Brother’s unselfishness provides gift of life, inspires sister_122004

Posted: 12/17/04

Brother's unselfishness provides gift of life, inspires sister

By George Henson

Staff Writer

DALLAS–A boy's desire to give of himself has meant new life for seven other people and led to eternal life for his sister.

Brooke Webster, a Dallas Baptist University junior and Miss Dallas County 2005, fervently promotes organ donation, but she wasn't always such a believer.

A little more than six years ago, she was a 14-year-old without a care in the world enjoying an October night out with friends at a haunted house.

Her brother, 11-year-old Ryan, had elected to spend the evening at the roller skating rink.

“After awhile, he told his friends he was tired and for them to come and get him when the races started. He walked over and sat at one of the tables and put his head down. When they came to get him, he didn't move. He was unconscious,” she recalled.

She came home that night to a dark house, finding a tearful phone voicemail message from her mother to come to the hospital. A congenital aneurysm in Ryan's brain had burst.

Shortly after his sister arrived at the hospital, doctors said Ryan had died.

They asked if the family wanted to donate his organs.

His mother immediately said “yes,” but his sister wasn't as certain.

“I didn't really understand it. I thought that if they did that, I wouldn't get to see him,” she recalled.

Her mother explained, however, that Ryan had seen an “Oprah” episode two weeks before about how a 19-year-old man's organs had benefited others, and he had told his mother he wanted to do the same thing.

“Now Ryan is living on in seven other people who received his organs,” she said.

Ryan also had been involved in the youth program at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco, and his mother and sister felt in his death a prompting to begin attending church as well.

“In December 1998, I became a Christian, largely as a result of my brother's witness,” Webster said.

She remains a member of the Waco church but attends First Baptist Church in Irving while at school.

She said her position as Miss Dallas County gives her a platform to educate others about organ donation and share her Christian witness at the same time.

The education program she developed, “For the Love of Ryan,” is aimed at children in sixth grade up through adults. Its focus is the importance of donating organs, along with separating facts from myths about the process.

“It's something I'm very passionate about,” she said.

She is the state director of Students for Organ Donation, a national organization. A chapter is beginning at DBU, making it the third in the state, along with Rice University and Southern Methodist University.

While the story of Ryan's death is closely related to her passion about organ donation, it also is the beginning point of her faith walk, so it also gives her an opportunity to share her Christian testimony, she said.

“It's what I'm passionate about, and it's a way to glorify God.”