The family of an organ donor from Greeneville will receive a special presentation Wednesday.
Dakota Sams was born in Greeneville in 1998 but required a lifesaving liver transplant just weeks before his fourth birthday. The transplant was successful, and Sams went on to live a normal life until he died in a motorcycle accident in May of 2020.
When Dakota was a toddler, his parents noticed his belly getting bigger and bigger. When they took him to the doctor, they were told he had cirrhosis of the liver due to a genetic liver disease and he would need a liver transplant. Right before his fourth birthday, a liver was found for him thanks to the generous gift of a donor. Dakota would never forget that gift. Every year on the date of his transplant anniversary, he would release balloons with a handwritten note to his donor. He would talk about his donor often. Dakota also had the Donate Life logo tattooed on his arm with the words, “This piece of me I give to you” written under it.
Sams grew up, graduated high school, learned to drive a car, became a talented welder, and had a daughter. Through his gifts he was able to improve 132 lives with tissue donation. He saved three lives through his heart valves and he restored sight to two people through his cornea donation. He was the rare person who was a transplant recipient and a donor.
His parents established a welding scholarship at the Greeneville Tech Center and the Tennessee College of Applied Technology. This year, a floragraph was made in his honor and was on a float in the Rose parade honoring donors from across the nation.
The floragraph was featured on the OneLegacy Donate Life float in the Rose Parade this past January. It featured Sams’ likeness created out of floral and natural materials. It will be presented to his family members tomorrow at 4:00 PM at the Greene Technology Center by the Tennessee Donor Services.
Tennessee Donor Services is a non-profit, organ procurement organization (OPO) dedicated to saving and improving lives by connecting organ and tissue donations to the patients who need them. TDS serves more than 6 million people in Tennessee and Virginia. For more information on Tennessee Donor Services, visit tennesseedonor.org.
