Quentin Dachis
"You are about to save her life."
by Louis Dachis, Quentin's father
Quentin Dachis was a baby who made hearts melt. His huge, blue eyes, his devilish smirks and his clutzy manner caused us to be stopped in public with gasps of love.
Quentin was 16 months old when he fell into a backyard pool on December 22, 2003. He was resuscitated and airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he remained in a coma for two days. Soon after it became clear that Quentin was not going to pull through, we were connected with representatives from OneLegacy to discuss organ donation.
While painful and difficult, the choice to allow Quentin to help others was plainly right. It was a way to ensure other people that were dealing with life and death issues like we had, and would have a better outcome. It was a way for a part of Quentin to live on through the salvation of others.
The Ronald McDonald House provided rooms for our family and a shuttle to and from the hospital. It was on this shuttle that family members saw a jaundiced and very sick little Hispanic girl. Asking around, we learned the story of Maria, whose mother struggled to bring her to Loma Linda for treatment and who was desperately in need of a liver transplant. We requested that Maria receive Quentin’s liver and as fate would have it, they were perfect matches.
In the very early morning of December 26, I wrote this journal entry:
We left you just now with the organ donation people. As we left the hospital, a chopper was landing on the roof as it did with you. It was almost poetic in a tragic sort of way. Ours was just one beat of an unending rhythm. Some with a positive outcome, some negative – but the churn is happening everywhere 24X7. Right now the Hispanic girl from the Ronald McDonald house is on an operating table and you are about to save her life. Right now her mother is crying tears of joy and hopefully HER story will end well.
On Christmas day, Quentin passed and valiantly gave his own life to save two individuals he didn’t know. We will never have the pride of a high school graduation or wedding ceremony, but the pride we feel for Quentin as a result of this gift helps to soothe the pain if only a little bit.
The wind gently whispers your name, night fills your thoughts with a blanket of dew… may the moon be your guide… and night time make all of your wishes come true...
