Ballwin's Kyndall Brown Survives Through Others

The family of a Ballwin toddler met with friends and loved ones Sunday to do holiday decorating, but the centerpiece wasn't a Christmas tree or outdoor lights for a home. Instead, it was an opportunity for the family to honor their daughter, Kyndall Brown, who died at 17-months in 2003 after choking on lunch at her sitter's home.

“She never regained consciousness,” said Kyndall’s mother, Jennifer Brown, 37. “We waited and hoped for two full days at the hospital before they pronounced her brain dead. One of my most precious memories is that just a couple of weeks before she passed away, I was tucking her into bed and told her I loved her. She looked at me and gave me a hug and said ‘I love you too, momma.'”

Jennifer, her husband, Broc Brown, and dozens of friends and family met at St. Louis' Mid-America Transplant Services on Sunday to complete decorations for a float that will be on display early next year in honor of Kyndall and people like her, whose donated organs helped save another's life.

It was a decision inspired in part by a business trip in Hawaii the couple took just months before Kyndall's death, where a surgeon talked about heart transplants and organ donation.

“Both of us recalled that talk as we struggled to come to grips with what had happened to Kyndall,” said Broc Brown, also 37, who works in medical equipment sales. “We felt strongly that we should donate Kyndall’s organs so that someone else would have the gift of life.”

That gift allowed a young girl from Iceland awaiting a liver transplant in the U.S. to receive the assistance she needed, in addition to making use of Kyndall's kidneys and heart valves, all of which were transplanted into other recipients.

“I know in my own heart that Kyndall gave several people new life,” Jennifer Brown said. “In that respect, we have a voice in keeping her alive." 

Jennifer, who works for Maritz Travel Company in Fenton, said that belief is central to their willingness to participate in Mid-America's efforts in next month's parade; In addition to Kyndall, the Browns have three boys: Braden, age 2, as well as 5 year-old Gabe and 7 year-old Kynan, both of whom attend . And while the boys are young, Jennifer said instilling in them an understanding about their sister was an important family decision.

“We're not just a family of five that everyone sees all day. We're a family of six,” Jennifer said. The boys understand this, she said, and even include Kyndall in drawings that portray the entire family.

"They know that each of them each has three other siblings , even if they don't know them all here on Earth."

Although taking part in Sunday's decorating was bittersweet, Jennifer said, surrounded by nearly 70 friends and family members who have supported them over the last eight years, the gathering did help them cope with their loss.

"I tend to kind of close it up and box it out, but it's so important for people to be able to open up that box and share," Jennifer said. "It's part of the grief process."

Kyndall's portrait will be one of 72 florographs that will be showcased early next month at the Donate Life float in the 2012 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, CA. Before that could take place, however, the Browns and their supporters on Sunday completed Kyndall's portion of the float, which intricately recreates a photograph of Kyndall using flowers, seeds and other organic materials meant to preserve her memory.

“It looks amazing, from our perspective,” Jennifer said of the artwork, which will be featured under the display's theme of “One More Day,” while donor families and transplant recipients ride atop the float. 

The Tournament of Roses Parade will take place beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, January 2, 2012. The event will be televised nationally.

For more information about Mid-America Transplant Services, click here.