No matter what gift you un-

wrappedtoday, Angel Velez has

you beat.
OnNov. 22, 2010, the Orlando
father of two was footsteps
away from death. Hed con-
tracted Hepatitis C from a
blood transfusion in the Army.
Eight years later, no treatments
were helping. His wife, Brenda,
was toldhehadjust days tolive.
The only hope for Velez? A
newliver.
He was very ill, Brenda
said. He had been battling this
sickness for so long. His kid-
neys started to shut down.
But then the phone rang at
6:30 a.m.
There was a donor.
And thats how we came to
beapart of this family, Brenda
said through tears, sitting in a
Palm Bay backyard with her
now-healthy husband. Both of
them grasped the hands of
Dawn Marie Futch, who sat be-
tween them.
Dawns son, Michael-Gene
Robert Futch, donated that life-
saving liver.
The 19-year-old died in a car
accident. He was a registered
organ and tissue donor. And in
Brenda Velez, left, gets emotional talking with Dawn Marie Futch and Angel Velez, whose life was saved by
a liver transplant from Dawn's son, Michael-Gene Futch. PHOTOS BY TIM SHORTT/FLORIDA TODAY
No greater gift
Father celebrates Christmas today, thanks to a life-saving
transplant and the thoughtfulness of a Brevard family
On New Years Day in Pasadena, Calif., Michael-Gene Robert Futchs
image will appear on a Rose Parade float honoring organ donors. The
float is replicated here in cake form.
LEARN MORE
Find out more about the
Michael-Gene Kids Basketball
Foundation at
michaelgene.org.
Learn about organ and tissue
donation and sign up to be a
donor at translife.org.
Watch the Rose Parade at 11
a.m. Jan. 1 on ABC.
VIDEO
See video of the Futch
family and the Rose
Parade floragraph at
floridatoday.com.
By Sara Paulson
FLORIDA TODAY
See GIFT, Page 3A
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2013
|
SERVING BREVARD COUNTY SINCE 1966
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2013 FLORIDA TODAY
Vol. 48, No. 284
POST-CHRISTMAS DEALS OFF AND RUNNING 7B
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Cloudy and cooler
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H: 73 L: 62
12A
INDEX
Classified 6-10C
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Obituaries 5B
Crosswords 9B
Opinions 11A
Horoscopes 9B
Contract bridge 6B
News of the North 12A
INSIDE
Beating
the odds
Child from Haiti now
has a great future
ahead of him.

PAGE 1C
Thanks,
Brevard
Overseas-based Air
Force officer says your
efforts appreciated.

PAGE 1B
When TV ads
just fall flat
Here are six TV ads
remembered for their
badness.

