Byline: Daniel Garcia Ordaz
Apr. 10--SAN BENITO -- A promise made was a promise kept for Melisa G. Guerra. When he was three, her eldest son, Christopher, 20, received a heart valve to repair his heart and she decided then that she would become an organ donor. "It was a life or death situation for him and they found heart valves and matched it," said Martin Guerra, Melisa's widowed husband. On March 17, while a good portion of the Western world was celebrating St. Patrick's Day, Melisa's family was grieving over her death from a burst aneurysm in her brain. To honor her wishes, Melisa indeed became an organ and tissue donor after her death. Her younger sister, Cecilia Ratcliff, said that Melisa's right lung saved a 44-year-old woman. Her liver saved a 42-year-old man. Her pancreas went to someone in Illinois. Her heart valves, kidneys, soft tissues and bones were also donated. Organ harvesters even took the outer surface of her skin and her eyes. Cris Garza, director of the San Benito Funeral Home here, prepared Melisa's body for viewing. He said that organ procurement organizations often conduct training for the funeral industry to help embalmers prepare the deceased post organ-donation. Garza said that the bodies are dressed in such a way that no one can tell whether the person was an organ donor. "It's not for everybody," he said of organ donation. "It's the way (families) are approached. It's really kind of sad when the doctors and nurses say, CyThere's nothing else we can do.'" Melisa Guerra, 41, was a library assistant at Dr. CM Cash Elementary here. She was visiting Ratcliff's family in Austin during Spring Break with her husband and their five children before her sudden illness. As the pressure from a severe headache led to numbness and shortness of breath, the sisters called 9-1-1 and Melisa had surgery to repair a major blood vessel. Before the surgery, she was allowed to visit with her family.
"Melisa was able to respond to everyone," Ratcliff said. "We were very optimistic. She was a very strong person." Surgeons had told the family that only one in three people that have an aneurysm lives long enough to see the hospital -- and so far she had survived. But her sister never regained consciousness after the surgery. Although no leaks were found in her brain after the procedure, Melisa's heart stopped. She was brought back to life, but the trauma had caused a major stroke and she was declared brain dead, Ratcliff said. "There was nothing they could do," she said. When representatives from an organ procurement organization asked the family to consider gifting Guerra's organs, the family had a ready answer. In separate conversations, Melisa had told her younger sister and husband that she wanted to be an organ donor, "so we granted her wish," Ratcliff said. "When it actually happens to you, it's still tough," Ratcliff said. "She was the first one in our family to do this. At first, we didn't want to share her with everybody else, but she's one of the lovely ones. I think that was her mission." Ratcliff said the family was allowed to stay with Melisa even as two organ procurement representatives were on the Internet in the hospital room "trying to find matches." The family was pleased to witness the process. "She was gold to them," she said. Ratcliff said the gift of her sister's organs was even more special because Melisa had B-negative blood. According to the United Blood Services, only two percent of the population has Type B Rh-negative blood. "They knew it would take a miracle from God," Ratcliff said. Ratcliff said the organ recipients, whose contact information she has requested, will become part of Melisa's family.
"The people that Melisa helped -- we have no idea who they are," she said. "If everybody could be an organ donor, this country would be better." Martin said that the couple had again discussed organ donation about two years ago. It was a relief to Melisa's parents and siblings that he was in agreement. "They thought I didn't know about that," he said about her decision. The situation made it clear how imperative it is to discuss organ donation beforehand, Martin said. "That way there won't be any argument," he said. Martin said that all of his children still live at home, which has helped cushion the shock of his wife's sudden death. Melisa's voice can still be heard on the family's telephone answering machine. He said the family decided to share Melisa's story and mentioned her organ donations in her obituary in hopes of saving lives. "When I granted her the wish, it was nothing to think about when all this happened," Martin said. "What Melisa did, it inspired a lot of family members."
Copyright (c) 2006, Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, Texas
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