RICHMOND, Va. -- As the college football season comes to an end Monday night with the national championship game between Michigan and Washington, a Chesterfield County mother is recounting the experience she had a week ago at the semifinals that paid tribute to her family's organ donation story.
For Donnetta Quarles-Reese, that story began nearly 17 years ago when her then 13-year-old daughter, Clarke Danielle "Dani", was getting ready for a choral performance with her school when she collapsed at home from blood clots in her lungs.
"I came down and she was passed out on the kitchen floor," recalled Reese.
Despite being taken to the hospital, Dani suffered complications and was declared braindead several days later. That left her parents, including husband Mike, with a decision on what to do with her organs.
Reese said it was not a difficult one for them, because they had long been supporters of the concept.
"We'd lost a child the year before at 20 weeks. And we were told that you can't donate fetal organs. And so, when this situation came up with Clarke, we knew automatically what we wanted to do. There was no hesitation on our part," said Reese.
Dani's corneas, tissue, and skin were donated, which Reese said left her feeling like some of her organs had been wasted, but she said that viewpoint was changed by a friend who worked in the organ donation field.
"She goes, 'The skin is the largest organ on the body.' And she said, 'And because you're a minority…think of all those little Brown boys and girls who were so happy to get Brown skin.' And, you know, I never even thought of it like that," said Reese, who added it that helped lead her down the path of becoming more involved in the organ donation community -- volunteering with LifeNet Health, the local Organ Procurement Organization.
Among the areas she advocates for is for minorities to become organ donors. "Because there aren't a lot of African Americans donating and we're the ones that need the organs the most. And I tried to put a face out there for that…I didn't want her life to be in vain. I didn't want it to just end there. I wanted it to be something good to come out of her death."
A spokesperson for LifeNet added "Black patients make up nearly one-third of the national organ transplant waiting list and at least three Black patients die each day because they did not receive a life-saving organ transplant in time" and that in Virginia, "the need is even greater where almost half of the patients on the organ transplant wait list are Black."
Reese had to make a similar organ donation decision for her husband a decade later when he passed away from a stroke.
Since Dani's passing, Reese said one way she would pay tribute to her was to buy a rose to be put on a float that appears in the Rose Bowl parade honoring organ donors, which is sponsored in part by LifeNet.
This year, she got to place the rose herself as Dani was among the donors who was featured on the float, in a picture called a florograph, with her likeness being made up of organic materials (including rice, coconut, and coffee in Dani's case).
"I thought it was amazing. It so looks like her," said Reese of her daughter's portrayal on the float.
After placing the rose, helping to build a portion of the float, meeting with other donor families, learning their stories, and watching the parade together.
"You hear the stories and you talk to each other, it was just fantastic. It's so much more than a parade," said Reese.
She added several of the other donor families gave gifts, including a handmade quilt with their loved ones.
As for who she is rooting for in the national championship? After her experience in Pasadena, she will be chanting "Go Blue!"
"Because everybody in my hotel was from Michigan," said Reese. "And we liked their band in the parade, too."
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