Days after a 12-year old Louisville girl drowned in a swimming pool, her family has turned the tragedy into a gift of life.
Janyia Robinson’s family sat on the front porch of their home and marveled at the gift that was able to come from their tragic loss. The 12-year olds’ sister told WLKY-TV “I didn’t know that she was going to be able to save people and it makes me happy that she can.” Cuita Robinson remembered her daughter as a unique young girl, who seemed far beyond her years. “If you met her, I mean genuinely if you met her, she was just a little old lady in a 12-year old body. She’s just a beautiful child and still had that innocence.”
Last week Janyia was found unresponsive in a swimming pool and remained on life support for five days before the Robinsons made a difficult decision. They agreed that the best way they could honor Janyia would be to donate her organs. To their surprise, they were a perfect match for Janyia’s cousin who had struggled with diabetes for decades and been in kidney failure for three years. Cuita Robinson was elated when she heard the news. “They called him in that morning for his transplant that he’d been waiting on. And I was just so overjoyed! I was so overjoyed and I screamed and I don’t think my tear ducts could produce any more tears.”
Deron Polk received one of his cousin’s kidneys and her pancreas. Her heart is now beating in a second recipient and the family is waiting to see if any more lives were changed with their daughter’s final gift.