The following is partner content from: Donor Alliance
This April, Wyomingites are coming together to honor National Donate Life Month. Hospitals across the state are flying Donate Life flags, select landmarks like the iconic oil derrick in Casper are glowing blue and green, and on April 25 runners will lace up for the Wyoming Donor Dash.
Led by Donor Alliance, the nonprofit organ procurement organization serving most of Wyoming, each of these events and symbols carries the same message: organ, eye, and tissue donation saves lives. Right now, more than 100 people across Wyoming are waiting for a lifesaving transplant.
For Lesley Steplock of Casper, the mission behind the blue and green lights and flags is deeply personal. In February 2019, Lesley’s mother, Deborah passed away and became a donor. Lesley and her father drove to Denver to be with her through the entire organ recovery process.
“My dad is a retired cardiothoracic surgeon, so it felt especially meaningful and important to us to learn that her heart was going to be donated,” Lesley said. “It brought some comfort to know that her heart of gold would continue to beat.”
Deborah’s legacy is extraordinary. Her cornea restored sight for a woman in Japan. Her kidney saved a fellow mother of five. Her liver saved a father of three. Her heart saved a father of four and grandfather to six. Countless others may also benefit from her tissue donations. Wyoming Medical Center installed a memorial bench in Deborah’s honor in its Healing Garden and raises their Donate Life flag in her memory every year.
Lesley now works for Donor Alliance as an organ clinical coordinator, helping families through the same journey her own family experienced. “I bring my mom to work with me every day,” she said. “It makes me a more understanding, compassionate, and driven coordinator. It feels good to honor the life and legacy of my mom in the work that I do every day.”
This April, Wyomingites are encouraged to join the movement. Show your blue and green. Join the Donor Dash. And most importantly, register as an organ, eye, and tissue donor and talk with your family about your decision. Say “yes” the next time you obtain or renew your driver’s license or register anytime at DonorAlliance.org. One decision can save up to eight lives through organ donation and help heal up to 75 more through tissue donation.
