At a City Commission meeting last week, Troy Wells stood up and held a teddy bear to a microphone to play a recording tucked inside the bear — the sound of the still-beating heart of his late 17-year-old son, Caleb, whose organs were donated on October 18, 2021, six days after he was shot in Lakeland.
“It is my sincere hope and prayer that none of you here, none of your loved ones, ever experience any side of the organ donation process,” Wells said. “I hope none of you are ever too ill or too injured that you require that and I certainly hope that none of you or your loved ones are ever at an end-of-life state where that is an opportunity … If you are, at least you or your loved one can have the honor of saving lives as their final act.”
Several commissioners, all of whom are parents, wiped away tears and were visibly moved as the heartbeat was heard in the otherwise silent commission chambers.
Wells, 55, lives in Avon Park. He spoke to the commissioners as Mayor Bill Mutz declared April “Donate Life Month,” to recognize those that have given or received organs.
Wells explained that the only recipient of one of his son’s internal organs who responded to Wells’ request for contact was a 51-year-old man named Kevin in Tennessee, who sent the bear with the recording to Wells following the first anniversary of his transplant.
“He sent me this bear, which is actually usually used by pregnant women to record their baby’s heartbeat on sonogram,” Wells said. “But he took it, I’m sure, to a cardiology follow up appointment and this is my son’s heart still beating in him.”
Mutz read from the proclamation a number of statistics:
- More than 103,000 men, women and children are currently on the national waiting list for organ transplantation.
- Nearly 5,100 Florida residents are on the waiting list.
- 46,630 transplants occurred in 2023.
- 23,287 deceased and living donors gave organs last year.
- 3,302 transplant patients and 1,343 deceased and living donors were from Florida.
Mutz said more than 2.5 million people throughout the United States and within Florida benefit annually from tissue transplantation thanks to thousands of tissue donors, but the need for organ, eye and tissue donation remains critical.
“A new patient is added to the national waiting list for an organ transplant every eight minutes and each day approximately 17 people die due to the absence of available organs,” Mutz said. “One organ, tissue and eye donor can potentially save or enhance the lives of as many as 75 people.”
On Monday, Polk County Tax Collector Joe Tedder issued a press release, asking everyone to indicate on their driver’s licenses that they are organ donors.
“Any time a person gets a driver license or ID card at one of our service center counters, they are asked the question ‘would you like to be an organ donor?’” Tedder explained, “and we hope people truly consider answering ‘yes.’ One day, that ‘yes’ answer could be life saving for those like Mattie Joyner.”
Joyner is a Polk County high school senior who is heading to Florida Gulf Coast University to study history in the fall, with plans to become a college professor. Tedder said that, ultimately, her health and success are thanks to a liver transplant she had as a toddler.
When Mattie was 2-years-old, she was in liver failure caused by a genetic condition and needed a new one to survive. She was matched with a liver from another young child, who died tragically in a car crash, when that child’s mother agreed to organ donation.
“That mama saved my baby’s life, and so that’s just a significant thing that stays with us,” Kristi Joyner told officials.
The Joyners continue to encourage others to say ‘yes’ to organ donation, too. Last fall, a little more than half of the people who were asked to become donors at a Tax Collector of Polk County service center said ‘yes.’
“It’s been a journey for Mattie to go through the abnormality of being a person that has a genetic disorder that led to a liver transplant and to have to go to the doctors regularly and everything that comes with it,” Kristi Joyner continued, “but she’s alive and she’s normal and she’s thriving.”
Mattie laughed about being normal, knowing all of the doctors’ visits and blood level monitoring she has to do. But she hopes others will help people the same way she was helped.
“If [organs are] allowed to be transplanted and are healthy and everything, let them be used,” Mattie said. “It makes sense … I think it’s a very important thing to do, a very important issue that is like not discussed a lot.”
LifeLink Public Affairs Coordinator Erika Flores said those on the waiting list are “our friends, and our neighbors and family members … So don’t limit yourself. Anyone can register to become a donor!”
For Troy Wells, listening to his late son’s heart still beating gives him some encouragement. He praised the staff in the trauma intensive care unit at Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center for caring for his son long enough for him to say goodbye and well enough that his organs could be used to help others. He also thanked Lakeland Police Detective Troy Smith for working to secure a guilty verdict for his son’s killer in February. Torrie Mekhi Spry will be sentenced May 13.
“It’s a very rare situation, a very small minority of end of life situations, that even allow for organ donation, which is why it’s so important that we all are registered for that opportunity,” Wells said.
Florida residents can sign up to be an organ donor when they obtain or renew their driver’s license or ID or on a state website.
What it means to be an organ donor:
- Becoming an organ, tissue and eye donor truly shares life with others. By putting your name on Florida’s organ, tissue and eye donor registry, you consent to having your organs, tissues and eyes made available for transplantation upon death.
- Examples of organs for life-saving transplants include heart, liver, pancreas, kidneys, lungs and small bowel.
- Examples of tissues that could save or enhance someone’s life include eyes, corneas, heart valves, bones and skin grafts.
- Organs and tissues not recovered for transplant may be recovered by the local organ, tissue or eye recovery programs for pre-approved medical research, therapy or education.
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