Organ Donation

* Re “Out of a Coma, Into a Twilight” (Jan. 2) and Jan. 9 letters: Last Oct. 12, my wife of 49 years died of a massive stroke nine years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Years earlier we had discussed with our four children our potential organ donation and cremation upon our deaths. Actually, our children and I were able to tell Jean “goodbye,” with the flicker of her eyelid in acknowledgment. Some 24 hours later both her kidneys and liver were harvested. The Southern California Organ Procurement Center notified me that the organs had been successfully transplanted into three people who had desperately needed them.

Our family feels that our mutual choice to help others in an inevitable dying situation was just another expression of Jean’s loving concern for others. I trust other folk may take encouragement to make a similar decision.

DONALD J. SILVIUS

Bakersfield