This is an opinion column by Niagara Health Communications Specialist Tiffany Mayer, published in the St. Catharines Standard, Niagara Falls Review and Welland Tribune.
Gladys Soriano reads a letter from the transplant recipient who received the heart of Joseph Soriano, Gladys’s late husband. Joseph died in January 2024 after experiencing an aneurysm but had registered as an organ donor and let Gladys know his wishes.
Gladys Soriano figured the envelope from Trillium Gift of Life Network that arrived at her Port Colborne home last December was just a routine holiday greeting from the provincial agency overseeing organ and tissue donation.
When she opened it, however, she found the “best Christmas present” inside. It was a letter from the transplant recipient who had the heart of Gladys’s late husband, Joseph, beating inside of her.
“It has been almost 11 months since I received a gift of life,” the person wrote. “I would like you to know that every day, I am grateful for the gift that has been given to me and that I take good care of it.”
The recipient, an adult female with irreversible heart disease, told Gladys how she had a heart condition since she was a child and had been on the transplant waiting list for more than a year. She expressed deep gratitude and sympathy to her donor and his family.
Gladys couldn’t even make the short walk from her mailbox to her kitchen before collapsing in tears on her front hall stairs, overwhelmed by what she read.
“It was my first holiday without Joseph, so it was a very tough season for me,” Gladys said. “I was looking for some comfort at these times and it came at just the right time. It’s a very heartwarming, beautiful message.”
Joseph Soriano died in January 2024 a few weeks after the former registered nurse in the Welland Hospital Emergency Department experienced an aneurysm at a holiday party he and Gladys were hosting. He was 34.
The father of two young girls had registered to be an organ donor and Gladys, a registered nurse in complex continuing care at Niagara Health’s Fort Erie Site, knew his wishes. Even if he hadn’t taken the two minutes to add his name to the provincial registry, Gladys knew she would donate his heart so it would continue beating and she could live with the hope one day hearing it again.
Joseph’s liver and lungs were also donated, though Gladys hasn’t received correspondence from the recipients – both adult males – and may never hear from them.
“Because Joseph was a generous person, I was able to continue his legacy,” Gladys said. “Even if he’s not here anymore, he wanted to help and make an impact. It was his personality.”
Gladys was immediately curious about the letter writer. As per legalities, there’s no name on the note and little information to glean any sense of who the recipient is. When she sat down to write her message, the recipient didn’t know anything about Joseph, either.
Be A Donor
April is Be A Donor Month in Ontario, raising awareness about organ and tissue donation.
A person is six times more likely to need an organ transplant than to become a donor.
One organ donor can save up to eight lives and enhance the lives of up to 75 others through tissue donation.
Visit BeADonor.ca to register to be a donor.
Gladys wrote her back through the Trillium Gift of Life Network, telling her about Joseph. She did it with the hope of continuing correspondence, and perhaps meeting one day. If that happens, Gladys plans to bring a stethoscope.
“It seems it had a huge impact on her and I was grateful hearing from her,” Gladys said. “I just really hope someday we cross paths. I don’t know her yet, but I think Joseph always makes a way.”
After she’s had time to fully grieve Joseph’s death, she plans to lend her voice to organ and tissue donation advocacy.
That’s what happened with Carol Morningstar when her daughter, Andrea Clegg, became a heart transplant recipient in 2010 after she was diagnosed with idiopathic cardiomyopathy.
Clegg, who lives in Cambridge, received the heart of a deceased teenager just before Christmas that year. When she was well enough, she and Morningstar both wrote to the donor’s family but didn’t hear back.
“We’re OK with that because they’re on the hard end. We’re on the lucky end. I understand,” Morningstar said.
In the years since, Morningstar has gone skydiving to raise awareness about organ and tissue donation and fundraised for the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre in Toronto where Clegg had her transplant operation.
She co-founded the Life Donation Awareness Association of Niagara and speaks to the public, including Niagara Health staff this month for Be A Donor Month.
All of it is to encourage more people to register as donors.
“Every day we’re grateful to that family for donating and that’s why we want more donors,” Morningstar said. “It’s said you’re more likely to need an organ than to donate it. A lot of people say they think they’re too old. I say, ‘Sign up and let the doctors decide.’ So many people say they thought about it but have never registered. I say, ‘Here, I’ll do it for you. All you need is a health card.’”
And to share those wishes with family, like Joseph did with Gladys.
“It’s not only that his heart continues to beat,” Gladys said. “It helps one person continue living.”
Photo caption (above): Carol Morningstar became an active organ and tissue donation advocate after her daughter’s heart transplant in 2010.
