Mother loses son, gains friends through organ donation
PROSPECT — It has been 11 years since Christopher Hershberger died from a seizure at the age of 17, but his mother, Roseanne Hershberger continues to speak about the importance of organ donation.
If her son hadn’t been a registered organ donor, Kurt Miller and Andrea Coyle may not be alive today.
“I have these two sitting here alive,” said Hershberger, of Greenville. “Kurt’s my sassy son, and Andrea has two children now.”
A few months after Christopher’s death in January 2012, Hershberger began writing letters back and forth with Coyle, who received part of Christopher’s kidney. On a fall day that year, Hershberger received a phone message from Miller, who got Christopher’s other kidney and pancreas, and said he was reaching out with questions about organ donation.
Miller, who now lives in Prospect, had been on the waiting list for a kidney and liver because of diabetes for about two-and-a-half years when he received Christopher’s. Coyle had been on the list for about six months, and needed a new kidney after suffering from an infection caused by strep throat.
“It was like being at home with Roseanne,” Coyle said. “It was absolutely natural.”
Hershberger said Christopher woke her up in the early hours of the morning Jan. 17, 2012, complaining of head pains. She left the room and came back to find him seizing on the floor.
After being evaluated at UPMC Horizon – Greenville and then at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, it was determined Christopher had a brain bleed and would not survive. He died later that day.
At the hospital, Hershberger asked if Christopher’s organs could be donated to save the lives of others.
“I always said that it was Christopher wanting to go on that made me say that,” Hershberger said of her mentioning organ donation. “Had I not had that push from Christopher, or God, or somebody, I don’t know how I would have handled it if CORE (Center for Organ Recovery & Education) approached me and said, ‘How about organ donation?’”
Within the next several hours, Coyle would get called in to Allegheny General Hospital and Miller to UPMC Montefiore to begin their transplants.
Both people had to be quick in getting to the hospital for their procedures. Miller said he heard doctors talk about where his new kidney was coming from, which struck an emotional chord with him before being operated on.
“All that they would tell me is that it was a 17-year-old,” Miller said. “It hit me kind of hard because in five days, my youngest daughter was going to turn 17. So I was excited to get it because I couldn’t imagine what the family was going through.”
Hershberger continues to work with CORE to educate people about organ donation through her son’s story.
She tells people that being an organ donor allows a person to live on after death in a way that can be comforting to their families.
“For me, losing Christopher, I’d much rather have him here dancing right now, but I still have these two,” Hershberger said. “Knowing that even though he’s not, they are and part of him is, it’s very comforting.”
Miller said he has not had to inject insulin since he had his transplant in 2012. Coyle also is doing well, and now has a son named in Christopher’s honor.
In her CORE speaking engagements, Hershberger urges donors and their families to contact the people who receive organs, because it can be a life-changing reminder of a lost loved one.
Coyle also said she is happy to know her donor’s mother, and the other person who got Christopher’s kidneys.
“To have everybody in one area, to be able to meet everybody is pretty amazing,” Coyle said.
