Honoring organ, eye, and tissue donors for the Gift of Life they gave to others.
Adding a meaningful and important “personal touch” to our location, a 12-foot bronze sculpture stands in honor of organ and tissue donors and their families. Commissioned by Mid-America Transplant in 2004 and dedicated in 2009, St. Louis artist Don Wiegand created the bronze, bas-relief sculpture, inspired by a photograph taken at a Candlelight March ceremony in 2005. The sculpture depicts 12 people raising lit candles in the air and serves as a lasting tribute to organ and tissue donors and their families.
The sculpture, known as the Donor Memorial Monument, is mounted on stone and dwells within a specially created donor memorial plaza on the grounds of the our facility at Highlands Park. All of the details seen in the monument and surrounding park area are reflective of the selfless act of giving demonstrated by donors and their families. The sculpture is supported by large blocks of stone and marble and is encircled by a serene fountain of water in the center of tree-lined and grassy central garden, located just steps from our main office building. An inscription at the base of the sculpture reads “Honoring organ and tissue donors for the Gift of Life they gave to others”. Nearby, single-words like Love, Hope, Courage, Life, and Heroes represent the spirit of donation and the donors themselves.
In 2021, a new sculpture in memory of those who have donated lifesaving organs and tissue to patients in need was dedicated at St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro, AR. The sculpture is based on the original Donor Memorial Monument located at Mid-America Transplant's headquarters in St. Louis. Visitors can see the memorial in the Prayer Garden at St. Bernards Medical Center, adjacent to the Chapel and Emergency Department.
