Transplant Recipients Celebrate the Gift of Life

Craig Kelford decided to become an organ donor as soon as he got his driver’s license at the age of 16.

Only eight months later, on April 23, 1997, Craig died after a discus hit his head during track practice.

His heart, liver and kidneys were donated, saving four lives.

“Our family has been truly blessed that someone could be alive because of Craig,” said Carolyn Kelford, Craig’s mother.

On Wednesday, she and her husband, Craig, spoke to about 12 organ transplant recipients, ages 4 to 18, and their families at UCLA’s Mattel Children’s Hospital. Transplant recipients gathered at similar events across the country to kick off the First Family Pledge campaign, an effort to persuade families to discuss and consider organ donation.

“It’s something we had to do,” said Craig Kelford Sr. “If I had a million dollars and couldn’t spend it, I wouldn’t just bury it.”

As of Dec. 30, 64,579 people nationwide were waiting for a heart, lung, liver, kidney or pancreas. Nearly 4,000 of them were in Los Angeles County, according to the regional Organ Procurement Agency of Southern California.

Hoping to increase organ donation in California, state Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Daly City) has introduced a bill that would create a donor registry in the state. Proponents of the bill, which is scheduled for a public hearing Tuesday, note that organ donations have increased in states that have registries.

“It’s a hard thing to do,” said Caryn Kolbrenner, a UCLA spokeswoman who helped organize Wednesday’s gathering. “People just don’t like talking about it. But it has to be done.”

It has to be done so that children like Cameron Hall can live, said her mother, Colleen.

At age 4, Cameron has had two open-heart surgeries and two valve replacements. She received a heart transplant a year ago after a four-month wait.

“A day felt like a week,” her mother said of the wait as she watched a healthier Cameron run around a table.

If she could talk to the family of the donor, Hall said, she would have one message: “Thank you for giving me back my daughter.”

Jennifer Huey, 18, waited three years for her kidney transplant. Huey, now a college student, will celebrate the third anniversary of that operation on Monday.

“Organ donation is the greatest gift that any one person can give a human being,” Huey said.