CLEVELAND Service celebrates the lives saved through transplants

A candlelight ceremony will symbolize how organ donation spreads life.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR RELIGION EDITOR
CLEVELAND -- There's something Dorene Kray doesn't know: the name of the person whose transplanted heart has been beating in her chest since 1994.
That transplant saved the life of the North Side native turned Cleveland resident.
Kray was a young parent when her illness struck. She said the blessings from the transplant included being able to watch her children grow up.
On Saturday, Kray and other transplant recipients and their families will have a chance to thank their donors and their families -- and God.
One of a series of National Donor Sabbath services will be at 1:30 p.m. at the Old Stone Church on the Public Square in Cleveland.
The event is supported by the Transplant Recipients International Organization's Cleveland, Akron-Canton and Mahoning Valley chapters; LifeBanc, Northeast Ohio's organ procurement organization; and area transplant hospitals, including St. Elizabeth Health Center. Kray is the chairwoman for the event.
The service is part of the Eighth Annual National Donor Sabbath Observance.
A matter of faith
The interfaith vespers service will include talks by clergy for the need for organ donations. People are dying every day while awaiting donations, Kray said.
Figures aren't clear on the number of area donors and recipients because of patient confidentiality and the fact that many recipients travel out of state to have their operations.
Kray estimated there are about 60 people affiliated with the Mahoning Valley Trio group.
The medical and faith worlds come together both at the service and the operations.
Kray said that before her transplant, her doctor had told her that he had done all he could. At that point, she needed the miracle of a transplant to live.
"Everything depends on a higher power," Kray said.
After her transplant, Kray's doctor asked her what she was going to do with her new life.
She became active in Trio, which offers support for transplant patients.
"This is what I did with it," Kray said.
The Donor Sabbath was deliberately scheduled close to Thanksgiving because the holiday focuses on giving thanks for the blessings of life.
Other local residents will be involved in the service.
The service will involve lighting candles to represent how organ donations spread life to others.
Donor's family
Arthur Hewitt of Champion will be at the center of that portion of the service.
Hewitt and his then-wife, Anne, were called in 1980. Their oldest son, Andrew Bennington Hewitt, was severely injured in a hang-gliding accident in Santa Barbara, Calif.
The young man was three weeks from his 21st birthday. His parents agreed to donate his organs.
At the service, Hewitt and his wife, Carol, will have candles representing donation, Kray said. People will come forward and light candles from the Hewitts' candles. Those candles will represent the heart and heart valves, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, intestines, skin, tissue, ligaments, corneas and bones that can be transplanted.
After the service, there will be the presentation of a "Threads of Life" quilt.
Recipients make each square to honor the gift of life they received, Kray said.
Candace Putt of Newton Falls sewed the newest quilt.
Kray said Putt is one of six children, three of whom had kidney disease. The other three each donated a kidney to a sibling.
XFor more information, call (440) 232-0013.
wilkinson@vindy.com