How to save a life: AHN Grove City celebrates Donate Life Month

Apr. 19—PINE TOWNSHIP — Jacob Alan Grady would have recently celebrated his 24th birthday.

Since his passing on Dec. 31, 2020, after a snowmobile accident, his family has been sharing his story and honoring his life.

"Today, Jacob has touched 51 lives," his mother, Laurie Grady, said of organ donation.

Mrs. Grady was among several speakers who gathered Tuesday at AHN Grove City in Pine Township to mark April as National Donate Life Month.

The event included a ceremony to raise the Donate Flag in front of the hospital, resources about organ donation and a small gift with a packet of forget-me-not seeds and a poem called "Afterglow" by Helen Lowrie Marshall:

"I'd like the memory of me to be a happy one... I'd like the tears of those who grieve to dry before the sun of happy memories that I leave behind when day is done."

"This is always one of my favorite events of the year," said Adam Critchlow, AHN Grove City's director of operations.

This year's theme is spring, which brings with it frogs, toads, lily pads and ponds — signs of renewal and hope, said Dr. David Tupponce, president of AHN Grove City.

Renewal and hope also apply to everyone who has played a part in donations of organs, eyes and tissue, and he salutes donors of all ages and backgrounds.

Tupponce recognized the AHN Grove City transplant team for their hard work; they are often coordinating three or four cases at a time.

"One person has the potential to save eight lives through organ donation," he said.

Kristen Stone, director of laboratory services with CORE, or the Center for Organ Recovery and Education, said that it's also important to help the families of the donors heal after the loss of a loved one like Jacob Grady.

"But hope requires action," she said, also recognizing living donors.

Julie Logue, who lives in Seven Hills with her husband Tom Mattocks, has received two heart transplants. She was diagnosed with enlargement of the heart at age 14.

She had her first transplant about 14 years ago; her body eventually rejected the organ, so she was put back on the transplant list.

May will mark five years since her second transplant, and says she enjoys spending time with her family and golfing.

"I am the first and only second heart transplant," she said of AHN, where she received the second heart.

Mrs. Grady, who lives in Renfrew with her son Johnathan and husband Alan, talked about how much Jacob loved the outdoors and his 1978 Ford F-150 pickup truck, which now has some decals in support of organ donation.

He studied machinery at vocational-technical school, excelled at Tae Kwan Do and also loved being on the water.

He donated five organs plus cornea and tissue, and the Gradys have met two of the recipients. A man named Michael received his pancreas and a kidney.

"He no longer has diabetes," Mrs. Grady said.

An eight-year-old boy named James was born blind; he can now see out of his left eye thanks to Jacob.

The family takes Jacob's truck to car shows, where they tell people about how both the truck and Jacob have a second life because of donated parts.

Logue has never met the families of her donors, but she thanks them for such a selfless gift.

"It takes a village," she said.

More than 100,000 people in the United States are waiting for a life-saving transplant, according to CORE.

In Pennsylvania, more than 7,000 people are on the waiting list.

For more information about organ donation, visit core.org

For more information about AHN Grove City, visit ahn.org/locations/hospitals/grove-city