As National Donate Life Month is observed across America during April, one Brentwood mother will have extra-personal thoughts and prayers during each of the month's 30 days.
Jamie Heard's beloved son, William, died when he was just 2.5 years old in 2015 after choking on a bite of chicken, not regaining consciousness and being on life support for two days. Following William's death, Jamie says she and her husband, Daniel, were approached with the option to donate his organs. "We thought it was an answered prayer that we were able to give a gift from our tragedy and able to help someone else," she recalls. "His liver, kidneys and heart were all matched."
William's heart went to Ava Martin, another toddler living approximately 490 miles away in La Grange, Illinois. At 13 months old, Ava was diagnosed with heart failure during August 2015, and was admitted into an intensive care unit. After waiting for 111 days, the Martin family got a call that Ava would be receiving a new heart from William.
From this heartbreaking, devastating experience, Jamie launched the faith-based nonprofit Faithfully Restored with three other women in 2019 -- Jennie Rebecca Springer, Heather Milburn and Jamie Hamilton -- after they say they felt a deep longing to give back and provide hope to other women in need. "This world is broken and we don’t want women to have to walk through it alone," she explains as the group's executive director.
"We've all experienced trials that have rocked us and challenged our faith. It was God who placed people in our lives that lifted us up and supported us during our darkest days. We want everyone to experience that sense of community in the midst of their own struggles and pain," Jamie adds.
Regarding the other three founders' adversity:
- Six months after William died, Jennie Rebecca, Faithfully Restored's board secretary, lost her 7-year-old son, Hayes, in a car accident.
- Heather, now the group's community and donor care director, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 30; she relapsed in 2017. Her mother died from breast cancer so she knows it’s hereditary in her family.
- Jamie (Hamilton), the group's board president, went through the loneliness and scary circumstances brought on by infertility.
Faithfully Restored specifically supports women and their families going through the monumentally draining emotions of loss of children; infertility; miscarriage; life-threatening illnesses; and emotional health challenges, such as severe anxiety, suicide or divorce.
With a goal to build a healing community, the nonprofit's supporters have handled more than 600 prayer requests and 2,200 care packages to police, teachers, Vanderbilt Mother’s Day gifts, military wives, foster moms, adoptive moms, as well as oncology patients and nurses. They also have assisted with more than 350 projects to support people going through the first holiday after a loss, single mothers receiving holiday packages and providing headstones for women who have lost children. Additionally, they assist with transportation for grieving mothers, counseling, adoption grants, college tuition payments and counseling retreat assistance.
Faithfully Restored staff host a monthly breakfast club during the first Thursdays of each month at the group's office, 1749 Mallory Lane, Suite 102 in Brentwood, from 10 a.m. to noon. During April 22-24, the Faithfully Restored team also is conducting an event in Harrisburg, Virginia.
And what happened with the Heard and Martin families? "Our families are best friends, even taking vacations together. Between us, we have four girls and they are like cousins," days Jamie. "On April 5th, I will fly to Illinois to see Ava. I'm also going to help assemble care packages for 44 moms in the transplant floor at Lurie Children's Hospital where Ava was. Then Ava's mother, Amie, will fly back to Tennessee with me, and together on April 7, we will be guest speakers at a sold-out breakfast about God's faithfulness."
A second, evening event is available for April 7 from 7-9 p.m., titled "Two Moms, One Heart." Tickets are $30 each and includes a light snack. Proceeds from the event will help fund care packages for every mother spending Mother's Day at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital through Faithfully Restored's program Love For Moms, Hope For Women Campaign.
To assist with Faithfully Restored efforts in various ways, the board receives financial donations, recurring payments, in-kind gifts and flower donations. They also provide an Amazon Wish List.
While Jamie has to face and struggle through each Dec. 13 as the anniversary of William's passing on, she says each April is a time to honor William by highlighting the benefits of organ donations. "April is a great time to spread hope," she adds.
Interested In Becoming A Life Donor?
Each April, National Donate Life Month helps raise awareness about donation, encouraging people to register as organ, eye and tissue donors and to honor those that have saved lives through the gift of donation. According to OrganDonor.gov statistics, 106,143 men, women, and children are on the national transplant waiting list; 17 people die each day waiting for an organ transplant; every donor can save eight lives and enhance 75 more. As of 2020, 169 million people in the U.S. were registered as donors. Not everyone who registers as a donor is able to donate. In fact, only 3 in 1,000 people die in a way that allows for deceased organ donation. That’s why more willing donors are needed.
To become a donor, sign up online through the Tennessee state registry at DonateLifeTN.org/Donor/Create or in person at a local motor vehicle department. For those with smartphones, the Health apps can be used, which sends information to a national computer system. Donors may change their information via the online donor registry. Tennessee lets donors choose which organs and tissues they want to donate.
For National Donate Life Month 2022, Donate Life America representatives were inspired by the vital role that bees play in sustaining life. Bees are a small but powerful life force, working together with dedication, collaboration and a strong sense of community. They encourage everyone to be helpful human bees for their communities.
jheard@faithfullyrestoredwomen.com
615.517.5973
For April 7 event ticket purchases: FaithfullyRestoredWomen.com/Events-calendar/Two-Moms-One-Heart