Easygoing, slightly reserved Emma served as a perfect buffer between older sister Lauren and younger sister Rachel.

“Emma struck a great balance between Rachel and Lauren, who – dare I say – may be just a little bit more opinionated,” Emma’s father, Jim, said. “She was the peacemaker.”

Lauren admired Emma’s positivity.

“When it came to being the mediator between the sisters, she definitely was the one who kept me and Rachel from bumping heads. She was always trying to be the more positive person out of the situation. She was on the straight and narrow, never wanting to be involved in any type of drama,” Lauren said. “She loved being happy and loved being positive reinforcement for everyone in the family.”

Another of Emma’s qualities that shined through was her sense of humor.

“She had a wit that is hard to describe. She loved to laugh, even at my jokes. I don’t know if she was just doing that to appease me or thought what I was saying was funny, but she was always along for the ride,” Jim said.

In her middle school days, Emma found hair removal cream in the medicine cabinet. Her mother, Sarah, told her not to use it, especially on her eyebrows. Twenty minutes after that warning, Emma emerged from the bathroom with band aids over her eyebrows.

In her high school days, Emma stayed out of trouble with one exception.

“The police chief showed up at our door and we thought, ‘Oh boy, what happened?!’ There was some vandalism in the village. He said someone plastered the stop sign at the end of our road with Kraft singles cheese slices, and there was reason to believe that Emma was the ringleader,” Jim said. “That was her one brush with the law!”

Despite that run-in with the law, Emma graduated from Tecumseh High School, and her compassionate, gentle nature led to her interest in pursuing early childhood or elementary education in the future. She also wanted to continue playing softball. Emma was talented enough to play every position on the field other than pitcher, but what she enjoyed the most was bonding with her teammates and friends, who she was “fiercely loyal to and absolutely loved,” Jim said. When she was not on the softball field, Emma could be seen jamming to country music while sporting camouflage and cowboy boots.

Emma’s family’s world came to a halt in August 2018. At first, Sarah thought Emma’s headache and vomiting was just a bug, but when Emma’s legs buckled to the point of her not being able to walk, she knew something was wrong. Emma was rushed to the hospital. After discovering several blood clots in her brain, Emma was transferred from Soin Medical Center to Kettering Health – Main Campus. Although surgery to remove the blood clots was originally deemed successful, the hopeful news stopped. Emma’s undetectable, rare blood clotting condition had done irreparable damage.

On August 2, 2018, 18-year-old Emma passed away.

“She went from being perfectly happy and healthy to gone 48 hours later,” Jim said.

Emma’s family was immersed in crushing grief when a Family Services Coordinator from Life Connection of Ohio entered the picture.

“Trying to process the loss and the grief and then learning our daughter was a registered organ donor… it was difficult for me to wrap my head around. But Life Connection of Ohio’s [coordinator] was very compassionate and loving. The work she did with us to walk us through the process left us with no doubt to honor Emma’s wishes,” Jim said.

Although the pain of losing Emma will never go away, Emma’s family is grateful that she was able to give the gift of life through organ and tissue donation.

Lauren was not surprised that her sister was a registered organ and tissue donor.

“My sister honestly would have given the shirt off her back for anybody no matter the situation, so knowing that she was able to help people even with her passing is a positive thing, and it has helped me,” Lauren said.

Corresponding with some of Emma’s recipients has been healing for her family.

“The word that the recipients use without fail in their letters is ‘hero.’ I can think of no better description of a person than that when you’re talking about giving the gift of life,” Jim said.

One of Emma’s kidney recipients shared that she was ecstatic to become a grandmother – a title she would never have without her life-saving transplant. One of Emma’s tissue recipients recovered from her debilitating injury and now can run and play with her children without any pain.

“It’s beyond measure how wonderful it is for these individuals to have a new lease on life. What an incredible sense of pride we have for Emma that she was able to do that,” Jim said. “That’s something we can wrap our arms around.”

Every year on the anniversary of Emma’s death, her family and friends gather to remember her. During the last anniversary gathering, butterflies were released, and a sign from Emma was present.

“My husband’s butterfly did not fly at first. It stayed right on his shirt and climbed all the way up his back and neck to the top of his head, and then it finally flew away,” Sarah said.

Another way Emma’s family celebrates her life is by forming a team in her honor at Life Connection of Ohio’s Strides for Life 5K.

“I’ve developed this passion to try and espouse the value and benefits of organ donation. We trumpet the cause every chance we get,” Jim said.

Because of organ and tissue donation, Emma’s compassionate, generous, kind spirit lives on.

“She was an incredibly giving person, and she brought so much love and kindness. There will never be enough words to describe who Emma was and how she changed our lives for the better,” Jim said. “We were blessed to have Emma with us, and we cherish the light of her love and beautiful soul that she shined on all of us.”