Petaluma Family Celebrates Gift of Life By Returning the Favor

 Janice MacKinnon says she wouldn't believe it if she hadn't lived it.

"I would probably think that somebody made this story up," Janice says.

Janice is talking about the story of how, 10 years ago, her son Jake's life was saved by an organ donation. And how, this year, Janice was able to return the favor to the very same family that helped Jake.

"It really sounds like a made-up story," Janice says.

It all started in 2004, when 20-year-old Kalem Millard, of Livingston in Merced County, was killed in an ATV accident. Just weeks before his death, Kalem told his girlfriend that he wished to sign up to be an organ donor.

When she shared that information with Kalem's parents, Bill and Tish, shortly after his death, they agreed to donate his organs to those who needed them.

"We didn't even second-guess it," Tish says.

Kalem's pancreas ended up being transplanted into then-19-year-old Jake MacKinnon, in need of one due to the effects of severe diabetes.

The two families connected a year later when Janice wrote a letter of thanks to the donor family (at the time unknown to her) and asked the transplant network to deliver it.

Tish soon responded and the two families formed a friendship that lasted and deepened over the past decade.

The two families gather each year at the MacKinnon's Petaluma farm each December to light a Christmas tree in memory of Kalem Millard.

At last year's gathering, though, Bill Millard couldn't stay long. He was too ill. A diabetic himself, Bill was in need of a kidney transplant. Janice wrote a letter to the Millard's offering to donate hers.

The surgery happened this past summer and both Bill and Janice have recovered nicely.

Like Janice, Bill can hardly believe what has happened. "For (Jake's) mother to turn around 10 years later and save my life, it's mind boggling."

Contact Us