Photo courtesy of Jim and Lucille Burke
Evan Burke enjoys the view from atop a peak in Southern Oregon. Burke graduated from the Ashland Wilderness Charter School and later led group excursions for the school.

The grief of death can be consuming even without making a life or death decision. A former SOU student will be honored and the parents who turned his tragedy into new and improved life for others now advocate for organ donation.

Evan Burke was 21 years old in March of 2005 when he collided with a taxicab while skateboarding in Ashland. He was airlifted from Rogue Valley Medical Center to Oregon Health & Science University in Portland in critical condition.

His mother, Lucille, made the journey with him while his father, Jim, drove 300 miles to meet them. Evan was pronounced brain dead before he could get there.

“They were using so much blood to keep him alive,” Jim said.

Evan’s heart was not functioning and his liver doctors believed to be lacerated; at the time he didn’t seem like a viable candidate for organ donation. Lucille was insistent that all effort should be made to heal and preserve her son’s organs in spite of the doctor’s skepticism.

“If you want to be a donor you have the right to do that, even if doctors tell you no,” she said.

Evan’s heart eventually was healed enough to provide a new opportunity for a 60-year-old man who was concerned about receiving the young man’s heart.

“The man who got the heart was in the same hospital waiting to die,” Jim said. “He was worried on two counts, that he was 60 and that he was Asian.”

They described him as being apologetic, but upon their meeting Lucille alleviated his concerns.

“There must be something you needed to do in this life yet, which is why you got Evan’s heart,” she said.

A local woman also received the gift of a better life through Evan’s liver, which had been bruised, but was able to be repaired. Along with one kidney Evan donated three major organs and both of his corneas, bone and tissue.

“If he had to die, then at least he could help other people,” Jim said.

After returning home, Lucille recalled a conversation with Evan about becoming a donor during a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles. Looking through his belonging she noticed the “D” on his driver’s license designating his intent to be an organ donor. In April of 2006, the online registry maintained by Donate Life Northwest changed this implied intent to a global consent.

“It removes the emotion so that your parents or children don’t have to decide,” Lucille said.

Mary Jane Hunt, the executive director for Donate Life Northwest, explained the benefits and advantages of the new statewide registry system that includes parts of Southwestern Washington.

“The advantage about going online is that you can be specific,” said Hunt.

Prospective donors can request a paper application and still code their licenses to pledge their consent, but registering online allows users to specify what they would like to donate.

“All of the DMV data has been transferred into the secure database,” said Hunt.

The new system allows for quicker and more efficient communication from anywhere in the world. Staff from out of area facilities can contact a potential donor’s home state to find out if that person is on the registry.

“We are all working in collaboration with Donate Life America,” said Hunt.

Judith Trujillo, manager of programs for Donate Life Northwest explained the symbolism of a float in honor of donors and their decision to submit an application for Evan Burke.

The 2009 New Year’s Day Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif. will feature a Donate Life float honoring 38 donors from across the U.S. including Evan Burke from Ashland, Ore. This is the first year that Donate Life Northwest has submitted an application for an Oregon donor to be honored in the Rose Parade.

“Over the past three years we have seen this progress of celebrating the good that has come from donating life,” said Trujillo.

Trujillo sees the registry and new global consent as a way to alleviate excess stress on families when the question of donating presents itself.

“When families don’t know, it is a brutal situation,” she said.

She spoke of the involvement of Jim and Lucille Burke with Donate Life Northwest and how she first met them.

“Jim brought the quilt square he had made for the quilt of life in honor of Evan,” Trujillo said. “He couldn’t even talk he just stood there and cried. My heart just broke for him.”

According to Trujillo, the Burkes have since recognized the importance of the online registry and have become strong supporters of the Donate Life program.

“They really have become our Southern Oregon stars,” she said. “They have been such a warm, welcoming and supportive family.”

Lucille Burke will travel to Los Angeles on Dec. 19 to create a flora graph out of natural materials that will adorn the Donate Life float.

A flora graph is an artistic portrait made from all natural materials like seeds and spices. Lucille, an artist herself, commented on Evan’s natural aptitude for visual arts even as a child, making this a fitting tribute.

“He was way beyond his age in his ability to portray things,” she said.

The natural ingredients used for the artwork also speak to Evan’s love of nature. His father Jim spoke of the Ashland Wilderness Charter School’s role in changing Evan’s life for the better.

“He had developed a resistance to traditional teaching,” Jim said. “The charter school really turned his life around.”

To learn more about becoming a donor or to register visit www.donatelifenw.org .