On Saturday October 11, 2025 I received a phone call no parent wants to have. My son had been in an accident and was being transported to Spectrum Hospital in Grand Rapids. He had become unresponsive on the scene and had quit breathing. The Doctors at Spectrum had called in a neurosurgeon after the CAT scan; Nick had a 2cm bleed in his brain. After surgery the neurosurgeon told us Nick’s prognosis was not good, to be prepared. Nick never did regain consciousness; the bleed to his brain had already done too much damage. We were not prepared to let him go, we talked with Ashley Kloosterman from Gift of Life about donating options. She told us everything we could expect from her and the Gift of Life team. Throughout the day, there were streams of Doctors and nurses in and out of Nick’s room. At 11 am they came in and did the first testing for brain death, the most excruciating test I have ever been through, willing Nick to breathe on his own, he did not. At 2pm they came in and did the testing again, at that point Nick was pronounced and we were saying goodbye to the most loving, caring boy in the world. The nursing staff at Spectrum was amazing to our family and friends, the Gift of Life team was so respectful of our wishes and the support was phenomenal. The calls went out to some of the luckiest people in the world; they would be receiving organs donated by a wonderful, selfless young man.

Nick donated lungs, kidneys, spleen, pancreas, heart valves & corneas. The lives he was able to save seems like an amazing gift to people who never expected to see their next birthday, their grandchildren, take part in everyday life, the gift they received had to seem amazing. Through our loss, someone else’s life changed. Through our loss, we knew that Nick would have wanted to help others as he had done during his young, short life.

Throughout my grieving process, I knew I had to do something in memory of Nick. I have held an auction each year in memory of Nick, a place where family & friends can share memories and be together, but had no idea what to do with the money collected. I contacted Shelly Morrell, president of Second Chance at Life, asked her if her organization could use the money. She has been the most amazing person I’ve met in this journey. She helped us set up a foundation fund in Nick’s memory at Spectrum Hospital. This fund is to help recipients in need & donor families. Second Chance at Life has donated a generous amount of money to the fund in Nick’s memory. Through Second Chance at Life, recipients can have some of their medical needs met with the money in this program, it takes some of the stress and burdens off of them so they can begin to heal.

Although this is just a snapshot of the journey I have begun, I feel there is more to be done in raising awareness, helping other parents & continuing to help people in need. Everyone grieves differently, and through this process I have met the most amazing people. The only suggestion I would like to raise is this: if you were an organ recipient, please do not feel guilt at someone’s loss. They made a choice to become an organ donor, through another families tragedy, you were given a gift, a “Second Chance at Life” please at some point during your recovery, think about writing your donor family, it is the greatest gift they could ever receive, knowing their loved one was able to save a life.

In 2010, Second Chance at Life teamed up with Donor Mom, Collette Taylor, to create the Nicholas Iverson Fund with Spectrum Health. The Nicholas Iverson Fund was created in memory of her son, Nick. Each year Collette has an auction in memory of her son and gives to this fund. Second Chance at Life has committed to give Spectrum Health $30,000 over five years ending in 2014.

Thank you Collette for raising $3,000.00 at your auction on 10/5 for SCAL and the Nicholas Iverson Fund!!

Click to see the Nick Iverson Benefit Auction flyer.

Spectrum has already put Collette's hard work into good use by assisting a 63 year old gentleman who had a Ventricular Assist device and recently a heart transplant. This gentleman having difficulty affording transplant medication, because his Valcyte and Everolimus are very expensive. The co-pay is $500 for each of these two medications. This 63 year gentleman needed dental work to get on the list, assistances with his medication and additional expenses incurred for his transplant. Thanks to the Nicholas Iverson Fund, this patient was able to get financial assistance when he needed it the most.