Hello, my name is Carrie Bogie and I have one amazing story to share with you. My husband Nick Bogie passed away on March 31st, 2011, he was 26 years old. He was such an amazing person, wonderful husband and such a loving father. We met in August of 07 and were married December of 08, it truly was a love story. He saved me from a downward spiral and made me whole again. We had our first son on January 21st, 2010. He is such an amazing little boy and reminds me so much of his daddy.  On Tuesday, March 29th, I got the phone call every wife dreads they might get.

Nick had been in an accident at work and the dart helicopter was bringing him to Dartmouth. I didnt know any details other than he was in critical condition and I had to get there immediately.  Once I got there, I found out he suffered severe brain damage, swelling and fluid on his brain. The doctors tried everything that they could to save him but on that Thursday, he passed away.

Those few days at the hospital were the most horrific days of my life, I found out on that Wednesday (the day before he passed away) that I was expecting our second child and I never got the chance to tell him.  When the
doctors brought us into the family room to tell us, I was a complete mess.  This kind of thing was only supposed to happen in the movies or on Grey’s Anatomy…not to me:(  .  The next comment that came out was “Have you thought about organ donation?”

At first I was outraged, “How dare they ask me this question, my husband is dead.”  I let the question sink in and immediately said “Yes, lets talk about that.”  I almost felt a sense of calm, like okay, Nick can help somebody else. When they brought a rep from the New England Organ Bank in and explained it in more detail, we (as a family) made the decision to go forward and donate Nick’s organs.  His brother said something that was very comforting in making our decision, “If everyone could have just a little piece of Nick than this world

would be a better place.”  What he said still sticks with me to this day. I left the hospital feeling completely empty, angry a God and so alone..I got a call that night with an update on Nick’s organs and once again felt a sense of calm. Throughout the next few days, which are probably the hardest for someone who has just lost a loved one, I had something to look forward to.  My husband was saving lives in every moment and getting those update calls made it a lot easier to get through.

I immediately thought of ways to continue to spread the word of organ donation and to help share our story. Both of our families got together and did a float in our local fourth of july parade to promote organ donation.  While waiting in line with the float, a woman came up to me and said “thank you” and I just looked at her puzzled.  She said “My son is on the list for a kidney.”  I just started to cry right then and there because I knew what an amazing gift my husband had given and even though what we were doing didnt seem like much, it
meant a lot to those families who are waiting.

We also held a huge event in Nick’s honor and had a table set up with all the info on organ donation and awareness.  We had about 600 people come, it was truly an amazing day.  We will continue to have this event every year and plan to donate a portion of the money raised to the NEOB as well as local schools, scholarships and charities. As the first anniversary of Nick’s death approaches I only saw it fitting to

share his story with you.  I have been in a hard place these past few months. I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, who I consider my angel from her daddy, we’re celebrating our first christmas without Nick, first anniversary and my sons birthday, all without Nick.  It has been one tough year and I know things will
always be hard but I just want my children to know what their daddy did and that he is a true hero and that he saved people’s lives and lives on through them.