Faces of the Games
JEAN JANOHOSKY, 55 & JIMMY LYNCH, 42
Chanhassen, Minnesota & Brookhaven Mississippi
When he was 16 and studying to get his driver’s license, Allen Janohosky wanted to discuss organ donation with his startled mother Jean. “I was so proud of him,” recalls Jean of her only son, who told her that when he died he wanted his organs to be used to save others. “But I didn’t want to talk to him about it because he was my baby and he wasn’t going to die, it just wasn’t going to happen in my house.”
In the cruelest twist of fate, Allen, a gentle young man who would awaken in the middle of the night if a friend needed him, who loved driving his red truck and tinkering with computers, died less than a year later, the result of a brain hemorrhage sustained in a car accident. Unlike many heartbroken families, Allen’s parents and two older sisters didn’t hesitate when gently asked if they would donate the 17-year-old’s organs. After all, Allen had already made his wishes known. His heart, liver, cornea, pancreas, kidneys and intestines have saved the sight of one woman and the lives of five other adults.
One of those is Jimmy Lynch, a 41-year-old Mississippi father of three boys-one Allen’s age-a diabetic whose only hope was a kidney and pancreas transplant. Lynch, who also loves computers and drives a red truck, tracked Jean down in Minnesota to tell her “every day I wake up thinking of Allen. I’m here because of your boy, and you for thinking about helping somebody else when you were going through something so terrible.” The pair finally met in Minneapolis, Jean’s home town, at the National Kidney Foundation 2004 U.S. Transplant Games. They spoke to a crowd of 8,000 at the Games’ Opening Ceremonies, visited Allen’s grave, attended church, where Lynch kept a comforting arm around Jean’s shoulders, met each other’s families and walked the 5K Road Race for Organ and Tissue Donation together. “A part of my son came home to me in the form of Jimmy,” says Jean, 55, a passionate and active organ donation advocate. “Allen’s cycle of life goes on and on in those who have his organs. It is his legacy.”
Today Jean looks forward to the National Kidney Foundation 2006 U.S. Transplant Games this summer in Louisville where she will see the miracle of life celebrated by the thousands of participating transplant athletes. There she and her family will cheer on Jimmy and do the 5K together in the spirit of love and life for both Allen and all of his recipients.
