Gardnerville organ donor honored with inflorescence graph

Kayla Price, Avriel Price's twin sister, stood beside Christie Halsey, the recipient of Avriel's heart, and unveiled a flower diagram made in her honor. This flower map was created by Gabriel and Raquel Gonzalez, who lost their daughter, through Donor Network West.

An “overwhelming” number of roses were placed over Avriel Price's body by staff and strangers at a donor walk ceremony after the Gardnerville woman died at the hospital, her mother said.

“By the time we passed her room, there were so many roses that we couldn't see her face,” said her mother, Susan Price. “The nursing staff called it an 'epic event.' … They had never seen so many people.”

Price chose to become an organ donor, and her gift saved the lives of five other people in need. For this act, she was awarded a floragraph made of organic materials and will be displayed on the 2025 OneLegacy Donate Life float during the 136th Annual Rose Parade in Pasadena, California on January 1st.

Price, 34, died on December 28, 2022, due to a medical error in which she was given the wrong medication while in hospital for a planned C-section, her family's website teamavriel.com said. . Susan said the post celebrates Price's work and raises awareness of the “complex” and “subtle” influence in the healthcare industry.

The Price family had already chosen to become organ and blood donors, but they didn't talk about it publicly until after Price's death. Donor Network West, a local organ procurement nonprofit, serves approximately 13 million people between Nevada and California, serving Douglas County along with Carson City, Churchill, Humboldt, Mineral and Washoe counties. We also place emphasis on

One of the five recipients contacted through Donor Network West was Christy Halsey of Los Angeles, California.

Halsey received Price's heart, which had a 97 percent antibody match. She experienced her first spontaneous coronary artery dissection in May 2016 after giving birth to her third child, Tennessee. She dismissed blurred vision as a natural part of aging, underwent physical therapy for pain symptoms and spent two months in Cedars' intensive care unit. Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Halsey was put on two life support machines, received blood transfusions and had five stents inserted. She said she was expected to need a heart transplant and later received an internal defibrillator.

“I was in denial for Christmas…and then 18 days later I got a call. My daughter was standing with me and I couldn't understand what the kind woman was saying to me. ,” Halsey said.

She had to formally accept receiving a heart donation, but it also meant admitting that she was truly ill, she said.

“All of those things combined to make me think this is what I have to do to stay,” Halsey said. “…And then this time last year, when I met Susan, I could see Donner walking. We didn't know anything about it. I don't know, but maybe that made everything more dramatic. But I loved watching it, and it stuck with me.”

Price said her daughter is remembered by friends and her twin sister Kayla as an outgoing and humorous person.

“She was outgoing and had a big personality,” she said. “We want people to remember her as a selfless person.”

Few families with loved ones who donate life-saving organs meet transplant recipients, Price said. This is because matching is anonymous. But Price wrote to Donor Network West and Halsey without knowing her name, and the organization made the introduction. Price and Halsey decided to meet and connected immediately. Price now has hope that Avrielle's donation will help recipients enjoy longer, healthier lives, she said.

“We hit it off as if we had known each other forever,” Price said of Halsey. “We went out to dinner in a row, and we felt very comfortable, and Kayla said, 'Can I ask you a question?' We brought stethoscopes. Can I listen to your heart? ” ”

Price said the floral map displayed during the Rose Parade was designed by Gabriel and Raquel Gonzalez, whose daughter died in 2008. Donor Network West selected the couple to design Abriel's botanical illustration, which was unveiled Dec. 10 at Jacob's Berry Farm in Gardnerville with several speakers. Susan said that Avriel's other recipient also came to celebrate the unveiling.

“It was an amazing event,” she said.

Halsey, 50, said the special gift made her feel like part of the Price family.

“If anything got through to me, it was her sense of humor,” she said. “I thought I had a sense of humor, but she had a better sense of humor. … You keep the essence of Donner, and I appreciate that.”