DAVID NICKLAS ORGAN DONOR AWARENESS FOUNDATION INC
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Mission Statement
The Nicklas Foundation is dedicated to promoting organ donor awareness and providing fully furnished rent-free housing for transplant patients who live too far from a transplant center.
About This Cause
At one year of age, Rodney DeBaun moved to Grand Prairie, Texas with his parents. He graduated from Grand Prairie High School in 1975 and attended University of Texas in Arlington from 1975-1982. He grew up as an active athlete running track and playing baseball and basketball. Fast forward to 1993 when Rodney was a 36-year-old family man with two sons, 11-year-old Heath and 8-year-old-Chase. He was an avid pilot with his own charter plane business and an athlete in perfect health playing in 3 adult basketball leagues in February and later in 2 adult softball leagues. In June, Rodney began feeling fatigued and thought he had the flu when he finally went to a doctor. As it turned out, he had viral cardiomyopathy with his heart functioning at only 11%. His heart was severely and permanently damaged and without a transplant, his life expectancy was about 6 months. He went on the transplant list in August and when he asked his doctor what his chances were on a scale of 1 to 10, he was told a “1” since odds were not good that he would survive long enough to receive a transplant since the typical wait time was 12-18 months. Given this prognosis, Rodney retired to be able to spend time with his family. He would stay awake until early hours of the morning, afraid if he fell asleep, he would never wake up. When his son, Heath, asked him if he was going to die, Rodney sat down with him and told him there may come a time when he would be the man of the house and would have to take care of his little brother and their mom. Raised in the church, he picked up the Bible one of these mornings and let it fall open, placing his finger in a random place which turned out to be a Psalm verse. He prayed for a miracle and vowed to “pay it forward” if God would let him see his boys grow up. Shortly after this conversation with God, Rodney received a phone call from Ken Johnson, a friend in Special Forces that he had not heard from in several years. Ken told Rodney that he had heard Rodney needed a heart and he was going to find him one. In June that same year, 22-year-old David Nicklas graduated from the Air Force Academy as a 2nd Lieutenant stationed at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio. David grew up in Graford, Texas and was the 1989 Class Valedictorian. A well-liked young man, he enjoyed sports as much as Rodney, especially basketball, and while at the Air Force Academy, he joined the Rodeo Team so he could ride bulls. When he joined the military, he told his older brother that when his time came, he wanted to “go out in a blaze of glory helping save lives of other people”. Within five minutes of meeting Mark Waggoner at the Air Force Academy, David asked to see Mark’s drivers license. When Mark questioned why, David told him it was to check to see if he was an organ donor. The two became very close friends and David was Mark’s best man at his wedding. These two conversations proved to be prophetic for three months after David moved to San Antonio, his vehicle was stolen and on October 13th, he bought a friend’s motorcycle for temporary transportation. On October 16th, he was sadly involved in a tragic accident, sustaining profound and fatal head injuries. In a brief chance meeting six weeks prior to David’s accident, his grandfather, W. H. “Lucky” Bramlett was introduced to Rodney by their mutual friend, Ken Johnson. After several days of David’s life ebbing away and then being declared brain dead on October 19th, the family was asked if they would donate David’s organs. That night, Lucky was awoken from a deep sleep when he felt something jerk him up into a sitting position and the name “Rodney” came to mind. At first, Lucky couldn’t think of anyone named Rodney and then it clicked. The Nicklas family requested that David’s heart be donated to Rodney. It was unheard of for a donor family to request a direct donation and the hospital balked. The family held steadfast and told the doctor it was either Rodney DeBaun would get David’s heart, or they would not be donating any of David’s organs. In addition to his heart, David’s family subsequently donated both of his kidneys and his liver. One kidney went to a mother of 6 children and his