‘Dear Donor’ project honors organ donors, including Juliet Rose Marcum

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - An exhibit on display at UK’s Albert B. Chandler Hospital right now honors the selfless sacrifice of organ donation.

It’s called the ‘Dear Donor’ project, and it’s a way for those who have received an organ from a donor to say thank you and to share what this gift of life means to them.

At any given time, nearly 1,000 Kentuckians are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant.

You can find a young Kentucky girl’s name hanging on the wall of the hospital right now. She leaves behind a beautiful legacy.

“Juliet Rose was her name,” said Juliet’s mom Hannah Marcum. “She captured the hearts of many people around her. It wasn’t just our girl; she was the community’s girl.”

Juliet Rose was a lively 2-year-old.

“She was a handful and a little power to be reckoned with,” said Hannah. “I would always say Baby, you can have one cupcake, and she would be like no; Mommy, two! Book it and run. You can have one yogurt, no Mommy, two! Book it and run. Everything was two for her.”

She went in for what was supposed to be a routine tonsillectomy when everything changed.

“We were waiting for the surgeon to come talk to us. He was already scrubbing out, and when they went to remove the breathing tube, her vocal cords collapsed. They could not get her heart restarted,” said Hannah.

The family was devastated.

“On the drive home from the ER, the donor team called us, and they said we want to let you know if you let us transport her body to Louisville, she’s going to save two lives today, not one,” said Hannah. “Then, when I got off, I heard my daughter’s voice because she loved the number two.”

Juliet Rose saved two lives that day.

Two of her heart valves went to save two children here in Kentucky.

“My baby served a purpose,” said Hannah.

The loss of Juliet was unthinkable, and the pain will never go away. But her mom says being able to donate her organs has been a shining light.

“There are hundreds of lives that you can impact between skin and tissue and eyeballs and everything else,” said Hannah. “So out of all the possibilities that her body could have been used for, it was two. It was her number. It wasn’t the other hundreds. And that just tells us she really did serve that purpose she was here for.”

Hannah says her family has extended by having the support network of family members of those who have donated organs.

Letters from organ recipients are on display on the second floor of the hospital’s atrium until June 28.

If you would like to learn more about organ donation, click here.

And if you have a story of kindness you would like highlighted, email kindness@wkyt.com.

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