Arriel Reyes
Organ Donor
/May 26, 2023
On May 20, 2023, I received a frantic call from my husband’s speed skating coach. She was out of breath and I could hear a lot of commotion in the backyard. She finally blurted out that my husband had been laughing and talking with his teammates and suddenly collapsed. One of the coaches began CPR while the other call 9-1-1. They had continued CPR, and he was on his way to the hospital in Roseville.
He spent the next six days in the ICU, where tests were performed to confirm if there was any brain activity. On the third day in the hospital we met with the doctor who explained that they had done all they could to save his life, and they did not believe that he was going to recover. We made the difficult decision to remove life support. The same day, we met with a representative from Sierra Donor Services who shared that my husband had signed himself up to be an organ donor in 2008. In some strange way, knowing that he had made that choice and wanted to help others, brought all of us a sense of peace.
Outside of his cardiac arrest, my husband had been healthy. He was an active 55 year old and had been training for Nationals when he collapsed. Although our outcome was not what we wanted, knowing that he gave the gift of life to others has brought our family great comfort.
Arriel and I were married just shy of 36 years with three adult children and two grandchildren. We were high school sweethearts. We met at the local roller skating rink where I was the snack bar girl and he was a DJ. His love for speed skating continued into adult hood. He won the gold medal for his age division in 2018. He was born in the Philippines and raised in California. He was a lover of all types of music, taught himself how to play the guitar. He played the electric guitar in a local band. He was a firm believer in higher education, ultimately earning his MBA where he gave the commencement speech. He worked in the Medical Device industry and when he died he was the Vice President and part owner of his company.
In addition to being an organ donor, we created a scholarship in his name to encourage others to pursue their dream of a higher education.
Although our outcome was not what we wanted, we are honored that he chose to give the gift of life to others.
Saying thank you
Many donor families find that corresponding with the transplant recipient or recipients can be a powerful experience. Donor families can take comfort in sharing stories and sending well wishes to those who live on because of their loved one.
Should you choose to connect, we're here to help. Letters and cards can be a tremendous gift to both the donor families and recipients. To protect everyone, we provide guidelines for communication. Names remain confidential unless both parties agree to share those with one another, and we provide a correspondence address. We are happy to share sample letters to help you get started.
For more information about corresponding with recipients, please click here.
