Daily Skiff

Issue date: 4/24/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Jillian Hutchison Margaret Jackson (center) and her daughter Karen meet members of the Carrillo family. Jackson has been working at the bookstore for the last 31 years and was on dialysis before receiving a kidney from Rosemary Carrillo, who died in 2004.

Family members grabbed handfuls of tissues to dab at their eyes as they held their cameras poised and ready, prepared for the moment in which they had been waiting almost three years. They were ready to meet the family of the woman who gave new life to their loved ones.

On Saturday, Margaret Jackson, who has worked at the TCU Bookstore for 31 years, met the family of Rosemary Carrillo, who died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident on Aug. 15, 2004, at age 33. On the day of Carrillo's death, Jackson received Carrillo's kidney during a transplant at Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital.

"I was very excited," said Jackson, referring to when she was told she had an organ donor. "I was on my way to work and almost didn't answer the phone, but I am so glad I did."

Jackson, 58, was on dialysis, a procedure that is a substitute for kidney function, for eight years. She said she was lucky to receive Carrillo's kidney because she had been on the donor list less than two years, which is shorter than many people wait.

"Without her kidney, I might have not made it this far," Jackson said.

LifeGift, a Texas organ donation organization, set up a "reunion" so Jackson could meet Carrillo's 14-year-old son, David, and Elvira Resinos, Carrillo's mother, for the first time. Bobbi McKinney, a woman from Adair who received Carrillo's heart was also present.

Monica Herrera, Carrillo's sister-in-law, was at the hospital with her husband when Carrillo died. Herrera and her husband were the ones who made the decision to donate her organs.

"It was really hard," Herrera said. "But I have always believed in organ donation, and I want to be a donor myself. I still get Rosemary on my mind, but even though she's not here, her heart is still beating. It's something beautiful."

Sergio Manzano, a LifeGift donation clinical specialist, worked with the Carrillo family throughout the donation process.

"We help facilitate reunions when recipients indicate they want to meet," Manzano said. "It happens much more often today."

Jackson said she was sorry she did not know Carrillo's family lived in Fort Worth before Saturday but she is happy they do.

"We're going to do some things with David," Jackson said. "I'm going to go watch his soccer games."

LifeGift was established in 1987 and is a nonprofit organ procurement organization that recovers organs and tissue for individuals needing transplant in 109 Texas counties, according to its Web site.

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