National Donate Life Month: Donor mom advocates for organ, eye and tissue donation
Misty Troester’s 5-year-old son, Jarren, was killed in an accident in 2005. His corneas were donated to two individuals.
Crystal (right) was one of the recipients, and Misty Troester (left) considers her “like a family member” after Crystal connected with the family in 2010. The two are active with the Iowa Donor Network and Team Iowa.
As a donor mom and recipient aunt—her now teenage nephew, Dylan Troester, received a kidney in 2009—Misty Troester works to raise awareness and educate people. “If you’ve never had to deal with a family member in need, or a close friend, you don’t know the importance. So we try to stress that,” she said.
By Audrey Posten | Times-Register
It was in 1991 that Iowa began asking residents to indicate on their driver’s license whether they would like to be an organ donor. The option became available for hunting and fishing licenses in 2019, and now, people can register directly at iowadonornetwork.org.
Misty Troester doesn’t recall when she first said yes, but there was never any doubt.
“I automatically said yes,” she shared. “But I didn’t know when I first signed up that it would affect me later on in life with my kids.”
Troester’s 5-year-old son Jarren was killed in an accident in Guttenberg on May 31, 2005. She remembers a phone call that evening from a man with the Iowa Eye Bank, asking her and Jarren’s father if they would consider donation.
“Due to the severity of his accident, we could only donate his corneas,” she said. “I automatically said yes, and it upset his dad. His dad was not sure at the time.”
The man gave them time to think.
“I explained to J’s dad, if our child needed something, I certainly hope another parent could make that decision and say yes. That’s what made him agree,” Troester said.
Now, with Jarren as her inspiration, Troester advocates throughout the year—and particularly during Donate Life Month in April—for organ, eye and tissue donation. She’s also a member of Team Iowa, a collective of donor families, living donors and transplant recipients, and regularly participates in Iowa Donor Network events.
“I think the support from everybody, you get to hear all the stories. For me, it’s part of the healing process,” she said. “For a parent, losing a child is the worst tragedy. But it helps so much in the healing, knowing you helped another family.”
According to Troester, spring, with April as Donate Life Month, is like “ a kick off to another year. There’s events going on all month long for April.” Then, a fundraiser called the Give Life 5K is held annually the first Saturday in May, at Raccoon River Park in West Des Moines. An event at the Field of Dreams in Dyersville will pit Team Iowa against Team Michigan.
The Transplant Games of America are held bi-yearly, and Troester went to her first in 2022, in San Diego.
“We would really love to get more people to join us on Team Iowa to participate,” Troester said. “Some people think, when they hear games, ‘Oh, we’re not physically fit to be participating in games,’ but everyone is a living donor or recipient. It’s more for fun, healing, connecting with people, sharing our stories. You don’t have to be an all star athlete.”
Troester said her involvement blossomed after 2010, when she first heard from Crystal, one of two recipients of Jarren’s corneas. (The other, a man, accepted a letter from the family, but never reached out.) Troester responded to Crystal’s thank you note, and the two became friends on Facebook. In 2013, Troester learned Crystal planned to skydive for her 30th birthday, a long-time goal made possible by the donation.
“She could not do that because of her eye issues. But when she received J’s cornea and her eye was healed, she was able to do that,” Troester said.
When Crystal invited her to attend, Troester was unsure, since they’d never met in person. She eventually reconsidered and worked with Crystal’s stepmom on a surprise. Crystal jumped out of the plane, only to find Jarren’s family on the landing pad. It was all documented in a video and even a TV news story.
Today, Troester considers Crystal “like a family member.” They’ve celebrated holidays and other birthdays together and, in 2014, the two became the first donor family and recipient to speak together in Iowa City at an annual memorial.
Troester has spoken multiple times since—alone and with others.
“It is very emotional. My first couple public speakings, I was a train wreck. I cried through most of them,” she said. “I have a handful now behind me that I made it through speaking and sharing stories.”
As a donor mom and recipient aunt—her now teenage nephew, Dylan Troester, received a kidney in 2009—Troester wants to do more to raise awareness and educate people.
There’s certainly a need. Over 104,000 people are waiting for an organ or tissue, noted Troester. A new person is added to the national organ transplant list every eight minutes, and an average of 13 people die each day waiting. Luckily, an average of 115 transplants occur daily in the United States and, in 2024, the country saw the most organ transplants ever.
Last year alone, there were 16,988 deceased donors in the U.S. and 7,030 living donors (kidney or liver). In Iowa, there were 130 organ donors a year ago and 387 organs transplanted, along with 1,118 tissue donors and 2,451 tissues recovered.
Statistics Troester cited said one deceased donor can save up to eight lives and enhance between 50 and 300 lives through tissue donation.
“I think people don’t realize how much could be given, even through live donation. You can donate one of your kidneys and you can donate part of your liver, too,” Troester explained. “If you’ve never had to deal with a family member in need, or a close friend, you don’t know the importance of that. So we try to stress that.”
Troester is open to speaking at community events or health care facilities, and can bring in other speakers through the Iowa Donor Network. She can also be a one-on-one resource for families. It’s something she said there wasn’t a lot of in the area when Jarren passed.
“That’s probably why it took me so long from the time of Jarren’s accident in 2005 until connecting with Crystal, because, back in 2005, you didn’t hear a lot about it in our area,” she said. “I really think our area needs more. Families need that support.”
“I just really wanna bring more awareness to everybody in northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin, since we’re so close,” Troester continued. If anything, make sure “that little heart is checked on your driver’s license to be an organ donor. Every person counts.”
Learn more at www.iowadonornetwork.org, or contact Troester directly at (563) 880-3057.
