Jess Stanley (left) runs for her late son Brenden (right) who donated his organs posthumously.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
CHICOPEE — Jess Stanley will be running the Falmouth Road Race on Sunday, Aug. 17, with Team New England Donor Services for the fifth year in honor of her son, who passed away when he was only 12 years old.
In 2017, Stanley’s life was forever changed when her son Brenden passed away suddenly due to a tragic accident. While her grief was unimaginable, she was able to take comfort in the fact that Brenden’s organs were deemed viable for donation and saved the lives of three individuals who needed life-saving transplants.
Now, she runs with Team NEDS to raise awareness about organ donation and to honor the heroic final act of her son.
Stanley said the idea to start running in the Falmouth Road Race came during the coronavirus pandemic when the Road Race Committee pivoted to a creating a responsible virtual at-home edition.
This allowed Stanley to participate in Chicopee and create a route with places that her and her son would often visit. Stanely drew her course to serve as a memorial race for him.
When the road race shifted back to in person in 2021, Stanley decided to give the 7.1-mile seaside road race a try and eventually fell in love with it.
“It’s such a community race,” Stanely said, “The community really fills up and cheers you on and just being able to run with a team that has the same values and mission as you to bring awareness to such an amazing organization is what keeps me running.”
The NEDS team is made up of around 17 members who have all been impacted by organ donation. Some people run in honor of their loved ones that were organ donors or some people run for a family member that received an organ as well.
The members of the team also serve as a good support system, according to Stanley.
“You know they have gone through the similar things that you have and they understand it and they’re running with that same thought process in their minds, running for the person that they love which is such a strong driving force.”
Stanely said that in a past year there was also a runner who was a recipient of an organ donation.
Stanley talked about the different stories each team member has for participating in the road race and stated, “It brings us all from all walks of life of how this organization impacted us to come together as a team, raise, bring awareness and hopefully get people to open their eyes and do the research on organ donation and eventually, hopefully become an organ donor themselves.”
Stanely said although she was confronted with this decision, she views organ donation as “your last act of kindness that you can do here and at the same time, it makes you a hero.”
Stanley advocates for people to do research becoming an organ donor.
Readers can check out neds.org/organ-donation to learn more about becoming an organ donor.
Stanely stated, “You get to help another family not go through what you’re going through and that was a driving force. If I could stop parents from going through what I had to go through, I would do it all over again.”
Stanely also discussed the support she has received from NEDS.
She stated, “It’s been eight years since my son has passed and [NEDS] treats him like a hero everyday, helping me bring his story to life and you can’t say that about a lot of organizations. They stick with you this whole time.”
