Kennedy Jeanne Bowles was a beautiful, larger-than-life young woman who tragically passed away when she was just 18 years old. Kennedy was only a month away from graduating high school, taking the steps onward into a future she spent so hard working for. Kennedy was as beautiful as she was smart, and decided to pursue a career in modeling, a dream she never got to realize…. at least while she was alive.

Kennedy was riding in the back seat of a car at night driving to a friends house when that car was hit by a pickup truck, causing her severe brain damage that she could never recover from. We held out hope, praying that she would come back to us, praying that her life wasn’t ending as early as it was starting, but we didn’t get our wish. Kennedy was pronounced brain-dead on April 11th, 2021. It was the next day in the ICU at the hospital that we were approached by Nebraska LiveOn who informed us that since Kennedy was an organ donor, her organs would be donated to those most in need of them.

Through her registration as an organ donor, Kennedy was able to donate her heart, both lungs, both kidneys, her pancreas, and her liver, saving five people’s lives!! Through Nebraska LiveOn we were able to meet almost all of Kennedy’s organ recipients, including the man who has her heart. I still remember placing the sleek stethoscope on his chest and hearing my sister’s radiant heartbeat pulse through, reminding me that while she may be gone, the impact of her selfless choice certainly was not. Five wonderful people and their army of family and friends had life pumped back in their veins through Kennedy’s young, healthy, strong organs.

My family and I have spent the last few years working with Nebraska LiveOn through volunteer work and organ donation advocacy using Kennedy’s story. Speaking on the news in Nebraska and Iowa as well as speaking at other events, small and large, allows us to share her story and share pictures of her to put a name to the face and story. We want people to see her, to share her with the world. We want Kennedy to be the reason somebody decides to register as an organ donor. We want Kennedy to have her dream of being a model realized, just in a way she didn’t quite expect it to.