I Love Palm Beach
I Love Palm Beach
Transforming Grief into Hope: The Legacy of Diego DeGrassi and the Power of Organ Donation
When tragedy struck Ana and Martin DeGrossi with the loss of their son Diego, they faced a decision that would transform their pain into hope for others. Our latest episode welcomes these courageous parents who share their journey through grief and the poignant legacy left by their son. After Diego's life was tragically cut short by a drowning accident, Anna and Martin chose to donate his organs, a selfless act that rippled into a lifesaving miracle for individuals in dire need. Their story isn't just about the sorrow of loss but also about finding a profound purpose in the darkest of times.
The DeGrossi's speak to the heart as they recount the creation of the "Diego Superhero 5 K Run & Walk" foundation, an organization that not only commemorates their son but also fosters awareness and support for organ donation. Through their annual 5K event, they've built a community of solidarity, touching the lives of many who face similar experiences. As our conversation unfolds, Anna and Martin reveal the emotional layers of their journey and the importance of discussing the often-unspoken aspects of grief. #organdonation #diego5k #Ilovepalmbeach
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Hi, this is Rebecca. Hi, this is Rebecca. I love Palm Beach. Stephanie co. My partner will be joining us shortly and today we have some truly special people on Anna and Martin to grassy and they had a lovely, beautiful boy, diego, and suffered a tragedy and with that they're doing some good things. It kind of works with helping their grieving process. But first of all, why don't you first tell us about Diego?
Speaker 2:Okay, first of all, thank you, rebecca, for the invitation and thank you, I love Palm Beach as well. It is our pleasure to share the story of our song with you guys and Diego. Diego was 16 years old and he was an amazing boy, full of energy. He wasn't scared of anything. He he was an entrepreneur. He always wanted to try new things. That was the end. And he was very athletic. He loves to play sports and he was a kind of boy that every sport that he played, he was good at it. As a matter of fact, the day of the accident, he got the opportunity to play his last game of basketball, which he did amazing.
Speaker 2:On January 30, 2019, we received a phone call that no parent wants to hear you know, you never think about these things Saying that he had an accident. He was with some of his friends in a lake and he drowned, so they took him to the hospital and, of course, we, right away, we got into our car. We went to the hospital. When we got the opportunity to see him and the doctors, they told us that his condition was very delicate. He was in the water for over five minutes, so they were doing the best that they could Right. That night he was transferred to two more hospitals and, to make the story a little bit short, he ended up in San Marys hospital, where he was able to fight for his life for the next five days.
Speaker 2:Wow, and right during that process, the things were deteriorating. You know, the doctors say they were trying to do the best, but just the fact that he was in the water for over five minutes, his brain was responding. You know, the day before, I think the fourth day, our daughter comes to us and say mommy, what do you guys think? Or daddy, what do you guys think about donating his organs? Everything was new for us and but at the time we were like, well, we don't know too much about it. However, we don't want to say no, let's see what's going to happen. The doctors came to us and they say that Diego has brain damage.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So at that specific time we needed to have a, we needed to make a decision. So we contact Life Alliance. We asked them if we can please hear a story from either from a recipient or from an organ donor.
Speaker 2:We wanted to make sure what we were doing because, as most of the people have, we have a lot of questions. At that specific time, we were scared. We say we were scared for the cost, we were scared for what's going to happen. What are they going to do with the organs? Is this true? Maybe they're not going to try to help Diego just because we wanted to do the organ donations All these questions that most of us have. Right, absolutely so. Life Alliance brought a family. She was a recipient. Her daughter was a recipient when she was a. How old was the girl?
Speaker 4:Six years old.
Speaker 2:When she was six years old, she received an organ and after talking with her we didn't I mean at that time we say this is exactly what we want to do. We want to help other families, even though we're going through this tough time. I don't think it's fair that if it is in our hands, we can help other families. Why not Absolutely? So we made the decision about donating Diego's organs. Diego was able to save three lives. He donated his heart, his corneas, the kidneys and the tissue. We donated the tissue for more investigations, for more research. What did you say?
