As told by his mother, Jenny

Our sono tech was the first person to mention donation. She informed us that if she had received a terminal diagnosis for her child, she would pursue donation. The following day, we had two other people independently mention organ donation. Internet searches produced varied and sketchy information. This led me to contact our local transplant network to see if it was even possible to donate with our sons diagnosis of anencephaly. They were very compassionate and straightforward with laying out the criteria and explaining that only tissue donation was possible due to the fragility and size of a newborns organs.

Our son had four perfect heart valves. Two children received his gift of life.

Healing can take many forms. Donation was a significant factor in our emotional healing. We kept thinking of the family getting “the call” that valves were available for their child. Valves that would prevent another family from facing the heartache of death. Families that will get to experience the ‘firsts’ with their child because of our son. Knowing that miracles are not always what we envision. Our sons life and death was a miracle to two other families. This knowledge was healing in itself.

Palmer’s mother was able to create this video about her experience with donation for her local organ procurement organization. I highly recommend watching – I am Hope.

You can read more about Palmer’s story on Jenny’s blog: http://palmerjoseph.blogspot.com/.

You can also visit Project Palmer and learn how Jenny is helping the Anencephaly community.