Lakewood Ranch woman advocates for more to register as organ donors

In 2014, Kate Howard was surrounded by friends and family with her husband, Justin Lockett, in a hospital room in Iowa.

She had an important decision to make.

Should she take her husband off life support and donate his organs? 

She spent a few moments talking to her unresponsive husband, who suffered a traumatic brain injury from a fall down the stairs. 

“I told him I don’t know what you want me to do, but I really don’t want to make this decision,” Howard said. 

Her husband had been a registered organ donor since he was 16, and he had the designation on his drivers license. She also knew that because he was a former medic for the Army National Guard, he would want to donate his organs. 

All of a sudden, all the machines keeping her husband of six years alive started making noise. 

At 30 years old, Lockett died. 

Howard, who moved to Lakewood Ranch in September, had her answer.

She worked with the Iowa Donor Network to coordinate her husband’s organ donations.  

On May 6, 2014, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics flew in five men who were in need of organs and matched Lockett’s B-positive blood type. 

That day, Lockett saved those men’s lives by donating his heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, and left and right kidneys. 

He also donated corneas, bones, connective tissue, skin and parts of his thoracic aorta.

Howard shared her husband’s story during Lakewood Ranch Medical Center’s flag-raising ceremony at 1:08 p.m. April 10 in honor of April being Donor Life Month. 

Photo by Liz Ramos

Having the ceremony at 1:08 p.m. symbolized that one organ donor can save up to eight lives. 

Since Lockett’s organ donation, Howard and other family members have been advocating for people to register to be organ donors. 

With help from the Iowa Donor Network, Howard reached out to the recipients of her husband’s organs. She wrote each of them letters and received some responses. 

Through the letters, Howard learned the ripple effect one donation can have on not only the organ recipient but their families. 

“There were 16 children among those five men who got to keep their dad and five wives who got to keep their spouses,” Howard said. “Through one tragedy, there’s multiple beautiful things that happened, so it’s not all bad. It was a nice feeling that he was not only a hero to us but to other people.”

Howard finds solace in knowing Lockett lives on through other people. 

Courtesy photo

She said her husband, who served in Iraq, had the build of a soldier but was a teddy bear at heart. He had a huge laugh and told terrible jokes. Lockett loved to have a good time, always being the last to leave a party or event. 

Her last joyful memory with her husband was the night of his fall. They were celebrating Cinco de Mayo in 2014 with friends and family. They ran out of tequila, so Howard offered to drive Lockett and a few others to buy more. When they entered the liquor store, Lockett grabbed a children’s cart and started pushing it around the store. 

For the past eight years, Howard and Lockett’s family and friends hosted Rusty Revolution, a fundraiser to support the Iowa Donor Network and an opportunity to teach people about the importance of organ donations. The group was able to raise more than $50,000 for the Iowa Donor Network. 

“We feel like we’re keeping his honor alive,” Howard said. “He not only impacted those organ recipients but also all the people that became aware and we have educated about the system that have now registered as donors.”

They named the annual fundraiser Rusty Revolution because Lockett’s friends called him Rusty since childhood, and they were trying to revolutionize organ donor advocacy. They would sell cups for $40 so each person could get unlimited craft beer, Lockett’s favorite. The cups would have sayings on them like “Recycle yourself” or “Who wouldn’t want a piece of this?” to tie in organ donor humor. 

They played cornhole; had live music, raffles and auctions; and made sure the good times kept coming just as Lockett would have wanted.

Each year, they had shirts made for Rusty Revolution. Howard recalled one of her favorites, which was in honor of the tattoo Lockett had done on his chest at 18 years old. The tattoo made it look like a tiger was crawling out of his chest with claw marks.

“It’s just one of those awful, terrible tattoos you get when you’re 18 years old,” Howard said. “Anytime we would go on vacation or be at the pool with someone, he would take off his shirt and be like, ‘Alright, go ahead and make fun of me. Get it out of the way.’ Not only was it a terrible idea for a tattoo, but it was also a terribly done tattoo.”

Courtesy photo

Supporting the Iowa Donor Network also gave Howard the opportunity to go to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, in 2022. The donor networks for each state send representatives to the Rose Bowl and have their loved one who donated organs honored in the Rose Bowl parade. A portrait of Lockett was made out of seeds and was included in the Donate Life parade float. 

At the Donate Life reception, Howard was able to meet family members of other organ donors and hear their stories. She could see the impact organ donors have on others.

Howard said thousands of lives can be saved if more people become organ donors. 

“You never know if one of your loved ones is going to need an organ or tissue donation,” she said. “You never know if you’re going to be the one on that waiting list hoping that someone has the organ donor mark on their drivers license.”

Howard heard stories from people who were able to meet the recipients of their loved ones’ organs. She hopes to one day meet one of the recipients. 

“I’m sure they think about him every day, just like we do,” she said. “It’s very touching and meaningful that he was able to help so many people.”