They were strangers, but knew each other intimately and, without words, empowered young hands and minds with the medical foundation to heal others.
Simply put, they gave the gift of life.
On Friday, nearly 400 people gathered at the Westside Community Center to honor the 133 individuals who donated their bodies to the anatomical gift program.
“Through the gift of their self-giving love, a love that has continued beyond the limits of their lives, our hands have begun to learn how to heal,” said Brian Tullius, vice president of the UNMC College of Medicine class of 2008.
The service, organized and run by UNMC’s first-year physician assistant, physical therapy and medical students, included several choral performances, a homily by The Rev. Deborah Boucher-Payne and, for the first time, a rose procession with each student laying a red rose in honor of each donor. As a closing gift, donor family members received the rose as a symbol of appreciation.
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Heidi Smith, president of the physician assistant class of 2006, told the crowd of the day she met her greatest teacher. “We all walked in, a little apprehensive, a little unsure of where to begin. We grouped around at different tables and met, for the first time, a person that would soon become our most dedicated teacher. We were never told her name, what she did for a living, what she enjoyed, who she admired. The only information we knew was her age, her gender and what pathology took her life.This woman taught me more than any book could diagram, more than a professor could describe, and more than I could ever envision. She was my greatest teacher.”
The gift of each donor is everlasting, said Kelly McBrien, president of the physical therapy class of 2007. “Most of their memories lie with you in stories, photographs and in the faces of their children. I wish I knew about each one of your family member’s lives and passions. What I do know of these special people are the mysteries of their illness, why their heart stopped beating for you, in some, their favorite color of finger-nail polish, and why their muscles were too weak for them to dance..in the eyes of the future health care professionals sitting among you today, your loved ones have been granted the wish of immortality. Their selfless act will continue on forever in each patient we touch.”
Loved ones said they found comfort in the sensitivity and respect shown to their family members, whose wishes were to change the lives of others through donation.
“I was very touched by the service and the love and graciousness,” said Daphne Winner of Omaha, clutching a red rose in remembrance of her late husband, Francis, a graduate of Creighton University law school and the son of a doctor and nurse.
“He always said ‘after I die I’m going to medical school,’ ” she said. “He always felt it would be the right thing to do.”
“It’s comforting to know, still, there are people out there thinking of dad,” said Anne Winner Anderson of Lincoln.
During the hour-long service, Erin Sass of Daytona Beach, Fla., was reminded again of why her mother, Sandra Hahn, became an anatomical donor. “She loved teaching and seeing kids learn.she is still teaching.”
Hahn, who died Dec. 8, 2003, spent 35 years teaching fourth- and fifth-graders in the Omaha Public Schools. “When she was diagnosed with diabetes she said she wanted to donate her body,” Sass said. “She wanted people to learn from her suffering.”
And the more than 200 first-year UNMC students did, they said.
“To love means to give life through death..” Tullius said quoting the work of the late Pope John Paul II in his play, The Jeweler’s Shop.
“Their self-gift to the medical classes in this room serves as the foundation for the self-gift that we future physicians, physician assistants and physical therapists must become for our patients,” he said.
For more information on anatomical donation, contact the Nebraska Anatomical Board at 559-6249.