PAGE 7B
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Spacewalkers on Tuesday de-
livered a welcome Christmas
gift to the International Space
Station, completing repairs that
were expected to fully restore
the outposts hobbled cooling
system.
Astronauts Mike Hopkins
and Rick Mastracchio retrieved
and installed a spare coolant
pump, a refrigerator-sizedwhite
box that appeared to lack only a
colorful bow to fit the holiday
season.
Full activation of the new
pump module was planned late
Tuesday, but it passed a prelimi-
nary test during the spacewalk,
which lasted seven hours and 30
minutes.
Houston, you got yourself a
new pump module, congratula-
tions, one of the spacewalkers
radioed after making the final
electrical connection.
Its the best Christmas ever,
thanks guys, said Doug Whee-
lock, an astronaut working with
the crew from Mission Control,
as the spacewalk wrapped up.
Today, teams on the ground
hoped to start powering up non-
critical systems that were shut
down two weeks ago, after the
failure of a valve that regulated
temperatures in one of two cool-
ant loops outside the station.
The six-person Expedition 38
crew was never in danger, but
the Dec. 11 malfunction left the
orbiting research complex vul-
nerable to more serious break-
downs, a position NASA did not
want to remain in long.
Hopkins and Mastracchio re-
moved the faulty pump during a
five-and-a-half hour spacewalk
on Saturday, then installed one
of three available spares on
Repair
gives
ISS cool
present
Spacewalkers fix
faulty system just in
time for Christmas
By James Dean
FLORIDA TODAY
See ISS, Page 2A
Christmas Eve service
Senior Pastor Rev. David Jahn, left, leads worshippers
Tuesday during a traditional candlelight service held at
Advent Lutheran Church in Suntree. Maggie McMahan,
right, lights a candle. CAROLINE PEREZ/FLORIDA TODAY
FLORIDA TODAY WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2013 3A
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the midst of their grief,
Dawn, dad Mike and sis-
ter Stephanie made sure
Michaels final wishes
were carried out. In addi-
tion to his liver, his lungs,
kidneys and pancreas
went to seriously ill pa-
tients. His eyes andtissue
also were donated.
To Angel, 52, there is
no greater gift.
How can you say
thank you for something
like this when her son
died for me to live? An-
gel said, his voice trem-
bling. If that didnt hap-
pen, I would not be here
today. ... Thats a fact.
I love this family.
So do many others.
Since losing Michael,
the Futches have been on
a mission to get people to
make that selfless deci-
sion.
Just as Michael did.
Their efforts haveadd-
ed more than 550 names
to the organ donor regis-
try, said Kristine Neal,
public relations manager
at TransLife, the nonprof-
it that facilitates organ
and tissue donation for a
10-county area in Florida.
Michael will be one of
the 81 organ, eye and tis-
sue donors honored with
their own floragraph on
the National Donate Life
Rose Parade float on Jan.
1. Thirty transplant recip-
ients will ride atop the
Light Up the World
float, which features four
large lanterns fashioned
out of organic seeds,
spices and crushed flow-
ers; 12 donors will walk
alongside.
When TransLife was
given the grant through
the Central Florida Wom-
ens League to senda fam-
ily to Pasadena to see
their lovedonehonored, it
was a no-brainer for the
nonprofit, said Neal.
I know that any event
that Dawn and her family
are at, were just going to
get a stack of registra-
tions back, just because
shes so inspiring and
shes so passionate about
this message, Neal said.
Neal, Velez and many
others recently gathered
at the Futch family home
to put the finishing touch-
es on Michaels flora-
graph. About 50 people
mingled in the backyard,
which features a memori-
al garden honoring Mi-
chaels life.
The mood was celebra-
tory yet melancholy as
Dawn, Angel and Brenda
spoke of their bittersweet
bond.
I told Angel from the
first time we met: Gods
plan is Gods plan, and we
dont have a choice in it,
Dawn said. And so for
God to take Michael,
there had to have been an
important reason for it.
Family
Michael-Gene Robert
Futch was born on Christ-
mas Eve in 1990.
Dawn and Mike, who
own Creative Cakes and
Candies in Melbourne,
were an active part of
their childrens lives.
Thats one thing I can
say, I have no regrets,
Dawn said.
The sides of Stepha-
nies mouth curled into a
smile as she reflected on
her big brother.
(He was) my worst
nightmare and my best
friend, even though we
fought and argued all the
time, she said. But at
the end of the day, he had
my back, I had his. Thats
family, though.
Michael enrolled at
then-Brevard Communi-
ty College, with plans to
go into childrens psy-
chology, Dawn said.
Wesley Pola, 22, of
Palm Bay was Michaels
best friend.
He enjoyed life to the
fullest, said Pola, who
tattooed the word Fam-
ily onto Michaels chest
in spring 2010.
Pola said Michael was
someone he could discuss
anything with without
