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Family turns tragedy into gift for former Idaho neighbors
March 3rd, 2010 @ 10:07pm
By Ed Yeates
SALT LAKE CITY -- Two families in small towns in Idaho have suddenly been drawn together by unusual and life-changing events. What became a tragedy for one turned into a gift for the other.

KSL 5 News visited Kristene Rose at her home in Hibbard, Idaho. She fought back tears, remembering her husband, Jeremy, who was buried a little more than three weeks ago.


Kristene Rose fought back tears as she shared memories of her husband, Jeremy. "Just knowing that it might be a long time before I see him again, before he can hold me again," she said.

The memories are lasting, but most especially for a gift.

Jeremy was critically injured on a construction site in Hilo, Hawaii. At bedside, his brain ceasing to function, Kristene was told by another family member about Robert Parkinson, almost 3,000 miles away in Salt Lake City.

Suffering from liver failure for years, Robert was getting weaker as doctors at the University of Utah searched for a transplant donor. In the words of his wife, Tracey, "He was having to sleep half the day, and the other half he was sick. I mean, it was just watching him die. Every day I watched him die."

How the Roses heard about a man who was once their Bishop in Idaho; how one person told another; how someone saw the Parkinsons' blog; how families, though removed, suddenly crossed paths again as Jeremy was fading away are all part of this amazing story.


The Parkinson family While the Roses had never considered donating organs, something happened in that hospital room.

"Within moments, I felt a peace about doing this," Kristene said. "It was like Jeremy told me it was OK."

Robert got Jeremy's liver, even though Intermountain Donor Services, which doesn't usually retrieve organs out of its region, pushed the envelope.

Though it was a journey too far to take, a Gulfstream plane flew from Salt Lake to Hawaii. Wind currents, weather, refueling were all obstacles. How could the liver possibly get back in time? There was yet another delay as doctors tried to remove Robert's failing liver.

But then, after the transplant, even though Jeremy's donated liver had been out of the body too long, it worked. As Robert told KSL, "Typically, these organs kind of stumble out of the starting gate -- that's what doctors described -- but they said this one did not stumble a bit. It just took right off."

Jeremy was laid to rest in the Sutton Cemetery, near the small town of Archer, Idaho, where he grew up.


Engraved on a plaque in the Rose home is Jeremy's horoscope at the time he died Now when the Parkinsons return home to Idaho in a few weeks, Tracey said "We can go on walks together, or be able to make plans for the future. We can do things together. I mean, how can you thank someone for that gift?"

Was it just chance two neighbors faced death at the same time? Was it chance two families so far apart found out about each other's plight in just a matter of hours? Was it chance the liver was a match? Coincidence? Possibly, but the families think otherwise.

"It's really peaceful to know that part of my husband lives, goes on, in somebody else that deserves it more than anybody I could ever think of," Kristene said.

Robert told KSL, "I will think of the Rose family every single day for the rest of my life."

Engraved on a plaque in the Rose home is Jeremy's horoscope at the time he died. It reads: "Selflessness is a talent. You've practiced it until grace has become second nature to you. An act of kindness meant more to the recipient than you know. And the best part is, that person never even asked the favor."

Jeremy's kidneys went to two people in Hawaii. One was a 66-year-old woman; the other a 55-year-old man.