Teen Lives On As Organ Donor, Inspires Others To Do The Same

FRANKFORT, IL — In the year since Maddie Grobmeier's death, her family has continued to share her story to inspire others, including creating a nonprofit in her honor and encouraging others to consider organ donation — just as she did. The Maddog Strong Foundation shares Maddie's story and educates teens and their families about the value of organ and tissue donation.

On June 30, 2019, Maddie died a day after her 18th birthday, after suffering an acute asthma attack at a concert a few days before. The level 10 gymnast and Lincoln-Way East graduate had told her parents months earlier that she was an organ donor and if something happened to her, she wanted them to know that.

Maddie's parents respected her wishes.

"She had been in a serious car accident" a few months before her death, mom Cyndi Grobmeier, president of The Maddog Strong Foundation, told Patch. "The accident shook her up. A week or two later, Maddie sat us down, and she wanted us to know if anything like that had ever happened again, she wanted us to know she was an organ and tissue donor."

In 2018, the state of Illinois passed a law permitting 16- and 17-year-olds to consent to donate organs or tissue.

"When [Maddie] was declared brain dead, her dad and I knew it was what she wanted," Cyndi said.

Since Maddie was hospitalized before her 18th birthday, her parents still needed to give consent for organ and tissue donation.

"It was a comfort to us to know we were doing the right thing by her," Cyndi said.

"We saw how many lives [Maddie] impacted right away," she said. Maddie's heart and liver went to one recipient, while her eyes went to a child in Michigan.

A few months after Maddie's death, as her family learned about organ and tissue donation, Maddie's dad, Frank, had the idea of creating a nonprofit. In August 2019, Maddie's family and friends came together to create The Maddog Strong Foundation.

"The foundation is meant to draw awareness about organ and tissue donation, particularly our focus is on teens," Cyndi said. "We want to promote that teens who make that decision have to have a conversation with their loved ones."

The foundation began its work in the gymnastic community, a community Maddie grew up in. The foundation put up tables raising awareness for organ donation at several gymnastic meets and it also held a nation-wide event, Rotation for Donation, on Feb. 14, which is National Organ Donor Day.

For that event, the foundation contacted NCAA, USA Gymnastics, and division 3 gymnastic meets, and asked if they would read a message, sharing Maddie's story, at meets all over the country.

"We reached tens of thousands of people that weekend," Cyndi said.

The foundation has also started working with high school educators to assemble and develop curriculum about organ and tissue donation. The pilot program will begin in 25 schools in Illinois this fall.

Cyndi said she understands the conversation about organ donation can be a morbid one.

"We're hoping that [the foundation] helps people to encourage to have that conversation," she said.

A little closer to home, the foundation will also dedicate the first organ donor memorial, The Giving Trees, in Frankfort Square on Sunday. The memorial is the first in the south suburbs, and will be located at Island Prairie Park.

The Giving Trees are individual trees dedicated to organ donors from the previous year. The foundation and the Frankfort Square Park District will dedicate a tree for 2019, as well as three trees for 2010-2018, 2000-2009 and pre-2000.

In the future, the foundation will add a memorial tree every year.

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