Deanna Pratt
Donor Family or Friend
My daughter, Catherine, was a young woman when she became a hero due to injuries she suffered in a car accident in July 2022.
She had no brain activity, but because she checked that box on her brand-new driver’s license at age 16, she would become a Hero. Through organ donation, she gave life to 5 strangers, donating her heart, kidneys, liver, and lungs. Countless others will benefit from her tissue donation. Her corneas and intestines were donated for research. We are humbled by her selfless act and so very proud of her. She will never be forgotten. Her heart is still beating, giving another young woman a chance to LIVE. A grandmother is able to breathe and be there for her grandbabies. A young mother no longer needs dialysis. What a wonderful gift.
A week before Catherine became a hero, her older brother’s life was saved through open-heart surgery as he received a pulmonary heart valve from a donor hero. I guess we have a lot to be grateful for.
We now say, "Be the hero for others." She has inspired many of her college and high school friends to register to become organ donors.
—Deanna P.
