Florida woman, late husband save same man's life 16 years apart with organ donations
PENSACOLA, Fla. (WEAR) — Right now there are more than 5,00 men, women and children in need of an organ donation in Florida. And each day, 22 people die waiting.
Terri Herrington is a teacher who lives in Pensacola.
She knows the pain of losing a loved one.
"I don't even know if I could put that into words," said Terri.
In 2004, Herrington lost her husband Bryan in a tragic accident.
He was an organ donor and five of his organs were used in life-saving operations. To honor her husband, she became a living donor and helped save the same man's life her husband Bryan saved around 16 years ago.
"When he called, it was like well I guess I'm supposed to donate to you now," said Herrington. "It just ended up being that we were both a match."
Jeff Granger is doing well now.
He received one of Herrington's kidneys a year ago, and his quality of life has improved.
“It’s just amazing; seeing him live his life, and he was stuck on dialysis before and the fact that I did it with my husband. It’s unreal, unbelievable," said Herrington.
Herrington hopes her story will encourage others to save lives by signing up to be an organ donor.
And now there's a new way Floridians can help spread awareness.
Donate Life hopes to launch new license plates.
With a unique design, they have to sell 3,000 vouchers in two years before they go into production.
Proceeds will go towards maintaining the donor registry and educating the public on organ donation.
“You never know the life you’re going to save when you become an organ donor. You could be saving the life of someone who could eventually cure an incurable disease or someone that is going to grow up and be the President of the United States," said Herrington. “But changing the story to someone’s life and changing that ending is helping them and helping their families.”
