1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
"Ashley's Gift: A Liver for Lulu" by Heather May.
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
Feb. 14, 2010.
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
This story is about the parallel paths of one family waiting for a liver transplant for their toddler and another family saying goodbye to their 12-year-old who would become the donor. Donor families and recipients don't usually connect so quickly. These families did at the donor's funeral.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
Before we ran the story, we needed to confirm that the 12-year-old was the little girl's donor. We asked the families to seek written confirmation through the organ procurement organization. The story required extensive reporting, not all of which ended up in the story, to understand liver transplants, the recipient's disease and the ways families usually connect after transplantation.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
I followed the recipient family through the transplant process. I started the interviews when they were waiting for a transplant, I attended a doctor's appointment and I was with them in the hospital during the transplant. Later, after the families connected, I interviewed the donor's parents and got their permission to interview the girl's doctors about her care. I was with both families when the donor's parents met the toddler for the first time.
6. Results (if any).
Liz Badger, the recipient's mother, has become an advocate for organ donation. Her story has been highlighted by the local organ procurement organization and the Red Cross.
7. Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
No.
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Follow a good story and see where it takes you. This story was initially pitched as a way to track one family's wait for a transplant. I wanted to write the story after reading the family's blog, which was written as they waited. They were scared for their daughter but they were also grieving for an unknown, future donor. I wanted to explore how a family waits for another child to die to save their own. I never imagined they would actually meet the donor's family, who would then allow me to write their story, too. The story took luck and persistence: A string of coincidences meant I started following the recipient family on the day the donor was struck by a car; I was with the recipient family at a doctor's appointment when the donor was literally down the hall in intensive care. And the way the recipient family discovered the donor was because our paper happened to write a story about a girl who was struck by a car and became a donor. On a hunch that she was their donor, the family went to her funeral. I also had to be persistent: I was there as the story unfolded, instead of recreating it. I attended doctor visits, spent time at the recipient's home, waited for the transplantation in their hospital room, and hovered as the donor family met the girl who received their girl's liver.