NORFOLK, Va. — A Hampton Roads man is being highlighted for his organ donation. Zack Pate was HIV positive and donated his heart to save a life.
This was only the third time a heart from an HIV-positive patient had been donated and was a first for Sentara, where the surgery was performed.
“My brother was quiet," Pate's sister, Ashleigh Blankenship said.
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Quiet, but someone who was also full of energy. That’s how Blankenship remembers her brother.
“You could always tell when he was in the room. He just radiated this energy," said Blankenship.
Zack died by suicide in July at the age of 29.
"My brother, he registered as an organ donor when we lived in North Carolina. When he found out he had HIV, he thought he couldn’t be one so it wasn’t on his Virginia license," Blankenship said.
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Doctors at Sentara removed Zack’s heart after he died, marking the first HIV positive heart donation for the hospital.
Video provided by Sentara shows a hospital chaplain praying over Pate’s body before he was taken into the operating room.
“There are over 100,000 people in the United States waiting for an organ transplant," LifeNet Health Executive Vice President Doug Wilson said.
LifeNet Health helped coordinate the organ donation. Wilson said organ donations have a domino effect.
“You’ll help seven people, eight people, nine people and their entire family and workforce will be impacted," said Wilson.
The donation was ultimately made possible thanks to the HOPE Act.
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It became law in 2013 and established a research program to allow people with HIV to be organ donors.
Prior to the Act, they weren’t allowed to be donors.
Blankenship said she’s glad she was able to honor her brother’s wish to be an organ donor.
“We really do miss him," said Blankenship.
For more information about organ donation or to sign up to become a donor, click here.
