In many ways, Tyree Jackson was atypical.
He was biracial. He was gay. He had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). He was epileptic. When he was 15, his father, Terry, died. Then, his surrogate father died just six years later.
But perhaps his biggest peculiarity was that none of this dampened his spirit.
“It never stopped Tyree from giving it his all, pushing the boundaries of what people expected of a special-needs child,” Summer Eyo, Jackson’s mother, said. “Tyree was just a giver. Through everything, that child always smiled. He was a giver. He was a lover.”
In 2023, while headed to class at Mission College, Jackson tried to cross the intersection of Montague Expressway and De la Cruz Boulevard. A car struck him, smashing his head against the windshield.
Doctors at Valley Medical Center in San Jose gave him a 5% chance of survival following the collision, Eyo said.
Jackson’s death, at 22, came roughly a year after a car crash killed his stepfather, Eddie. Following Eddie’s death, Jackson became an organ donor.
“That last year that Tyree and I had together changed our relationship,” Eyo said. “He saw me lose the man of my dreams. He really became the man of the house.”
To honor him, Eyo wanted to promote what Jackson stood for, but which aspect of his personality to emphasize evaded her. In the aftermath of her son’s death, the Donor Network West team walked her through harvesting Jackson’s organs, including his heart, liver, kidneys and pancreas.
“They were just so kind. For it to be such a hard thing to talk about, they just made it so easy to talk about,” Eyo said.
She had her answer: she would raise money for Donor Network West. She would carry Jackson’s message of the importance of organ donation to everyone who would listen.
She assembled a team — Be Like Tyree — and secured pledges for the annual 5K. Last year, she raised $8,000, more than any team. For this year’s walk, held Sept. 14 at Bishop Ranch in San Ramon, she aimed to eclipse that total.
Donor Network West is the federally designated organ procurement agency for Northern California and Nevada. In 2023, it helped secure transplantation for 1,358 organs.
Medical advancements have made harvesting previously unharvestable organs possible, said Janice Whaley, president and CEO of Donor Network West.
The walks do more than raise money, Whaley said. They also raise awareness and build a network of advocates.
“It gives them the opportunity to build a legacy of their loved one … it gives them a sense of peace that their loved one’s life was not in vain,” Whaley said. “We can’t bring Tyree back, but we can certainly celebrate what we did … he is a hero in our books.”
Brothers Brian and Paul Elliott know first-hand how the walks unite donors and recipients. In 2016 and 2017, respectively, doctors diagnosed both men, in their mid-50s at the time, with cardiomyopathy, a genetic disorder that hampers the heart’s ability to pump.
Seeing his brother recover from the transplant — seeing the “tree” of IVs doctors had him hooked up to — gave Paul the nudge to be proactive.
“Right out of the gate, [my doctor said] ‘I bet you are wondering if you are going to need a heart transplant. The answer is yes.’ That blunt,” Paul said. “That was the thing that hit really hard. You are just looking at [Brian] and thinking, ‘Is he going to survive this?’ There was a sense of dread.”
Since their transplants, both men have gotten involved in the walk. Grateful for what they were given, both said the walks foster a sense of community.
“This donation has given me eight years that I wouldn’t be able to have,” Brian said. “I was able to see my grandkids being born.”
Touch-and-go until the 11th hour, a last-minute influx this year pushed Eyo’s team over the threshold. Raising more than $13,000 crowned her the top fundraiser for the second year, Whaley said.
Next year, Eyo hopes to continue the trend, but more than that, she is eager to meet Jackson’s organ recipients, one of whom — a 15-year-old southern California girl — got Tyree’s heart. Eyo finally mustered the wherewithal to write them letters.
“I hope, wish and pray that they are living very healthy lives as a result of Tyree’s gift,” Eyo said. “I am really, really looking forward to hearing that heartbeat one day.”
For more information on Donor Network West or to make a contribution, visit DonorNetworkWest.org/Foundation and follow its social media: @mydnwest.
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