Hospital staff lines up to honor terminally ill organ donor in his final moments

As this terminally ill man who had expressed his will to donate his organs after his death was wheeled through the hospital hallways to have life support disconnected, he received a heartbreaking homage.

A 53-year-old man was given a “walk of respect” by hospital staffers and his family and friends in recognition to his will to offer other people a second chance by allowing his organs to be removed for donation, Daily Mail reported.

The emotional moment was caught on video and shared on the St. Luke’s Meridian Hospital’s social media to thank the family and show support for this man’s altruistic decision. Read more on our Twitter account @amomama_usa

“Walk of Respect: Staff at hospital stop to line halls of ICU to show respect for the 2nd patient this week providing the life-saving gift of #organdonation. Thank you to family for allowing us to honor him and share,” wrote the hospital’s PR manager.

Following the Idaho hospital’s tradition, as the patient made his final journey, from the intensive care unit to an operating room where he was going to stop receiving life support and his organs were to be collected for donation, most of the medical personnel ceased operations to line up by the walls to show their respects.

Although the family gave their permission for the video to be shared, they expressed their desire to keep the man’s identity private. The kind of illness he suffered and which organs he donated, was not revealed either.

According to the news outlet, the touching episode took place on September 27, 2018, and it was the second time a donor received the powerful tribute during that week.

“I was moved by the number of people who made a point to be there. There were not a lot of dry eyes – I too was wiping my tears. What a privilege to be invited to be there in that moving moment.”

-PR manager Anita Kissee, Daily Mail, October 3, 2018.

The “walk of honor” is being adopted by more and more hospitals as a way to not only show respect to the donors, but also as a way to offer support to their surviving family members, and they have become very popular in social media.

The response of the Internet users worldwide to a similar case on which the family agreed to let their names be known publicly ended up being an unexpected source of solace for the widow of Cletus Schnieders from Ohio.

The story of Schnieders went viral after he choked to his death with food and his organs ended up helping 50 people. His “honor walk” was shared 42.000 times and thousands of messages of support were sent to his widow.

“Recipient stories were honestly the only thing keeping me going after those first few days of losing Clete,” the woman said.