Leading organ, eye, and tissue recovery non profit celebrates opening of newest office in Carpinteria
CARPINTERIA, Calif.— Seven words changed the course of Paula Hultman’s life— “Your son is a registered organ donor.”
Now, Hultman pours her heart into One Legacy, and she’s lucky enough to still hear her late son’s heart through his organ recipient Jeff.
“A year after Skye's death, when I got a letter in the mail from Scott's heart recipients. He gave me the opportunity to hear Scott's Heartbeat chest, which was amazing to know that Scott's not here, but he is still living through 4 people,” said Hultman, the One Legacy ambassador.
Many are excited to see the expansion of this non profit to Carpinteria— saying the move will help strengthen its presence in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties.
They will have a faster response time to serve families, hospitals, and local staff who live and work here.
After a record breaking year, the CEO says there’s a lot more to look forward to.
“ Last year was a record year. We've done 14 91,940 transplants and provider over 150,000 healing tissue grafts. We believe with the expansion of Carpinteria and the other facilities within the seven counties, we're going to beat that number and save more lives because there's so many people waiting on the waitlist right now,” said One Legacy CEO Prasad Garimella.
It’s not just organ and tissue donations. It’s also eye donations that can cure corneal blindness.
Garimella says they average 1500 corneal transplants a year.
“It restores the eyesight for those who have defects in their clear cornea where they may have a scar or damage to that cornea. Some people's cornea is actually droop and we can actually cut that out and put a new cornea and they can restore their sight within 72 hours,” said Garimella.
Whether it’s the gift of sight or the gift of life, the donor’s legacy lives on.
One particular donor, Vivian, was a nurse at cottage hospital when she unexpectedly died of a brain aneurysm. she donated 5 of her organs to 5 different recipients. Connie Buchs has her lungs now.
“I actually have her [Vivian’s] picture framed on my dresser. So in the morning when I get up, when I see it. She's my hero that I never got to meet, but I have met her family, and we're really close,” said Buchs.