The story has two sides — tragedy and blessing, joy and grief, loss and new life.
When Kirby Cochran received a liver transplant in 2013, it gave him a second chance at life, providing the health that has let him witness the birth of three grandchildren, his two sons embarking on their careers, his wife’s career advancement. His daughter, Kyra, graduated from Franklin Community High School and is heading to college this fall.
But the Cochran family also knows their happiness is shaded with pain. The liver transplant was only made possible after Tracy Driscoll died unexpectedly.
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Her loss is a pain that Cochran feels every day.
“I take Tracy’s picture with me everywhere I go, every day. Her photo is in my phone case. It’s a comfort piece to me,” Kirby Cochran said.
For the past seven years, Cochran’s and Driscoll’s families have been woven together through the act of organ donation. The two sides have become close, and through their work with organ donation groups, helped share the message of the life-changing ways donation can impact people.
“Now that I’m older, I realize how serious it was, and the magnitude of everything going on,” Kyra Cochran said. “It made me realize I have to cherish time with other people, because you never know when you won’t get that time. Even with friends, you never know when something might happen to them.”
On Thursday, Kyra Cochran was named the recipient of an Indiana Donor Network scholarship after sharing her memories of her father’s transplant. The scholarship is the same one Driscoll’s daughter, Haleigh Mann, was awarded in 2013.
Indiana Donor Network distributes scholarships every year for the family members of Indiana organ and tissue donors, as well as living organ donors, transplant recipients, people waiting for organs and their family members. The scholarships are funded through donations by network staff members,
The goal is to help spread the impact that stems from organ donation and transplant, said Corinne Osinski‑Carey, community development coordinator for Indiana Donor Network.
“We realize that not only are official advocates, but people who have been impacted by donation and transplant, have unique stories to tell. They’re out there sharing those stories and impacting the world. This is our way of helping them further that mission,” she said.
In applying for the scholarship, Kyra Cochran wrote her father’s transplant from her perspective. Though only 10 years old at the time, she has vivid memories of the moments surrounding that time.
She can remember the exact outfit she was wearing when he received the news. On the day she was supposed to start fifth grade, her parents had to rush to the hospital in the middle of the night due to Kirby Cochran’s illness. An already nervous time was even more stressful for her, she said.
“I didn’t think much of it at the time; I was in fifth grade. But the more I think about it, that was such a crazy time,” she said. “I really had no idea what was going on. I didn’t know how serious it was, because I was so young.”
Cochran had been diagnosed and was battling lupus for 10 years. The autoimmune disease left him fatigued, attacked his joints and ultimately destroyed his liver. At just 44 years old, doctors told him he would need a transplant to live.
He had been on the transplant list for 52 days when he received a phone call in January 2013 that a match had been found.
Though Cochran didn’t know it at the time, the matching liver had come from Driscoll. She had died unexpectedly on Jan. 7, 2013, from a brain aneurysm and heart attack. According to Mann, one of her mother’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.
Driscoll’s donation helped save three lives, including Cochran’s.
On Jan. 7, 2013, Cochran rushed to IU Health University Hospital for the transplant. The five-hour operation was a success, and though the recovery was slow and at times painful, he regained the life he had known. He worked more and more hours as a detective with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. In 2018, he ran for Johnson County Sheriff, and though he was not elected, Cochran received what he calls his dream job later that year — chief of the Franklin Police Department.
But he never forgot about the woman who had died so that he could live.
“To be able to experience the things that back in January 2013 I wasn’t sure would be possible. I was preparing for, what if I wasn’t here and I wasn’t able to get a transplant. All the things that I’d miss, all those things going through my head,” Kirby Cochran said.
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.
Cochran did reach out to his donor’s relatives after the transplant operation. The family responded.
What followed was a connection that has lasted through the years.
They have stayed in constant contact and been involved in events through Indiana Donor Network sharing their story. In 2017, both Mann’s family and the Cochrans took part in a Donate Life float honoring Driscoll in the Rose Bowl Parade.
Kyra Cochran plans to attend Purdue University in the fall to study elementary education. To help cover the cost of college, Indiana Donor Network will provide a scholarship to her. Kyra Cochran learned she would be receiving the scholarship on May 28, during a video call session with Indiana Donor Network representatives. Hearing the news was a surreal moment, she said.
“I wasn’t really expecting it, so when we did the Zoom call, it was a weird feeling, knowing that the reason I got the scholarship was that my dad had a transplant,” she said. “It’s such a unique scholarship that not many people can get. It made me feel good about myself.”
For Kirby Cochran, the announcement was humbling.
“We’ve been blessed in many ways by the Indiana Donor Network and my donor, Tracy, and her family,” he said. “To have Kyra get this scholarship … we’re proud of her. To hear her side of what she felt during the transplant process, it’s been special.”
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Organ donation
To register to be an organ donor, go to donatelifeindiana.org/donor-registration and fill out the required form.
People also can register to be a donor at any Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles location.
About donation
What can be recovered? Kidneys, liver, heart and valves, lungs, pancreas, intestines, bones, veins, corneas, islet cells, tendons
Who can be an organ donor? Anyone. There are no age or race restrictions for donation, and regardless of medical history, you can sign up to be a donor.
Information from Donate Life Indiana
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