‘Donate Life Month’ marked by 11,500 pinwheels at OSU Wexner
The 14th annual Buckeye Pinwheel Planting and Transplant Reunion honored transplant recipients and deceased donors.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is on a mission to honor organ donors and transplant recipients and to raise awareness about organ donation.
April is Donate Life Month. Hundreds of transplant recipients and volunteers from Ohio State’s Comprehensive Transplant Center and Lifeline of Ohio commemorated the month by displaying 11,500 pinwheels at the hospital, each representing a lifesaving organ transplant performed at Ohio State since the first kidney transplant in 1967.
Each pinwheel has one stem supporting eight spokes, symbolizing the power of one hero to save up to eight lives through organ donation. Many of the volunteers who planted them were impacted by organ donation.
“I remember saying ‘I’m going to be here one day,’ without realizing it would be this soon. It means a lot to me, and it means a lot to be here with her to celebrate the wonderful gift that she gave me by honoring her daughter’s wishes. Annie Hoodlett, a liver transplant recipient, said.
Hoodlet received a liver transplant on November 7, 2021 from Kristy Mundy, who died on November 3, 2021, from a brain hemorrhage.
“I guess her final gift was to donate. And I’m so glad that a friend of mine received it, “said Marya Michaels, Mundy’s mother.
Learn more about organ donation and be a Buckeye For Life here.
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