Speaker 4:Research For more research, and it also helps a lot of burn victims in that aspect as well.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's incredible.
Speaker 2:Right. So now, speaking about Life Alliance, the impact that they have made with us has been amazing. Not just they helped us through this grief, but they have given us the opportunity to speak about our son, to continue his legacy, of course, to educate ourselves and other people about organ donation. The donation can provide comfort to grieving families and that's exactly why we continue this mission.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. It has really given us a new purpose coming out of this, where I think it'd be really difficult for us to know where we'd be without this new purpose of trying to have other families avoid going through what we went through. If it's because you're literally not saving just one person, you're literally saving an entire family most for the rest, for a very long time, because what we're going through it's expected that you know we'll go through it for the rest of our lives. It will be impacted in one way or another. So if we could save one life through raising awareness of organ donation, it's well worth it.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to jump in here for a second. So Diego, 1k for L, that is your foundation, and then you raise money through that and then pass it on to the life alliance.
Speaker 4:So, yeah, yes, if I could share a little bit more. That that's you're exactly on. But, but the way we've done, by raising awareness as well as keeping Diego's legacy alive is through. We have an annual 5K which, for the last three years, this will be our upcoming fourth annual 5K on his birthday in honor of him, of him, february, the first week of February, where we raise money. But, more importantly, we also raise awareness, where we've had over 300 participants the last three years, with sponsors, with volunteers, locally here, locally here at jump, prince Park, and, and we make it a celebration as well.
Speaker 4:So we celebrate Diego's life, but we also raise awareness and everybody comes up to us and says, look, we've become Oregon owners, which you know makes us feel really good, but at the same time, it's answering questions and letting them know that, that we're here for them. And we also get to meet a lot of families in our situation which which provide comfort and purpose. So, and again, just to reiterate it, right, and all the funds that we collect, they end up in life alliances. We are a nonprofit organization, but we also give it to life alliance because they've they've helped us so much during this journey.
Speaker 1:Stephanie, do you want to say hi and add any input?
Speaker 3:Hello, sorry to jump in a little later on at all. I can only imagine that you're speaking about your son. Is that what happened?
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you for everything that you guys are doing for other families as well, too. It's a very emotional story. I don't know if I have any questions at this time, I'm just kind of soaking it all in. But as far as you know, I'm sure that you said a few things before I jumped in, but what do you think are some of the biggest misconceptions that people have about the topic?
Speaker 4:Yeah, like I think we believe there's cultural as well as educational and challenges, right? One of the things that Anna mentioned earlier was you know how much is it going to cost me? In this particular case, when you work with, especially here in the US, when you work with these organizations like Life Alliance, there is no cost because they are backed by University of Miami Jackson Medical Center. They provide all the doctors, everything, and if there's anything, the hospital doesn't charge for any of that as well, so there is no cost.
Speaker 2:Let me jump over there. For the organs. They don't charge for the organs. The only part that of course they're going to have a little cost, it will be for the surgery.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, no, but I meant it's. There's no out of pocket cost to the family because it's all absorbed by the life alliance which has pro bono doctors, and throughout their organization they're fully supported.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I can see probably arguments for both sides. But do they let you interact with the people that he donated his organs to, or is that kind of a? I can see that being a touchy subject.
Speaker 4:No, they do. There is a wait. There's a minimum one year wait period, which, in time, for different what's the word privacy? For privacy issues. There's a minimum one year wait limit at which point you start correspondence written correspondence or electronic correspondence at which point, once both parties agree, then there's meetings that take place.
Speaker 3:And then, is that something that you guys decided you wanted to do, or no?
