ITD helps celebrate gift of life through organ donor program

Lacey Haye continues to give long after she was taken.

If you could meet her today, you would be captivated by her charming personality, compassion, wit and generosity. You’d be drawn to her, and you would love her just as family members and friends did.

You’ll not have that chance, though. Lacey died four years ago when her first motorcycle ride became her last – she was struck by a pickup truck at an intersection in Twin Falls. Those who knew her, continue to mourn her death and celebrate her life.

Lacey was an organ donor.

She made that decision independently with her parents’ consent when she received her first driver’s license, and she recommitted when renewing the license. Although her mother Diana also is a registered organ donor, she let Lacey make her own decision.

And because of her choice to give in death others rejoice in life. They include two adults who received double organ transplants and two others who received the gift of sight.

Lacey was 19 when she went to a friend’s house to see the family’s two motorcycles and perhaps pose for a few photos. She hadn’t intended to ride one, said her father Stan. But she was curious. Lacey and her friend decided to take a short ride on separate bikes.

When they reached an intersection, Lacey discovered she didn’t know how to use the brakes and rolled into the path of an oncoming truck. After the collision, she was flown to a Boise hospital and died a short time later.

The youngest of five children (including Nichole, Natasha, Trinity and Nathan), Lacey grew up on the family’s ranch about 20 miles southeast of Twin Falls. She was a gifted athlete, and at 5-10, excelled in volleyball. She was an honor student and a member of the Kimberley High School honor society.

After graduating from Kimberly High School where she earned advanced college credits, Lacey enrolled at Boise State University. One semester later, she transferred to the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls where she was a sophomore at the time of her fatal crash.

Even as a teen-ager, she understood the value of giving. She worked at a retirement center and enjoyed friendships with the elderly. She also enjoyed working with children and volunteered as a Big Sister to elementary school girls. Early in her senior year of high school, she shared her long, flowing golden hair with the Locks of Love program.

Lacey loved the holidays and loved people; she lived life to the fullest, her father said. A sentimentalist, she saved memorabilia from cherished events and activities. She was a consummate prankster who had a wonderful sense of humor.

Family members, friends and strangers shared memories and celebrated her gift of life last week during a ceremony at ITD’s Headquarters in Boise. They also contributed to a new legacy, adding small seeds to a floragraph that will grace a Donate Life float in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses grand floral parade Jan. 2.

The floragraph is a life-like representation of Lacey’s high school graduation photo that her mother took in 2005. The photograph, on display at the ceremony, showed Lacey holding her favorite flower, a brilliant sunflower, in a green field on the family farm.

Lacey’s likeness will be among more than 70 others of people who shared life through death as part of an organ donor’s program. Lacey’s parents, along with sisters Nichole and Natasha, will join other family members in Pasadena for the parade. Stan and Diana will be guests of the Inland Northwest Donor’s Program based in Salt Lake City and will fly to southern California where they will help put finishing touches on the float.


Driver's license option makes it easy to give life

ITD and the Division of Motor Vehicles facilitate the decisions of Idaho drivers who want to become organ donors through “Yes!” Idaho.”

Idahoans can indicate their desire to become organ donors when they receive their first driver’s license or renew their license. That decision is noted on the license for ease of reference in the event of a fatal crash.

More than 112,000 people nationwide are waiting for a life-saving transplant, including children and adults of varying ages who need a heart, kidney, liver or other organ to survive. Others need tissue and eye donations.

For information about becoming a donor through the “Yes!” Idaho program, contact The Idaho Donor Registry at (888) 937-4324 or e-mail info@yesidaho.org. Donors younger than 18 must have parental or guardian approval to become donors

Published 12-16-2011