Jesica Santillan's Mother Pleads for More Organ Donors

A year after her daughter died as a result of a transplant mix-up at Duke University Hospital, the girl's Mexican mother, Magdalena Santillan, is appearing in public service announcements urging people in Spanish to sign up as organ donors.

As she pleads with people to become donors, images of her 17-year-old daughter, Jesica, flash on the screen. Jesica died after receiving a heart-lung transplant from a donor with an incompatible blood type.

In the months following the girl's death, the United Network for Organ Sharing, which coordinates the U.S. transplant network, put new procedures in place in an effort to prevent future errors. Duke also adopted adopted new double checks and triple checks designed to keep such a mistake from happening again.

Magdalena Santillan, meanwhile, works with family benefactor Mack Mahoney in an effort to promote donation and make sure other children in need of transplants have access to organs.

"Help me to keep Jesica's legacy alive," Magdalena Santillan says in one of the public service announcements.

Other Sources: Carolina Media