Speaker 2:We did, we did. We haven't been that lucky, I would say, to be able to meet the recipients. Hopefully, one day they will be able to do it. We don't know the circumstances as well. On the other part, how well they are they, you know, they are still alive. So there's a lot of things in consideration before. Yeah, but yeah, in our case, we haven't been able to do it. However, we do know a lot of people that were able to find the recipients.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I know people that have met them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as you were saying earlier, martin. You were saying, you know, having the owner or the organ donation. Excuse me, it doesn't always mean it's going to be successful, but at least it gives people a shot because of matching and that kind of thing. So you don't always know how it's going to go, but without that shot they wouldn't have had a chance in most cases. Correct?
Speaker 4:Yeah, exactly I feel that way. Just putting yourself in that situation, you know it gives the opportunity for others to not have to go through what your family is going through and it may work out like we said we had multiple people that saved their lives, just the extension of the life of somebody else. But again, to me it's more about putting yourself out there and making that tough decision under the most difficult of circumstances and think beyond yourself in trying to do something good out of a terrible situation.
Speaker 3:Right, so, besides, you know, obviously this is a very large but also a very niche subject, right, not everyone can go and just donate organs, right? So what are, besides, getting involved and raising awareness and, you know, probably financially sponsoring stuff like that? I mean, you know, we see the big red blood buses about giving blood and everything, what are some of the best ways that people can get, you know, plugged in to help in similar, you know, activities as well, whether like the best places to give blood or the best organizations to get involved with that kind of thing?
Speaker 4:So I'll invite everyone to our 5K to get more information and get personal information right from living donors, from recipients from Life Alliance itself, from hospitals that sponsor us, that will be there at the event the entire community. So, from a personal standpoint, I invite you and all your listeners to our event and I'll give you more information when you want it, and then I'll let Anna, jump in.
Speaker 2:I think the best way that we can all participate in this is register in. You know, when you get your driver license. You can do it at the office. You can also do it from your phone Now today's days there's a little hard on the iPhones that you can bring you the opportunity to register to be an organ donor and also, which I was talking at the beginning, we were talking about how important it is to talk with the family. This is a subject that we do not want to touch because we see this far away, but it's important that we, the families I mean they are all on the same page.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's really important. Let your loved ones know what your wishes are and if you want to be an organ donor, make sure they know about it, because things get messy when things happen. Right, Correct, Well, thank you guys for being so sweet and talking about this. You know delicate subject, but I think it's so important doing what you're doing to help other people and we would love to get involved with your 5k. Please make sure we've got all of your information and where people can register. Maybe even our group can come and be in volunteers at the event and help you guys with some stuff. We would love to do that and it was so amazing hearing about.
Speaker 1:D&M, and sometime I would like to hear about the businesses that he created. Yeah, he was an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2:He was since he was 10 years old. He was just looking for opportunities to earn money. Did he watch Shark?
Speaker 1:Tank. All the time was he the kid watching Shark Tank.
Speaker 4:Oh, he would have loved it, but yeah, his first ones, I think. Just to throw something out there, I mean he literally became a sneakerhead. For those of us that didn't know what the term was, it would be basically trading sneakers, shoes that were very valuable.
Speaker 4:We would have never thought they were so expensive in our time nor anybody would pay $500, $1,000, $2,000 for a used pair of shoes, and you later find out that there are stores dedicated for that, that they're nicely wrapped airtight so that it keeps them in pristine condition. But he was all in and he was good too Well that's wonderful.
Speaker 1:I love that. That is awesome. Well, we're going to let you guys go on Sorry, we were go ahead.
Speaker 4:Go ahead, martin. No, I was just saying thank you for asking because, again, anna mentioned it as well. But you asking we want to talk about it. We don't like people that now. We don't like people. We don't like it when people feel uncomfortable, that to either hurt us or make us feel bad, shedding a tear or not being able to get through it the first time around. It's not as important as speaking about your loved one and making people aware of what we want to do.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, thank you so much. It's been great. Thanks for being on. I Love Palm Beach and you really add value to our community in our area, and I'm sorry I'm frozen and I'm stuck with this awful look on my face. But we'll see you in person and please make sure that we've got all the information and we'll let you know when this airs.
Speaker 4:Oh, awesome.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. Have a good one, bye, bye.