St. E’s leads in organ donations

YOUNGSTOWN — Dan Gromada Jr., 19, died in a motorcycle accident — but his organs saved the lives of four others.

Dan was headed to a friend’s house that Wednesday afternoon in late June 2004 when he struck a tractor on state Route 46 at Shields Road while trying to pass it. He was on life support in St. Elizabeth Health Center for two days.

His parents, Dan Sr. and Elaine Gromada of Canfield, both many years ago had registered to be organ donors, but they didn’t know their son had.

They learned it when an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper gave them his driver’s license after the accident.

“That’s what impressed us so much about Dan, that at age 16 he would think that he wanted to be an organ donor,” Gromada said.

There’s been a national push to increase the number of people on the national donor registry.

St. Elizabeth leads all northeast Ohio hospitals in donations.

For more on this story, see Friday’s Vindicator or Vindy.com.