Man regrets the organ donation choice he made……….....Someone else's decision saved his life when he needed a liver years later

By SYLVIA R. LONGORIA

Pete Brooner isn't proud of how he handled his mother's death 15 years ago. So distraught was he over her sudden death that he wouldn't consider the idea of organ and tissue donation.

In an ironic twist of fate, Brooner contracted hepatitis years later. Suddenly it was he living the tortuous day-to-day limbo dictated by transplant waiting lists and praying that one day someone's decision about organ donation would save his life.

Someone's decision indeed gave him a second chance; Brooner received a liver transplant four years ago. Brooner cannot undo his own decision about his mother, but today candidly admits his regret so that others won't commit the same mistake.

"I felt so helpless," said Brooner, recalling how he hadn't been alarmed about the cough his mother, 52-year-old Jane Brooner, had developed prior to death. He eventually admitted her into the hospital for tests. Four days later she died of white lung infection.

"Money was no object. I wanted them to do whatever they could to make my mom better. When they couldn't, I felt guilty about not doing something more for her. I felt guilty about not having visited her the week before. About not noticing her cough earlier. About not forcing her to see a doctor sooner," Brooner said. "Foolish, but you blame yourself."

Also foolish, Brooner said, is the notion that you're protecting a loved one by turning down the option to donate organs and tissue.

"All you're thinking at the time is taking care of the person you love and when you've failed, you think this is your last chance to intervene, to keep them from doing this to that person. Well, I wasn't going to let them do anything to my mother. It was the last protective thing that I could do for her. And that's so wrong. Who was I protecting? She was already dead. You just get so blinded at the time."

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