Tissue Donation: Let’s Talk About It
10/25/2025Nanette Winston, girlfriend of donor Mark Corley, recounts how tissue donation has been a loving journey for her.
“Mark was a registered donor. It was a very compassionate process,” Nanette says.
Her boyfriend passed away from a massive stroke.
“Mark was always larger than life. He would do anything for anyone. He was a good man,” she says, “I tell [family and friends-even strangers] how committed Mark was to donating.”
He was a registered donor, and because of his desire to help heal and save others, he donated skin tissue.
“As the months went by, I realized what a gift Mark gave,” Nanette says, as a volunteer now with DNA. “I keep Mark’s memory alive when I give presentations.”
WHAT IS TISSUE DONATION?
Tissue donation has given millions of people in the U.S. the gift of an improved quality of life.
In Arizona, the recovery of this gift typically happens at Donor Network of Arizona’s (DNA) main office location in Tempe, or sometimes at the medical examiner’s office or a funeral home.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
There are a series of eligibility criteria that must be answered by DNA’s Tissue Donor Optimization (TDO) department. At this point, donor support coordinators in that department initiate the conversation about tissue donation with the family of the potential donor.
They conduct what’s called a Uniform Donor Risk Assessment Interview, known as UDRAI, to determine donor suitability.
- The interview serves to record the social and medical history of the donor. A family member or legal next-of-kin of the donor must be able to answer all questions to determine whether tissue donation may proceed.
- Once the assessment has been completed, TDO serves as the liaison with the funeral homes and transportation provider partners to ensure that donors and their families receive their arrangements following the donation process.
The goal?
- Maximize tissue donation, always putting first the mission to heal and save lives.
- Make good on our commitment to the donor and their family for choosing to share life and healing.
WHAT IS POSSIBLE?
Through tissue donation, the lives of more than one million people are touched yearly. One tissue donor can help support the healing of over 75 people.
Yearly, roughly 1,600 Arizonans heal lives through the selfless gift of tissue donation.
The potential tissues that may be donated are numerous, including the following:
- Eye
- Skin
- Heart valve
- Pericardium
- Bone
- Tendons
- Vein and artery
- Bone marrow from vertebral bodies
Here are some specifics:
Heart valve donation saves the lives of children, typically, but adults as well, in need of a heart valve replacement to correct congenital heart defects.
Cornea and sclera donation can provide the gift of sight to two people and support treatment for patients with glaucoma.
Skin donation can help heal and provide skin grafts to people who have had mastectomies, as well as wounds that are difficult to heal for a variety of reasons.
Bone donation helps restore mobility and healing in individuals who otherwise struggle daily with these issues.
Veins and arteries can even help those who require dialysis and potentially eventually a kidney transplant, which DNA also has a hand in.
WHAT IS THE BENEFIT OF AN OPO, LIKE DNA, THAT DOES BOTH ORGAN AND TISSUE DONATION?
DNA’s mission is to save lives and heal lives through organ and tissue donation.
The benefit of realizing donation through an organ procurement organization that does both organ and tissue donation is that families work with a more centralized and caring team.
A competent organization that can facilitate the process for families during the hardest moments of their life is critical to ensure that the process is seamless while the gift of the donor and donor family is being respected.
DNA has access to an abundance of resources that can be offered to donor families so they may receive adequate support as they undergo the bereavement process.
DNA’s number one priority is honoring the decision of donors and their families, to give the gift of life to those with the greatest need.
It also eliminates the need for a second, separate agency to contact the same donor family with their own requests, which adds an additional burden to a grieving family.
💚 HOW TISSUE DONATION TRANSFORMS LIVES
Ava Mericle
Equally as impactful as Mark’s is the story of a young donor, Ava, who passed away from a car accident. Her mother, Melissa Mericle, is also an advocate for donation.
“I have been a registered nurse for 31 years. Donation has always been an important part of my life personally and professionally,” Melissa says.
“Ava was a beautiful, silly, God-loving, generous, intelligent and God-serving child. She loved to sing, dance and spend time with her friends. She danced on her high school dance team and volunteered on weekends in the daycare at church. She giggled all the time,” she says.
Though Ava was too young to register, her mother authorized donation on her behalf.
To the recipients of Ava’s gift, “You are the luckiest people on this planet to receive a gift from the most beautiful, precious child I’ve ever known,” Ava’s mother says.
“You can save a life. You don’t need your gifts when you’re gone, but someone else does,” she says, “Donation has been the only good part to come out of such a tragedy. It has given us a purpose in our pain.”
Stephen Grout
Barbara Grout, wife of Stephen Grout, describes her journey with donation as positive.
If he knew that he helped save and heal other people, “He would be so happy,” she says.
Stephen was previously registered as a donor when he passed away from ventricular tachycardia as a complication of congestive heart disease, and as a result was able to donate tissue.
“He was always a giver and teacher. He survived the longest of anyone in the world with his heart surgery, so his heart and lungs are still being studied by cardiologists to train them.”
As an advocate for donation, Barbara says, “You can help others with a gift of life or improved life. Don’t ask why, but rather, why not?”
TRANSFORM LIVES TODAY
Mark’s, Ava’s and Stephen’s generosity allowed others to be healed and given a chance for a better life.
You also can share the gift of life with others and help promote DNA’s message to heal and save lives through the gift of organ and tissue donation.
Register as an organ and tissue donor today at DonateLifeAZ.org or next time you visit the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division when you renew or apply for your driver’s license or state ID.