For Diane, movement has always been more than exercise, it is a way of life. A retired social worker and nonprofit CEO, Diane describes walking and hiking as her “moving meditation,” a lifelong source of clarity, healing, and joy. From childhood walks to hiking across national parks and continents, movement shaped how she experienced the world. But over time, that freedom began to slip away.
Diane developed osteoarthritis in the subtalar joints beneath her ankles, a condition that made even short walks painful. “It just broke my heart,” she shared. “I’d see other people walking without pain, and I was envious. I didn’t realize how much of my identity was tied to being able to move freely.”
Surgery became her only option. Diane sought out a trusted surgeon and prepared herself for what she assumed would be a difficult recovery. Instead, she experienced something unexpected.
“I had zero pain after surgery,” Diane said. “They kept asking me my pain level, and I kept saying none. That was astonishing after years of chronic foot pain.” Even more surprising was the outcome: despite having bones fused with titanium screws, Diane regained remarkable range of motion without the limp she feared.
What Diane didn’t know at the time was that her healing had been supported by an extraordinary gift. After her surgery, Diane received a card from LifeNet Health explaining that donated tissue had been used as part of her procedure—specifically a ViviGen® bone graft. ViviGen is designed to provide a biologically active bone matrix that supports the body’s natural healing process and is used alongside a surgeon’s technique and postoperative care. Until that moment, Diane hadn’t realized tissue donation played a role in her surgery. Learning that someone had made this gift possible, she said, was “deeply moving.”
With that knowledge, Diane’s recovery took on a deeper meaning. What had once felt like a remarkable medical outcome became something more profound, the result of another family’s generosity during an unimaginably difficult time. She didn’t know the circumstances surrounding the donor’s death, but she understood the weight of the decision. For a family to say yes to donation in the midst of trauma, she reflected, is an extraordinary act of compassion.
Moved by that realization, Diane chose to write to her donor family, sharing both her sorrow for their loss and her heartfelt gratitude for the gift that changed her life. To Diane, donation represents something sacred: the ability for hope and healing to continue, even in moments of deep grief.
Gratitude has since become a guiding force in Diane’s life. A stroke survivor who later walked part of Spain’s Camino de
Santiago in thanksgiving, she considers herself deeply fortunate. Yet she is quick to point beyond herself, crediting the donor whose selfless gift made her recovery, and her continued journey forward, possible. “I recaptured a quality of life I didn’t know I had lost,” she said. “That gift allowed me to move forward again physically and emotionally.”
Today, Diane is on a new mission: sharing the importance of tissue donation and ensuring others understand its life-changing impact. “These donations make healing possible,” she said. “They give people their lives back.”
Through one donor’s generosity, Diane regained the freedom to walk, hike, and live fully again, a powerful reminder that donation doesn’t just save lives. It restores them.