Q&A
Sheri Bergstrom-Casey, manager of the 240 Union restaurant in Lakewood, will be one of 23 people riding the Donate Life float in the Rose Parade on Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif. Riders on the float, called Giving From the Heart, are living organ donors and donor family members.
Q: How did you come to be a rider on the float?
A: On Jan. 27, 2005, my sister, Cindy Coley, and I learned our mother, Laralee Bergstrom, had been injured in a car accident in New Mexico. The next day, we took her off of life support when she was declared brain-dead. We were asked if we wanted to donate her organs.
Q: Was there an organ donation?
A: Yes. We knew our mother wanted to be a donor. That’s what was on her driver’s license. Our mother said once that if something ever happened to her, to donate her organs. There was no hesitation whatsoever.
Q: What organs were donated?
A: Two ladies received her kidneys, and two other people received her corneas. We found out the next morning that a Marine in Loma Linda, Calif., which is near our hometown, just underwent a transplant with a liver received from an anonymous woman killed in a car accident in New Mexico.
Q: Who was the Marine, and have you had a chance to meet him?
A: The Marine’s name is Christopher LeBleu. He had been stationed in Iraq for seven months. After returning to Camp Pendleton, he married Melanie and became very sick and was on life support when Mom’s liver became available. We all went to Disneyland last year just to hang out. … He’s put on some weight and is doing better.
Q: Transplantation of tissue seems to be in your family.
A: The following January, my father, Jon Bergstrom, had a brain hemorrhage while driving and crashed. After he died, his corneas were salvaged. Two weeks later, I had in-vitro surgery with a donor egg. My husband and I had tried to have a baby for five years. Maxwell Jon Casey is now 1 month and 1 week old.
Q: Do you have a message for people about organ and tissue donation?
A: It took our focus off of death to give a new life, especially to young people like Chris and Melanie LeBleu. We ask that people please learn the facts on donating. It is a wonderful gift.
– Staff writer Ann Schrader
