Zamora Simpson is passionate about caring for others. She wants to be a nurse when she grows up so she can help deliver babies in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and she has plans to go on a mission trip to Mexico with her father to volunteer at an orphanage.
Her passion for helping others is not new, but being able to participate in these service activities is.
At just 14 years old, Zamora was diagnosed with scoliosis while getting a physical for school. At the time, her spine curved so severely that it put significant pressure on her lungs and made it difficult to breathe.
She had surgery at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Her surgeon used a bone graft from a tissue donor to help repair her spine and encourage new bone growth during the healing process. Today, Zamora can breathe normally and is excited to be an active teenager once again. She looks forward to everyday activities – walking and hiking, camping with her family and even wearing a backpack to school. She wants her donor’s family to know that she is grateful to have her life back and she plans to make the most of it by helping others.
“After my surgery, I was most excited to go back to school because I just wanted to be normal again and tissue donation allowed me to do that.”
– Zamora