News

Actions

Names added to memorial honoring thousands of lives saved by organ, tissue donors

Posted at 4:50 PM, Aug 29, 2015
and last updated 2015-08-29 18:50:51-04

SALT LAKE CITY – Another 575 names were added to a wall in Salt Lake City Saturday, and the wall is a memorial to thousands of lives that have been saved by local organ and tissue donors over the years.

Intermountain Donor Services adds new names to the memorial each year during an emotional service, and the Celebration of Life Monument is located in the southeast corner of Library Square, 500 South 300 East in Salt Lake City.

Of the 575 names added this year, 23 of them were living tissue donors. This year’s additions bring the total number of names to 6,020, according to a press release from Intermountain Donor Services.

Families of those who have received donations said the event is a chance to say thank you, while families of donors who have passed on said it’s a chance to see their loved one’s gift continue onward.

“You just don’t want people to ever forget that your child was here, and that’s the hardest part, you don’t want them to forget your child,” said Crystal Ulibarri, the mother of an organ donor. “And, he’s my hero, he truly is. He made the choice to save lives.”

Ulibarri said after her son, Tyler, was on life support for four days, his organs were harvested and six different people received gifts of life thanks to his decision to be a donor.

For more information about the monument or to search the donors honored by name, click here.