Petaluma native uses tragedy to advocate for new life

Jessica Lopez was 15 when her father passed away on Christmas Day.

Geronimo Lopez Jr. was 52 when he choked on food at a holiday dinner party in 2013. Life saving measures taken were unsuccessful, and by the time emergency personnel arrived on scene, the oxygen to his brain had been cut off, his now 18-year-old daughter said.

At the time, Jessica Lopez did not know her father was a registered organ donor, and that his heart, liver, kidneys and corneas would ultimately be used to help five other people. Though his death dealt her a devastating blow, she said, her father’s final act of kindness has inspired her to help others by advocating for organ donation.

“When it first happened it was really just a spiral down for me,” the Petaluma native said. “But, I was able to get past it and see the good in it and then go from there.”

She said she wasn’t familiar with the concept of becoming a donor before her father passed away, but the experience motivated her to dedicate her senior project at Casa Grande High School to educating her peers about the process and how it can save lives.

“When I told my friends what happened they asked me questions,” she said. “They had no idea about organ donation and some people didn’t know what it meant or what happened to organ donor families, and that’s when I realized I wanted to be a donor as well.”

Over the course of several months, she traveled to Analy and El Molino high schools to share her story, also volunteering at a health exposition to offer education and recruit future donors.

“The students were so enlightened by the topic and what we were saying and they were so attentive to everything we were telling them,” she said. “Students and teachers were telling me after class that they were inspired by my story and that they couldn’t believe a 17-year-old could get up in front of a class of freshmen after my father’s passing and come out to do a lot of good.”

After graduating in June, Lopez moved to Texas to attend San Jacinto College before transferring to the University of Texas, Austin to study psychology. But, she hasn’t let the distance stop her from championing for the cause she’s impassioned about and she traveled back to the Bay Area to participate in a Sept. 10 Donor Network West Donate Life Run/Walk in Walnut Creek. She recruited a group of 18 friends and family members dubbed “Team Christmas,” and raised $1,000 to promote educational initiatives and raise awareness.

Lopez’s sister, 28-year-old Marilyn Nieves, a member of “Team Christmas,” said Lopez’s efforts are moving.

“For her to take that one step further to continue his legacy after he passed away - he would have been very proud,” she said. “As a young adult to take that and run with it and continue to do things to spread knowledge and to inform the community is great. She went to different high schools and promoted this even though it was really difficult for her to speak about it. When anyone would bring up our dad, she’d get really teary eyed and cry, but I think this taught her to be stronger and that’s what was inspiring to me.”

This year marks the sixth annual Donate Life Walk/Run and the Donor Network West has raised about $290,000 through the event, according to Public Affairs Manager Noel Sánchez. A nearly three-decade-old organization, the network serves 175 hospitals, five transplant centers, 44 coroners and medical examiner offices and more than 500 funeral homes and the public in Northern California and Nevada, according to its website.

Sánchez praised Lopez, who is one of more than 600 volunteer ambassadors who work in their communities. He said she’s made a “great difference” in Sonoma County, where more than 300 people are waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

“First and foremost, it takes the generosity of a donor and families to make that donation happen … but it also takes the generosity of individuals in the community to help us as a nonprofit to bring this message to more people. The more people that find out about donation, the more people talk about it and register,” he said.

Lopez said she plans to continue to tell her tale in hopes that her efforts will help save lives.

“I want to spread the word and I hope people will register to be a donor,” she said.

(Contact Hannah Beausang at hannah.beausang@arguscourier.com. On Twitter @hannahbeausang.)