender age of 13. Without a transplant, doctors gave him only six months to live. Chris was getting weaker by the day — he was confined to a wheelchair and his skin was blue from a lack of oxygen.

And then, his family got the call — a matching heart had been found. The 10-year-old organ donor hero did what no doctor could do…. he saved Christopher’s life. A few years later, Chris honored his donor by competing in the 2002 Transplant Games. In a speech, he told the crowd: “He [the heart donor] freed me from my cell… I rose from the dead, able to rejoin humanity.”