By Cathy Frisinger

Paige Scott, a high school senior from Oak Point and the captain of her school’s soccer team, carried an orange-and-black soccer ball onto the stage, where she spoke about receiving a donated tendon after tearing her ACL during a game as a sophomore.

“I can’t express how thankful I am to my donor and their family,” said Ms. Scott, 17. “Without them I wouldn’t be able to walk and I certainly wouldn’t be able to play the sport I love.”

More than 300 people gathered at the Celebration of Thanksgiving for the Gift of Transplantation Medicine held by the Transplant Services Center of UT Southwestern Medical Center honoring the memory of individuals who have died but who live on through their donations of corneas, skin, heart valves, veins, bone, and connective tissues.

“For many years, the Transplant Services Center at UT Southwestern has celebrated the special gift of giving and receiving between the tissue recipient and donor families in a gathering on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, enriching the lives of all,” said Dr. Dwight Cavanagh, one of the Medical Directors of Transplant Services Center and a Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at UT Southwestern. “Over more than 40 years, the Transplant Services Center, a national leader in tissue banking, has served the needs of North Texans and patients around the world.”

The Transplant Services Center is the regional tissue bank, serving 160 hospitals in North Central Texas. In 2014, more than 14,000 patients received transplants of musculoskeletal tissue, heart valves, skin, or corneas through the services provided by the tissue bank. It is possible that one donor can provide as many as 50 transplants. Donors are individuals who signed up with a donor registry or whose families gave permission for donation at the time of their loved one’s death.

“The thing you’ll hear, over and over from the family members, is that these were people who gave in life and they want to make this final gift,” said Ellen Heck, Faculty Associate and Director of UT Southwestern Medical Center’s Transplant Services Center.

“This program is very important for our donor families as, in addition to honoring their loved ones, it gives them an opportunity to meet recipients and hear firsthand how eye and tissue donation positively impacts others’ lives,” said Donna Drury, Director of the Transplant Services Center.

Denise Bolen and Lois Doyle, both donor mothers, lit a candle in memory of their daughters and all of the donors from the past year as part of the opening candlelight ceremonies. Emma Weatherford, a high school senior from Flower Mound who had a cornea transplant in 2012, played “You’ll Never Walk Alone” on the piano.

As part of the ceremony, family members placed a ribbon in remembrance of their loved one onto the “Circle of Care,” a memorial of three interlocking circles representing donors, caregivers, and recipients. As family members walked up to place their ribbon, their loved one’s picture was displayed on an overhead screen and a few words, written by the family, were read by a staff member. Celestina Valdez tied the ribbon for her father, Abren Valdez, a musician: “He touched every heart he came into contact with in some way.”

Other Medical Directors are Dr. Laurie Sutor, Professor of Pathology, Dr. Jill Urban, Assistant Professor of Pathology, and Dr. Binh-Minh “Jade” Le, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine. For information on eye and tissue donation and the Center, call 1-800-433-6667.

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Dr. Le is a Dedman Family Scholar in Clinical Care.