fear of judgment. My
best friend Ive ever had
in my life. I havent been
able to replace him.
A life lost
Dawn was working on
a wedding cake when she
got the call.
Nov. 20, 2010, was a
rainy Thursday evening.
Michael had left the fam-
ilys shop and was driving
his new white Ford Mus-
tang along U.S. 192 and
turned south onto Dairy
Road. The driver of the
SUV behind him acciden-
tally hit the gas and
slammed into the back of
the Mustang, Dawn said.
Michaels car spun on the
wet pavement, slamming
into a utility pole.
DawnandMike scram-
bled to the crash site. Po-
lice and emergency
crews blocked the scene.
Mike desperately tried to
break through the chaos
to be at his sons side.
But Dawnknew. It took
firefighters 18 minutes to
free Michael from his
mangled car.
I just dropped to my
knees and started pray-
ing, Dawn said. And I
just, when I just hit my
knees, I had this over-
whelming feeling that ba-
sically Michael had died.
Dawn says she was lat-
er told her son had no
pulse, no blood pressure.
But a paramedic at the
scene wouldnt abandon
his attempts to revive the
teenager. He was able to
jolt Michaels heart back
into rhythm. Dawn insists
it was part of a bigger
plan.
It was because of that
heartbeat that allowed
himtobeanorgandonor,
Dawn said.
As Michael lay in the
hospital bed, Dawn bent
down and kissed the tat-
too on his chest. I said,
Moms gettingit, Dawn
said.
Michael died on Nov.
22, 2010.
Losing Michael is the
hardest thing Mike has
ever endured, and no one
understands unless
theyve lost a child.
Theyll think, Oh,
gets better in time, and it
reallydoesnt, Mikesaid.
We learn to handle it in
different ways, but the
pain is still the same.
Many lives saved
Dawn couldve crum-
bled after the loss.
That was my biggest
fear my entire life, was
something happening to
my children, Dawn said.
And the way that I feel
about thingsisyoualways
have choices in how you
handle things in life . . .
And I couldnt allow the
family that we had to be
destroyed.
The family started the
Michael-Gene Kids Bas-
ketball Foundation within
weeks. It provides meals
and gifts and sponsors
basketball leagues for un-
derprivileged children in
the community.
At Christmas, the
foundation has 17 angel
trees scattered across the
area.
Its their way of re-
membering Christmas, a
holiday they dont cele-
brate in the traditional
sense anymore.
Shortlyafter Michaels
death, Dawn began
speakingabout theimpor-
tance of organ donation.
Eighteen people die each
day waiting for an organ
transplant.
Most people, some
people are so stricken
withgrief, theycant even
look past the thought of
that person, let alone hav-
ing them be an organ do-
nor, Dawn said.
Neal of TransLife said
there was an almost im-
mediate relationship be-
tweentheFutches andthe
organization.
Its kind of a family
that nobody wants to be a
part of, but once you are,
youre a part of this fam-
ily, its an absolute bless-
ing, Neal said. Theyre
also able to see the endre-
sult.
Family continues to be
a common theme for the
Futches. Dawn had Mi-
chaels tattoo etched into
the upper left side of her
chest. Stephanie and
Mike, who hated tat-
toos, also had Michaels
motto inked into their
skin. So did Michaels
aunts and uncles, cousins,
friends. Even Michaels
74-year-old grandmother.
Brenda, the wife of Mi-
chaels liver recipient,
was branded with the
family tattoo last Christ-
mas. Stephanie is sketch-
ing a special one for An-
gel.
Special tattoo
The Futches have met
four of Michaels five or-
gan recipients. The man
who received Michaels
lungs recently lost his
battle with cystic fibro-
sis. Dawn has helped con-
sole the mans mother.
As family and friends
converged on the Futch
home two Sundays ago, it
washardtokeepadryeye
as the final touches Mi-
chaels eyebrows were
sprinkled onto the flora-
graph.
Pola, who named his
son Phoenix Michael in
memory of his friend,
said hes thrilled for the
Futches.
Its been real hard for
them, Pola said. Its just
amazing what theyve
been able to accomplish,
to turn such tragedy into
something thats helping
so many other people.
ForDawn, itsacalling.
The one thing that
keeps me going is know-
ing Ill be with Michael
again someday, Dawn
said. Therefore, the time
I have left here, I need to
make positive changes
not just for myfamily, but
for the community. I feel
like God has said, This is
what you have to do.
A backyard garden at the Futch family home honors the memory of Michael-Gene Futch, who died in an automobile
accident in 2010. His image will be on a Donate Life float at this year's Rose Parade. TIM SHORTT/FLORIDA TODAY
Continued from Page 1A
Gift
WHAT IS A FLORAGRAPH?
Rose Parade floats must be covered with flowers or other
natural materials, such as leaves, seeds or bark, according to
tournamentofroses.com. The likeness of Michael-Gene Robert
Futch, or floragraph, was created using dried flowers, seeds
and other natural materials.
Contact Paulson at 321-242-3783 or
spaulson@floridatoday.com.