Lone Star Circle of Life Bike Tour

Local Events: Austin

Day 7:

Friday, October 9, 2009
Salado to Austin

The Lone Star Circle of Life team will leave Salado for Austin at 7:30 a.m. They will arrive in Austin at approximately 3:00 p.m. at Barton Creek Mall, 2901 Capital of Texas Highway. The event site inside the mall is pending. A reception will be held for the riders where they will be introduced. At that time, each rider will introduce the honoree they rode for that day. Information about blood, tissue and organ donation will be available on-site as well as a drive for the National Marrow Donor Program Registry.

Event Coordinator

For more information, contact:

Yvonne Ybarra
South Texas Blood and Tissue Center
6211 I-10 West
San Antonio, TX 78201
Phone: 210-731-5513

Day Riders

Dorothy Starr - Dorothy is an advocate for organ and tissue donation and has been a day rider with the tour for several years.

Travis Kaspar - Travis is a past Lone Star team rider and believes donors are "just awesome!"

Honorees

Brian Brasseaux – Organ and Tissue Donor
Brian Brasseaux was a loving husband, father, brother and friend. Married to his high-school sweetheart, Christine, for 17 years, they shared a love that a lot of people never have the opportunity to experience. Unfortunately, their life together ended abruptly on November 4, 2007.

Brian and Christine met while still in high school and married several years later. They settled down in Sugar Land, Texas and had four wonderful children, Trey, James, Erin and Kelly. Their four-bedroom house was busting at the seams.

Brian was a very caring, loyal person who loved life and lived it to the fullest. He believed in helping the underdog and giving people a chance. He was a gifted athlete who excelled in all sports and even had the New York Mets look at him for baseball. There was a history of heart disease in Brian’s family. Christine and Brian recognized the family history and would discuss it and pay particular attention to diet and exercise.

On November 4, 2007, Brian went out for a bike ride. It was time for dinner and Christine has sent their oldest son, Trey, to call Brian in. Trey found his father lying on the ground at the front door and came to tell Christine something was wrong. Christine started CPR, but Brian did not make it.

The Brasseaux family was devastated. They had lost their fabulous father and Christine had lost the love of her life. Christine knew immediately that Brian would want to give his organs to anyone who might need them. That decision was easy. Christine was asked to donate his eyes, his skin and even his heart. In true Aggie spirit, the last thing they asked Christine for was Brian’s thumb. Christine’s response was “of course you can have the Aggie thumb!” The Brasseaux’s are blessed to have each other and are thankful that Brian was in their life for as long as he was. Christine knows her life is better for having known him and loved him. Her focus is now on their children and raising them to be as caring, loving, loyal and decent as their father

Barb Woolley – Lung Recipient
Barb was suffering from a life-threatening lung condition and needed a transplant. She received the gift of life after a teen died in a traffic accident in Louisiana. Barb reached out to her donor’s family thanking them for loving beyond their extreme grief to give her and others a second chance. Barb has met her donor family and spends much of her time educating central Texans about organ donation

Heather M. Garza – Organ and Tissue Donor
Heather Garza (on the left in the photo) was a wonderful young lady with a kind heart and a loving soul.

While reading her myspace biography a person can get a glimpse into the wide range of hobbies and interests she had. She loved to read, write, cook and express herself in so many ways. Heather thought the world was beautiful and she lived life to the fullest.

She would never let a day go by without loving something or someone. She had her own way of looking at things and would stand on her own two feet even if those around her would not. Heather was afraid of forgetting things, so she would write lists. The lists included things most important to her like people and memories she made throughout her life. In her own words "The world is Beautiful. I love good times, memories and remembering them."

Heather was always an optimistic person who looked on the bright side. She has given others a second chance to see the world through her eyes and look on the bright side.

Ryan Ono – PBSC Donor
Ryan was a Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Donor in January of 2008.

Ty Gipson – Blood Recipient
Ty Gipson is a 39 year-old male multi-unit blood recipient.

He was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at the age of eight. At age 30, Ty began having problems and needed to see a specialist. The specialist told him that he had already lost 80% of his kidney function. He not only needed a kidney, but also a pancreas.

He was put on a waiting list and underwent surgery after months of waiting. The surgery lasted 16 hours and required several units of blood. A few days after surgery, he developed a staphylococcus infection. That required another surgery that required even more blood.

Today, nine and half years later, Ty is doing well and has dedicated his life to spreading the word about the importance of blood and organ donation.

Colette Brown, ICU Nurse Manager of St. David's Medical Center
Colette has been an advocate for organ donation since her start as a staff nurse. Not only did she call in referrals and maintain patients, she encouraged her co-workers to do the same.

As ICU Nurse Manager, her efforts have greatly increased to encourage her staff and others within the hospital to become active in supporting organ donation. With Colette's support and enthusiasm, St. David's created a Performance Improvement Team and as a result have seen an increase of organ donors.

We have seen great work in assisting physicians and staff to maintain compliance. Not only has Colette shown strength in promoting organ donation from a clinical standpoint, she has also provided information supporting organ donation in the ICU waiting rooms.

On behalf of donor families and recipients we would like to thank Colette for all of her efforts.

William Brandon Demery Vaughn – Tissue Donor
Brandon (as he was best known) loved life and meeting new people. He was always a 'jokester' in the family and you could count on him to come up with something to make you smile or laugh. No matter where he went, he would never meet a stranger - everyone immediately became his friend (young or old).

Donated were Brandon's corneas and ligaments from his legs, so other could see and walk through life as he loved to live.

Brandon's passions in life were:
* God: He accepted his call into the ministry at the age of 18 and loved introducing young men & women (his peers) to Christ. His method was through music - he loved Christian Rap music and every time someone would ask what he was listening to, that would be his opening to tell them about God.
* Children: He worked at a Daycare where he was the after-school teacher. He was known as 'Coach Brandon' to the students. When other teachers would have a difficult child to deal with, they would ask Brandon to sit and talk with the student. Those were 'his' kids and they loved and respected him tremendously.
* Mathematics: He had a good mind for math and planned to use mathematics as his entry into the school system where his goal was to become a basketball coach.
* Basketball: He lived for Basketball. He wanted to know every aspect of the game from playing, to coaching, to referring. But his dream was to play collegiate ball, which he knew would lead to him becoming the best college coach ever known. Through his own determination and love for the game (not by recruitment), he earned an athletic scholarship to Huston-Tillotson University, but didn't live to receive the announcement.
* Eating: BIG appetite, and extremely high metabolism (that's it - enough said).
* Family: Finally, but not least, Brandon 'loved' his family. His Pop, sisters, brother-in-law, niece & nephew, aunts and cousins were all a VERY important part of his life, but he was a "momma's boy" and his heart beat for her, and all he wanted to do was to make Mom happy and to 'take care of her'. She was his favorite girl and would do anything in his power for her.

Brandon is truly missed by all that really knew him. We miss his smile, his care-free attitude, his sense of humor and playfulness, his patience, and most of all his love. But Mom misses his hugs and cooking for him the most.

Wally Tallent – Transplant Recipient
Wally Tallent received a transplant on August first, 2001and just celebrated eight years post transplant.

This is the first year that he has been completely off of immune suppression drugs.

Additional honorees for the local events will be announced soon. Please visit again.

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