Cordell Coats III
Our son was a very active young man. He loved riding his bike, playing baseball, tossing the football around, and much more. He had asthma, but that didn’t hold him back.
In August 2008, it was a typical evening; we were all going about our nightly routines. The twins were in the bath, playing and laughing. The oldest twin got to laughing so hard he started coughing, which was normal until it wasn’t. He then had a severe asthma attack. He ran to the living room, got on his nebuliser, but to no avail. He passed out in my wife’s arms, and I immediately contacted 911.
We lived in the country, and it took the ambulance 15 minutes to arrive. It took several minutes for them to get him ready for transport, and after 45 minutes at the ER, we were told his heartbeat had returned. As a teen, I’d learned in training as a volunteer junior firefighter that 7 minutes without oxygen is when brain damage would begin. I told my dad that I wanted our son to help as many people as he could, and opted then to be open to organ donation. It took several tests at Children’s in St. Louis to determine that there was no brain activity. His heart and eyes were too badly damaged, but his kidneys, liver, and tissue were able to be donated.
Our Faith in Christ, knowing we will see him again, and the fact that he would be able to help countless people, helped us get through this difficult time. We did have one of the recipients communicate and send some of her artwork back then, but we hadn’t healed yet. I recently found the article and the artwork we had received from the recipient of one of his kidneys through Mid-America Transplant. That prompted me to reach out and tell our story. May everyone reading have a Blessed Day!
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