UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Today (Aug. 1), Dale and Molly Crawford are celebrating four years of marriage. They are also celebrating PA Donor Day because, without the gift of an organ donor, the Crawfords wouldn’t be marking their anniversary.
Dale was in heart failure and in 2021 needed a heart transplant to live. Thanks to the generosity of an organ donor, Dale and Molly have the opportunity for many more anniversaries.
“We had no idea that he was in heart failure,” said Molly, who is a Penn State World Campus alumna. “I’m just so grateful every day and in awe of the fact that our medical field has made this something that is possible.”
'You never know when and how it’s going to affect you’
Six months after the Crawfords wed in 2020, they found themselves in and out of a hospital near their Pittsburgh home trying to figure out why Dale wasn’t feeling well. He was originally diagnosed with gallbladder issues, but his symptoms persisted after antibiotic treatments and even surgery.
Despite not really eating much, Dale had also gained 30 to 40 pounds in a month. The Crawfords later learned that water weight gain is a telltale sign of heart failure. After a few weeks of not feeling well and going through tests, an echocardiogram revealed Dale’s heart was performing at 15% when pumping blood. The average person’s rate is at least 55% to 70%.
“We immediately got moved to the cardiac floor and met with the heart failure team,” she said.
Dale’s medical team started him on a medication to improve his heart function while also running tests to determine if he’d be a candidate for organ donation. After another week in the hospital, Dale was considered an “ideal candidate.”
Molly remembered the doctors telling them that without a new heart, Dale likely would not live another year.
“That is a really difficult thing to hear not just as newlyweds, but as a pair of 27 year olds,” she said.
Molly was still working full-time as a music educator and was pursuing a master of education in curriculum and instruction online through Penn State World Campus. The flexibility she initially sought to balance her education with a full-time job allowed her to be where she needed to be during her husband’s hospital stays.
Dale joined the organ donation waitlist and moved to the intensive care unit, where he received additional care until a donor came.
Two weeks later, on March 20, 2021, Dale received the gift of life through a heart transplant.
“The most heroic person I can think of right now in my life is his donor. I know absolutely nothing about that man, except for that he was 30 years old when he died,” Molly explained.
“You never know when and how it’s going to affect you,” she said, noting her husband’s heart failure was genetic. “It wasn’t something you would expect, and it’s certainly not something you expect with somebody so young.”
Paying it forward
Today, Dale and Molly are advocating for others to sign up to be organ donors as they celebrate the life together that they didn’t know they’d have.
Molly works as a program manager at a Pittsburgh-area nonprofit that provides children with disabilities with adaptive equipment like bicycles, strollers and voice communication devices.
She earned her master's degree in spring 2022 and combines course work with her skills as an educator to help children with disabilities in western Pennsylvania.
“It really pushed me to utilize my educational background to help make our process more accessible,” she said.
She is helping develop content for families, teachers, therapists and other community members so they can better understand and access the nonprofit’s services.
“We’re currently developing a webinar to make people more aware of our programs and how they work,” she said.
Molly is also a volunteer advocate for CORE/Donate Life PA because of her experience supporting her husband through the organ transplantation process.
About PA Donor Day
PA Donor Day is Aug. 1 and highlights the importance of organ and tissue donation in Pennsylvania.
According to Donate Life PA, one person can save eight lives and help 75 or more people through organ and tissue donations. There are more than 6,500 Pennsylvanians waiting for transplants and more than 100,000 people in the United States on a waitlist.
Donate Life PA and other organizations and state agencies encourage everyone to sign up for organ donation, regardless of their age, health or medical history.