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Canonsburg mother committed to sharing life

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Katherine Mansfield/For the Observer-Reporter

Zoe Gillum, 2, Laura and Paul Gillum’s daughter, plays in the living room as her mom looks on.

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Katherine Mansfield/For the Observer-Reporter

Zoe Gillum, 2, the daughter of Laura and Paul Gillum of Canonsburg.

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Katherine Mansfield/ For the Observer-Reporter

Laura Gillum holds a shadow box that contains a photo of her son, Dean, who died at 23 months. An organ donor, Dean saved three lives.

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Katherine Mansfield/For the Observer-Reporter

Laura Gillum of Canonsburg looks at a photo of her son, Dean, who died in 2015 at the age of 23 months. Dean was an organ donor and Laura is a living donor.

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Katherine Mansfield/For the Observer-Reporter

Laura Gillum of Canonsburg with her daughter, Zoe, in their Canonsburg home.

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Katherine Mansfield/For the Observer-Reporter

Laura Gillum enjoys a moment with her daughter, Zoe, in their Canonsburg home.

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Katherine Mansfield/For the Observer-Reporter

Zoe Gillum, 2, the daughter of Laura and Paul Gillum of Canonsburg.

In the nearly six years Laura Gillum has navigated the world since the death of her 2-year-old son, she has been driven by one mission: to share the gift of life.

And she has.

When Dean Gillum drowned after falling into the family’s above-ground swimming pool in August 2015, Gillum and her husband, Paul, donated his organs.

In March 2019, inspired by her son, Gillum became a living organ donor when she gave one of her kidneys to an Aliquippa man.

And Gillum, 48, of Canonsburg, founded Breathing for Burrito, a nonprofit organization that offers free cardiopulmonary resuscitation classes. The classes are held on the first Thursday and the first Saturday of every month at Armory Youth Center in Canonsburg.

“It was never a question whether or not we’d donate Dean’s organs. My son was such a kind, sweet little boy, and it’s what he would have wanted,” said Gillum. “I know how I felt after my son died. I know the grief and the anguish that I felt, and I don’t ever want anyone to have to feel that way.”

April is National Donate Life Month, held annually to highlight the importance of organ donation.

Gillum, an advocate for organ donation who serves as a spokeswoman for Center for Organ Recovery and Education (CORE), talked last week at Allegheny Health Network Jefferson Hospital’s Donate Life flag-raising ceremony about how she has turned her family’s tragedy into a second chance at life for other families.

It’s a speech she’s given dozens of times over the years, but she never tires of sharing the message.

After the Gillums said good-bye to their son and authorized doctors to recover his organs, the little boy saved three lives.

Dean’s kidneys went to a 66-year-old nurse in Pittsburgh, and his liver was donated to a 1-year-old Florida boy.

And Dean’s heart was given to a 6-month-old South Carolina boy, Lennon Cureton, who was in end-stage heart failure when he underwent heart transplant surgery Aug. 8, 2015.

“On the worst day of my life, his parents got the greatest news of their lives,” said Gillum. “Their little boy was going to live because my son was going to give him his heart.”

The families struck up a close friendship – they regularly talk, text and share photos and videos – and in 2017, the Gillums met Lennon, who is now a healthy 6-year-old who loves math and is learning to read, and his parents, Allen and Jessica.

“We are so grateful for Laura and Paul and their brave and selfless decision to say yes to organ donation. Lennon is doing so well,” said Jessica Cureton. “Seeing Lennon grow and thrive has been such an incredible thing, something we weren’t sure we would experience, and without Laura and Paul we wouldn’t have these moments with him.”

And the Gillums find joy and comfort in watching Lennon grow.

“We’re so happy to see all of Lennon’s achievements because they’re possible because of Dean,” said Gillum. “And (the Curetons) are our second family, and we’re family to them, as well.”

Gillum also became an altruistic donor when she donated her left kidney to 39-year-old Brian Cox, a father of two and a diabetic, who had been on dialysis for about three years.

Both share a rare blood type, AB positive, which had made finding a compatible donor difficult.

“I had thought about being a living donor for a long time. I think it was something I had to do. I only need one kidney, I have two. Why would I not help someone else? My son would want me to do that,” said Gillum.

At the time Gillum found out she was a match, she and Paul were in the process of adopting a baby girl, Zoe, who had come into their lives unexpectedly on New Year’s Eve.

In April 2020, the adoption was finalized, and the couple have happily settled into their roles as parents.

On a recent weekday, Gillum laughed as Zoe, a relentlessly energetic, affectionate two-year-old, jumped up and down on a trampoline, stacked blocks, danced and carried around a figurine of Maui, a character from the Disney movie “Moana.”

“I can’t wait to see what life has in store for my strong-willed, sassy and loving little girl,” said Gillum.

Zoe has brought joy to the couple, who still grieve the loss of their son.

“I am doing better, but I think I’m not going to ever be the person I was before. I can finally say, OK, I’ll never be the same again. The death of a child changes you,” said Gillum. “I’m more anxious about parenting, I get freaked out about things, but Zoe has given me hope that life does go on, that children get older and children grow up.”

Gillum and her husband had been registered organ donors for decades, checking the box every time they renewed their driver’s licenses.

It wasn’t until after Dean’s death, however, that Gillum realized the significance of that decision.

“It didn’t sink in for us for a long time, the impact that the organ donation actually had, until we got to meet the family of the little boy who has my son’s heart,” said Gillum. “And once I met the family, once we got to meet Lennon, we saw the impact that it had not just on him, but the entire family – the aunts and uncles, the grandparents, the nieces, the nephews, the cousins. Everyone in the family is so grateful. It’s a humongous ripple effect, and you don’t realize it is until you’re in the middle of that.”

Gillum reflected on the direction her life has taken, and the people she has met in the last half decade.

“It’s miraculous to me,” said Gillum, “how something tragic like the death of my son has brought so many wonderful people into my life.”

Note: One organ donor can save up to eight lives, and the tissue can impact as many as 75 lives. Currently, 110,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant, including 2,500 in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. For information on organ donation, visit www.core.org.

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