The gifts that Hannah gave

By: 
Jill Meier, Journal editor

Family members, friends and classmates gathered last week for a flag raising ceremony at Avera McKennan, celebrating the gifts of life Hannah Havermann made possible through organ donation. Jill Meier/BV Journal

Jill Meier
Journal editor
 
On a cloudy and chilly mid-December afternoon, about 50 of Hannah Havermann’s family, friends and classmates gathered arm in arm outside of Plaza 2 on the Avera McKennan campus in Sioux Falls. The gathering was staged to remember Hannah on what would’ve been her 15th birthday and recognize the gifts of life her unexpected death made possible.
Less than four months after their daughter’s passing as the result of a cyst discovered on her brain, her parents, Joseph and Trudie, invited family, friends and classmates last week to the ceremonial flag raising.
“We’re still trying to get over it,” Joseph said of Hannah’s unexpected passing. “Probably because of Christmas, it’s a kids’ holiday, basically. Parents around the tree with their kids … I think that’s the toughest for us right now, but doing this, knowing that she gave life to other people so they can have one, that’s huge for us.”
Hannah died Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017 at Avera McKennan, just two days after the cyst on her brain was discovered.
“Organ donation is the greatest gift that one person can give to another,” Avera McKennan Chaplain Megan Bielfeldt shared. “And today, we remember the life of Hannah. Let our hearts and minds in spirit be filled with gratitude for Hannah, as she shared her life and love with others.”
Nine lives were impacted by Hannah’s donation of organs that included a 15-year-old girl from Iowa who received her heart.
“I think that’s what helps to keep us going is simply the gifts of life she gave to all of those other people that we don’t even know that we’re finally starting to get to know,” Joseph said. “In fact, we are about ready to write them notes for Christmas to see how everything’s going.”
The Havermanns have not met any of the nine recipients, Joseph said, but they do have the ability to communicate through LifeSource, an agency in the Upper Midwest dedicated to saving lives through organ, eye and tissue donation.
As the Havermanns were preparing to say their good-byes to their daughter, they were asked to consider donating Hannah’s organs.
“They gave us a night to sleep on it, that was about it,” Joseph said.
The next morning, they said yes.
“We knew that’s what Hannah would’ve wanted,” Trudie said.
“If there’s a way that we could’ve talked to her, but because we know our daughter very well, this was a decision we had to make and ask ourselves, ‘What would Hannah do if she were here?’ That was the best thing that we could do, and when we found out the lives that were saved, I’m sure she’s up there right now looking down at us and she’s happy that she did that. The toughest part was for us to say goodbye to her, but what’s maybe helping us to heal is knowing the lives that she saved,” Joseph said. “Christmas is coming, and I can’t imagine there’s any gift in the world that’s bigger than what she did for these families. They get to be with their families for Christmas because of her. Nine people get to be with family members this year for Christmas, and that’s huge.”
“She’s an angel and a superhero,” Trudie concludes.

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The Brandon Valley Journal

 

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