ataloss

My wife donated several organs and a similar situation happened. I will say up front that there should be NO cost to the donor's family. They just need to be up front with the transplant company that they need the body back by a specific date and the company will pay for everything, otherwise there would be no donation. I imagine what is happening is that the transplant company will FLY the body to the city, but will DRIVE the body back. I imagine the company is not wanting to pay for a flight back, BUT if you tell them that they cannot have the organs unless the body is returned by a specific time. Of course they will likely have to have a reason to have the body returned faster. The transplant company that we worked with was awesome. Kathy died on Wednesday, December 30th at 5pm. I wanted a Friday night visitation and a Saturday funeral, because my sister was moving out of the country on Monday. I also wanted an autopsy done since the doctors really could not find a reason for her death other than a default "heart attack." The transplant company did everything for me and even paid for the autopsy. Keep in mind that the autopsy was done on January 1st as they found someone that would come in and do it during a holiday. Kathy's body had to be life flighted to St Louis (a 4+ hour drive) to retrieve the organs, then driven to Jefferson City (2 hour drive) for the autopsy, and finally returned to us (4 hour drive) with enough time to be prepared for visitation Friday evening. The transplant company covered all expenses. They did not have to cover the autopsy but they went over and above because the doctor refused to order an autopsy, which would have been covered under the insurance if he would have ordered it.

A few months into widowhood I took the five kids on a three week trek across the eastern part of the USA. Our first stop was in St. Louis, then to Wisconsin Dells, Chicago, Erie PA, Niagara Falls, Statue of Liberty in NY, down the east coast through DC, Daytona Beach FL, Disney World in Orlando, Nashville, and back home to MO. It was a great trip but we all swore to fly to our next vacation, LOL. It was a much needed trip and we have many good memories of it.