Families tied by organ transplant meet

By Sarah Chacko

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH -- Sharon O'Neal says she is a "walking miracle," thanks to former Fort Worth resident Tammy Harless.

And on Tuesday, the Tennessee woman came to Fort Worth to personally thank Harless' family.

O'Neal, who had diabetes, said she desperately needed a kidney and pancreas four years ago. Diabetes had resulted in several surgeries and physical losses and eventually led to kidney failure.

"If you could see me 10 years ago, I had one foot in the grave," she said. "I thought my life was over."

Because of her extreme condition, she was put on a special donor waiting list in April 2000. In less than a month, she received Harless' organs.

Harless, 40, died May 6, 2000, after a motorcycle accident in Bristol, Va.

Now O'Neal, 63, has no more dialysis, no more insulin shots and no more strict diets. She has more time to spend with her husband and family. And she'll be there for the birth of her newest grandchild in August.

"I feel like I've been reborn," she said. "It's all because of Tammy and her gift to me."

Harless' mother, Anne Wright, 71, met O'Neal for the first time Tuesday in Fort Worth.

Tracey Sanford, O'Neal's nephew, set up the meeting for the two families at his restaurant, the West Side Cafe. With all the recent news reports about people dying of rabies after recent transplants in Dallas, he was happy to accommodate the reunion.

"It's a bittersweet pleasure," he said.

Wright, a retired registered nurse, said she has seen many incidents in which organs could have been harvested and were not.

"It's the most devastating thing to lose a child, and you never get over it," she said. "But it helps so much to know what good has come from her donation."

Harless' brother, Bruce Wright, said he and his relatives registered to become donors after Harless' death.

"Everyone's heard about it through their lives," he said, "but after you go through something like this, it means something to you."

O'Neal said she and her husband signed up to be donors several years before she began feeling the full effects of her diabetes.

"You don't ever know when you'll be on the receiving end,"she said.

O'Neal tells everyone about her experience and encourages people to consider organ donation.

"If they just knew what a change this could make in a person's life," she said.

Harless' liver went to a man in Mississippi, and her heart and kidney went to people in Pennsylvania.

"It's really healing to me to know that she didn't die in vain," Anne Wright said. "She touched a lot of lives, and their lives have touched me."

She said that before Tammy was born, after having two boys, she wanted a little girl.

"I prayed, 'God, if you give me a little girl, I'll let you use her in any way you want,'" she said. "I wouldn't take it back."

Contact Sarah Chacko at (817)390-7447 or schacko@star-telegram.com

Copyright © 2004 The Star Telegraph.

This article posted August 1, 2004.