The Angela Dawn Ricci Foundation was created by my employers the day Angela died. Since Angela needed a heart transplant and did not get one, I would like to promote organ donation. How many people know Atlanta has a transplant center? Perhaps people can begin to understand (if in a situation where there is no hope of survival for their own child or loved one), how it feels to hope for a miracle. Why should a perfect organ be destroyed when it can give life to another? Please make your decision and inform your family now -- not when emotions are raw. Relieve your family from the burden of deciding whether to donate your organs because it is overwhelming to be asked that question during your time of intense grief and fear. Then, your family will know your wishes and they will be able to carry out your last request. Transplant is such a beautiful gift, and somebody you love is still helping and caring for others, even in death.

When my daughter needed a heart, I became an organ donor. I had not given any thought to organ donation previously. I felt that if I would accept a heart for my daughter, then I should also be willing to share my life with others after my death. Angela waited for a heart for 15 months, but when she died, I was also asked if I would donate her organs. I knew how Angela felt about it, so I was comfortable saying “yes,” but her organs could not be used because she had sepsis (a toxic infection) at the time of her death, making her organs nontransplantable. I tell you this because I have experienced both sides of the coin, and I understand the positions of both donor and recipient.

Thank you for your support.

Linda Freeman
Angela’s Mom