Ms. Quarles- Reese
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On a mission: LifeNet’s quest to increase organ donations
Black Virginians make up half of the patients on the state’s organ transplant waiting list, despite accounting for 19% of the population
“Don’t take your organs to heaven — heaven knows we need them here.” This phrase, commonly used by organ donation advocates, stuck with Donnetta Quarles-Reese when she first saw it on bumper stickers and license plates in her youth. It would stay with her in the decades that followed, when she agreed to donate the organs of her daughter Clarke Danielle and her husband Charles Michael after their deaths in 2007 and 2017, respectively.
