With the prospect of a life-saving liver transplant waiting, the frantic drive to Indianapolis left little to be said.
Kirby Cochran had heard minutes earlier that an organ donor had been found, and that it appeared he would have the transplant that would keep him alive.
Millions of thoughts raced through his mind, and as his wife, Lori, drove to IU Health University Hospital, they sat in near-silence. One idea kept floating to the front of his consciousness.
“The ride to the hospital is a ride I’ll never forget. It was a quiet ride in the car — a lot of tears and a lot of emotion. Our thoughts were for the family. Obviously, someone had to pass for this to happen,” Cochran said.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryTo honor the woman who’s decision to donate her organs saved his life, Cochran will ride on a special float in the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, on Monday. He was chosen to represent Indiana on the Donate Life float, dedicated to raising awareness of organ donation and highlighting the impact it can have.
A portrait of his donor, Tracy Driscoll, made entirely out of organic material, will be embedded in the float’s sails, symbolizing how a donor’s gift empowers the lives of others.
“What Kirby and Tracy represent, is that everyone can make a difference,” said Kit Werbe, spokeswoman for the Indiana Donor Network. “These are two families who didn’t know anything about each other, and through the selfless gift of life, now these families are incredibly intertwined. They’ve spent holidays together, been part of each others’ weddings and become very close.”
Indiana Donor Network is one of dozens of organ donation advocates who take part in the Donate Life parade efforts. The float is one of Donate Life’s top awareness-generating activities of the year, seen by millions of people on television and in person.
“It is our hope that people hear our story and decide to talk about donation and transplantation with their families,” said Hayleigh Mann, Driscoll’s daughter. “I was fortunate enough to have that conversation with my mother when I was 15 and that conversation is what gave us comfort when we made the decision to donate her organs. It was important for us to honor her and her decision.”
“It elevates donation to the loudest, biggest, dare I say most beautiful display of donation in the world,” said Heather Pease, manager of professional services for Indiana Donor Network.
This year’s float is designed as a Polynesian catamaran, which will be propelled by 24 organ, eye and tissue transplant recipients, including Cochran. They will be “rowing” in unison, symbolizing the strength they gain from their donors. Driscoll’s floragraph will be embedded in the sails, along with 59 other donors.
Driscoll died unexpectedly on Jan. 7, 2013, from a brain aneurysm and heart attack. The 41-year-old mother of three loved Facebook, updating her status multiple times throughout the day, posting pictures and using it to keep in touch with friends. She was known as a social butterfly, and had a happy-go-lucky spirit that rubbed off on people.
One of Driscoll’s most deeply-held beliefs was the importance of organ donation. She stressed many times throughout her life that she wanted her organs donated, and asked her family to honor her commitment to the cause when she died.
Though numbed and grieving by Driscoll’s sudden death, her daughters did just that, Mann said.
“Losing my mother was the most difficult thing that I have ever had to endure. In my darkest hours, I find comfort and peace knowing that my mother lives on and so do three other people,” she said. “Because of organ donation, I have an extended family that I can always count on.”
That was where their family’s story merged with Cochran.
He had been battling lupus for a decade. The autoimmune disease left him fatigued, attacked his joints and ultimately destroyed his liver. At the age of 44, doctors told him that he would need a transplant in order to live.
Before his experience, the concept of organ transplantation were completely foreign to Cochran.
“When I got that news and I was in the doctor’s office, I didn’t understand. You hear that you need a liver transplant, but it took me a long time to process that,” he said. “What really got me was that if that transplant didn’t come in time, I’d be leaving behind three children and my beautiful wife.”
He had been on the transplant list for just 52 days when he received a phone call in January 2013 that a match had been found.
Driscoll’s donation helped save three lives, including Cochran’s.
The five-hour operation was a success, and though the recovery was slow and at times painful, Cochran regained the life that he had known. He worked more and more hours as a detective with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. He is back to donating his time to a number of nonprofit organizations throughout the community, and exercises regularly.
But his thoughts always stayed on the woman who had died so that he could live. Transplant recipients are only told basic information about their donors: age, sex and possibly how they died.
They can send letters of thanks to the family, and the family of the donor can reciprocate if they’d like. But often, the situation is too painful.
Despite trepidation, Cochran did reach out to his donor’s relatives after the transplant operation. The family responded.
“It is an emotional roller coaster. When you choose to meet the family, you take on so much more than just your own journey. Now, you have these folks, these three children who lost their mother, with you on the journey too,” Cochran said.
Leading up to the Rose Parade, Cochran and representatives from the Indiana Donor Network have been touring the state to inform people about their participation. Accompanying the events is the floragraph of Driscoll, providing a visual connection for people who hear their story.
“It helps to spread the story. The floragraph is a representation of not only the float, but our cause,” Werbe said. “Donation is a cause that a lot of people see the good in, but they don’t really do anything about it until it impacts the family.”
For Cochran, the tour has offered an opportunity to teach people how easy it is to sign up to be an organ donor. People can start making the arrangements online, or even have it marked on their driver’s license.
Obviously Driscoll had made that decision, making him a living example of donation success.
“Thankfully, Tracy at some point in time while standing at the license branch, made that decision,” Cochran said. “It’s quite simple, and the number of people who not choose to donate is quite astounding to me, considering that 22 people die every single day waiting for a transplant.”
Cochran and his family travel edto California on Wednesday for the parade. They expected to be kept busy with promotion and parade-related activities, but also planned to have some time to sight-see around Pasadena.
The opportunity to celebrate the lives of all of the donors, as well as put roses on the float in honor of Driscoll, will be a moving experience for all involved.
“I can’t wait to help decorate the float and put a rose on it in dedication to my mother,” Mann said. “I can’t think of a better way than spending her birthday and New Year’s celebrating her life and the amazing recovery that Kirby has had.”
And through Driscoll’s sacrifice, she’ll be there with him, physically and in spirit.
“Wherever I go, she is there too. Part of her is always with me,” Cochran said.
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Rose Parade
What: Greenwood resident Kirby Cochran, who received a life-saving liver transplant in 2013, has been chosen to participate in this year’s Donate Life Rose Parade float.
The Donate Life display will honor those who chose to be organ donors, and saved the lives of the 24 eye, organ and tissue recipients riding on the float, including Cochran.
Float theme: “Teammates in Life,” created as a Polynesian catamaran propelled by the donation recipients. The sails of the vessel will feature 60 floral portraits of the donors.
How to watch it: The parade will be broadcast locally starting at 11 a.m. Monday (JAN 2) on ABC, NBC, Hallmark Channel, HGTV and Univision.
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