Organ donors 'will never be forgotten'; Conemaugh rededicates memorial wall
Apr. 20—Tyler Kozlovac's mother, Denise George, of Coalport, described him as a funny 27-year-old whose compassionate nature led him to a job he loved at Ebensburg Cambridge senior living complex.
"He loved his family, and he was really looking forward to being a father," Kozlovac's girlfriend Rylee Younkins said.
His plans came to an end on Feb. 22, 2022, when Kozlovac died suddenly from a drug overdose, but his lasting legacy was honored Wednesday as 1-year-old Natyle, the daughter he never met, was among family members on hand for the rededication of the donor wall at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown.
Conemaugh Chief Medical Officer Dr. Elizabeth Dunmore saluted the families of 23 donors whose loved ones' photos were added to the Organ, Tissue and Cornea Donor Recognition Wall, located on the hospital's third floor.
"In all my years of practice, the most incredible acts of love and kindness I've witnessed in these hours are the selflessness of donors and their families," Dunmore said. "When the entire world is collapsing around them, they find the courage and strength to say 'yes' to donation and to be the light in someone else's life."
Susan Stuart, president and CEO of the Center for Organ Recovery and Education, explained the value of donation during Wednesday's program in Memorial's atrium.
"As donor families, you are powerful beacons of hope for the more than 100,000 people who continue to wait for their call that an organ has been made available for them," Stuart said. "It's also the hope that keeps the transplant patients holding on. Hope is the anchor."
Stuart went on to say CORE recognizes that family members also hold out hope that their loved ones' gifts will live on and assure that their lives will be remembered.
"I promise on behalf of CORE they will never be forgotten," she said. "Their legacy will live on."
Albert J. "Barney Rubble" Rummell Jr. was another donor whose photo was added. The Johnstown-area native was living in New Jersey but returned home to care for his father, who died in 2018.
Rummell died of heart disease in June 2021 and his son, Albert Rummell, said he was "shocked" to learn his father had chosen to be an organ donor by selecting the option on his drivers license.
Rummell's donations included his femur bone, tissue from his back and his corneas.
Conemaugh flight nurse Jill Dillman-Stull knows the value of a cornea donation. Several years ago, she had an eye infection but didn't know it until she went to remove her contact lens.
"The infection had seared the contact to my eye," Dillman-Stull said after Wednesday's program. "It took out about 90% of my cornea."
It took a year for the eye to heal enough for a transplant, but a cornea was available as soon as Dillman-Stull was eligible.
"Because of someone's generosity, I had a cornea available," she said. "I would not have been able to continue my career as a flight nurse without their generosity."
More information on organ, tissue and cornea donation is available on CORE's website, www.core.org.
