Reader: Brothers’ story touched her heart

Myrtle Dixie Rouse Desmares
January 6, 2009
Wilson Joseph Mabile
January 8, 2009
Myrtle Dixie Rouse Desmares
January 6, 2009
Wilson Joseph Mabile
January 8, 2009

Dear Editor:

I just had to write and tell you what a wonderful story on the front page titled “1 Heartbeat.”


It got my interest immediately and I couldn’t put the paper down until I had finished it. Thank you for bringing such an interesting story to us.


I believe in organ donation and when my husband passed in 1995 of a massive myocardial infarction, I tried to donate. A code was called on Ray and that eliminated a lot – organs, veins and I don’t remember. I tried to donate the bones, but rheumatoid arthritis made that too impossible.

The only thing usable were his corneas, and they were transplanted successfully. A 3-year-old nephew, who died of a massive stroke, was a kidney and liver donor in 1986. In fact, the liver went to a little girl in the northern U.S. who had been in a coma and was approaching death. She woke up and smiled at her mother after receiving the new liver – and we received this word before Jeffrey’s burial.

So you can see why this story touched me. Organ donation goes way back for us.

Mary Lynn Blanchard,

Lockport