liver to a father of 4. When Rodney’s doctor, Dr. Lonnie Whiddon, found out about the donation request, he cautioned Rodney to not get too excited as the heart would more than likely not be a suitable match. Surprisingly, David’s heart turned out to be a perfect 100% match! Rodney received his gift of life from David in the wee hours of October 20, 1993, and was released from Methodist Medical Center just nine days after his transplant. Four months later, Rodney ran in the Fort Worth Cowtown Marathon 10K finishing in 1 hour and 12 minutes. During one of his routine post-transplant checkups, his doctor told Rodney that if he were a betting man, he would have said David and Rodney were twins as Rodney’s rejection rate is so low! After meeting his donor’s family Thanksgiving 1994, in 1995, Rodney and his wife, Isibelle, made good on his promise to “pay it forward” by creating a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and naming it the David Nicklas Organ Donor Awareness Foundation in memory of the man whose heart he received. As a pilot who owns planes, Rodney originally began providing no cost air transport to transplant patients living too far from a transplant center and participating in air shows nationwide in efforts to promote organ donor awareness. Since 1996, David's sister, Rebecca Nicklas-Kelley, began working with the Foundation, making it unique to be operated by both recipient and donor families. The two families remain close and even vacation together at times and have an annual family reunion. The Foundation’s mission is promoting organ donor awareness and providing fully furnished rent-free housing for transplant patients who live too far from a transplant center. Beginning in 2004, the Foundation has been able to offer housing to 119 families from 16 states with ages ranging from 3 months to 77 years. Currently there are Foundation units set aside for transplant families at Prairie Gate Community and also at The Retreat, a luxury active senior property. The Nicklas Foundation is an active contributor to the community and since 1997, has awarded over $200,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors enrolled in Grand Prairie ISD. We proudly support and partner with many local charities such as Children First Counseling Center, Crisis Response Ministry, Grand Prairie DeMolay, GPPD Explorer Post 086, GPPD Santa Cop, GPFD Hearts & Hoses, Grand Prairie United Charities, Hispanic Heritage Ambassadors DFW, and Lifeline for Families. In addition, no cost air transport within a 2-hour radius from Grand Prairie Municipal Airport is provided to disabled military veterans when Rodney’s schedule allows. We currently host only one fundraiser a year, a golf tournament, and from the funds raised, we give away 1/3 each to two local nonprofits. Due to COVID-19, the 2020 tournament had to be cancelled. In 2019, GPPD Santa Cop and Crisis Response Ministry each received $16,000.00 donations. At this tournament, special celebrity guests included actor Burton Gilliam, former Texas Rangers pitcher, Jeff Russell and relief pitcher, Mike Adams, and 5-time Guinness Book of World Records holder, Michael Furrh, a golf and teaching pro. In 2021, our special guest was Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, Lt. Michael E. Thornton (ret). Money raised from this tournament was donated to Lt. Michael E. Thornton’s Foundation (aka TheMETFUND) and Crisis in Response Ministry. Other things to note: Rodney actively played adult softball through 2019. To promote organ donor awareness, we speak free of charge at schools, churches, civic organizations, and businesses; host informational tables at events and air shows; and have a presence on various social media platforms. In March 2019, Rodney was contacted by Southern Outdoor Dreams with a request to fly 6-year-old Abigail Arias and her family from Freeport, TX to Jackson Hole, WY so this little girl who was battling terminal cancer could realize her dream of seeing snow and elk. Rodney flew them to Jackson Hole, WY and returned a few days later to fly them home. “Heart from a Friend” about Rodney’s story was aired 9/16/1999 on the It’s a Miracle TV show hosted by Richard Thomas on Season 2, Episode 24. Rodney was interviewed on the Jennifer Sheehan TV Show in 2020. Actress, producer and model, Sheree J. Wilson of the “Dallas” TV show and “Walker, Texas Ranger” fame, donated a pro bono Public Service Announcement. WFAA Channel 8 aired a 3-1/2-minute segment on 12/3/19 about Rodney and his story.