Kathy was 67 years old when she passed away after living with lupus and congestive heart failure for nearly 30 years. But her death doesn’t define the person she was. The little things, her laughter, kindness, selflessness and so much more tell the story of a woman whose impact continues to live on in the people who knew and loved her.
A diehard Michigander, Kathy loved Detroit sports and spent her career in the automotive industry.
“She loved watching the Tigers; she could talk to you all about Al Kaline. I'm pretty sure she thought Vernors was medicine,” said Faye Blumberg, Kathy’s daughter.
Growing up and living in the same house her entire life, Kathy learned the value of community and caring for the people in it, instilling those same values in her daughter.
“She became close with people in the community—the butchers at the meat market would know who she was every Saturday morning and expect her to show up, to the point where when she got really sick, they were like, ‘Where is she?’"
In her spare time, even as she was living with her health challenges, Kathy knitted hats for babies in the NICU and cancer patients at Beaumont Hospital.
“She would never tell you this though—she was so humble about it,” Faye said. “That was kind of a big part of her too. She would do these things behind the scenes. It wouldn't be these grandiose gestures.”
And one of those behind-the-scenes acts was registering to be an eye, organ and tissue donor.
“I didn't know she was a donor. I remember thinking initially, ‘My mom was so sick, what's going to be able to be used in her body?’” Faye said. “I didn't realize you could use corneas. I got a letter from Eversight that said a man and woman in New York can now see because of the gift she gave.”
But that was who Kathy was—always working behind the scenes, never complaining about the pain or weekly visits to the hospital, crafting gifts for strangers and ultimately giving the gift of sight through eye donation.
“Her physician knew her so well, called her a lioness,” Faye said. “He was one of the last people at her bedside, and he had known her almost 30 years. That's who my mom was. Maybe she didn't have hundreds and hundreds of friends, but the friends she had were so good.”
After Kathy’s passing, Faye kept her glasses, knowing how important vision had been to the way her mom experienced the beauty of life. Now that she knows her mom’s corneas have given the gift of sight to two people, it feels like it was meant to be.
“I had received some donor cartilage—it was right when my mom had passed too—I had surgery, and it was this wave of giving and taking, giving and receiving,” Faye said. “She's not really gone. There are still parts of her that remain, whether it be her ashes, her glasses or her corneas or her memories and stories.”
One way Faye keeps her mom’s legacy alive is through shared memories, storytelling and food.
When Faye was around six years old, her mom took her to Hudson’s to eat Maurice Salads and popovers while watching people shop at the mall. Last year on her mom’s birthday, Faye and her husband, Sam, celebrated by making that same meal and enjoying the memories that came with it.
“You don't realize how big these little moments are until you don't have them anymore and you hope that you didn't take them for granted at the time,” she said.
Faye was also invited to attend Eversight and Gift of Life Michigan’s Donor Family Gathering, where she was able to honor her mom in a slideshow recognizing donors and donors in spirit from the previous year.
“A lot of the stuff, unfortunately after someone passes, is like closing bank accounts and tasks that you just don't want to do because of the time, the energy, the sadness, but then a little bit more time goes by, and you're like, but wait, I don't have any more bank accounts to close or anything to do for her. But now I can do this.”
Sharing her mom’s story is one of the lighter ways Faye likes to honor her memory.
“I love talking about her,” she said. “It's my favorite because sometimes after a couple months people stop asking, and it’s like, no, I had my mom for 37 years. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about her. She's so pivotal to me and who I am.”
Kathy’s gifts go beyond eye donation. They are seen every day through the memories she left behind. Whether that be with laughter from her dad puns, her deep love for cows and sunflowers, or the music she filled Faye’s home with, her legacy continues in the people whose lives she touched.
Eye, organ and tissue donation can create a lasting legacy of generosity and hope. For donor families, that gift also comes amid the profound grief of losing someone they love.
Eversight offers donor family resources to help navigate the early days of loss, along with grief resources designed to provide comfort, connection and understanding.