Walk of Love

September 11, 2020:

As a woman of faith, Cristy Sutton had come to appreciate the life-saving miracle of organ transplantation. Four years ago, lying flat on her back in a hospital bed, she came face-to-face with the emotional uncertainty that she may need a liver resection to survive.

The pause brought about by Sutton’s stay in an Atlanta transplant center gave her time to reflect. On each side of her were patients waiting to receive organ transplants.

“I couldn’t help but think about the fact that these people were likely going home with their families,” said Sutton, a chaplain at Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital Pensacola. “But there were others who weren’t going home with their loved ones; they were leaving empty-handed.”

It was a watershed moment for Sutton who was inspired to change how donor families experience the final moments of their loved ones’ lives. She influenced personal touches to the hospital’s traditional Honor Walk that serves as a final memorial to the donor.

Called the Walk of Love, it is a sacred ritual designed to show respect for patients at the end of life who are donating organs to others. Doctors, nurses and other hospital staff, and often friends of the donor and donor family line the hallway to silently pay their respect.

So far, Walk of Love has been embraced at three additional Ascension hospitals across the Florida Panhandle with a ripple effect, including facilities in Gulf, Bay and Walton counties.

“It is actually in the process of spreading across Florida through Ascension hospitals,” Sutton said. “All of this is for the donor; we’re here to honor them because we want them to know we care about them as a family and their loved one giving the gift of life.”

Donor families walk behind their loved ones’ hospital bed on its final journey from the intensive care unit (ICU) to the operating room (OR). It was here that Sutton observed grieving families grasping for something, an anchor of sorts, when saying their final goodbye.

“The families of the organ donors, their hands, in a sense, were empty,” she said. Why not give them something tangible and meaningful to hold onto, she thought.

The Donate Life flag was the obvious choice. The donor is blanketed with a Donate Life flag as they are escorted to their final destination. The flag is then folded, and a chaplain places it in the hands of the donor’s next-of-kin.

“Their faces light up when they get that flag,” Sutton said. “For them to be able to touch something that was touching their loved one and take it home with them seems to be the biggest blessing for the family.”

Jes Morgan, chaplain coordinator at Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola and a retired military chief, helped come up with a unique method of folding the Donate Life flag. The step-by-step process, while similar to American flag-folding procedures, varies widely and intentionally, and is shared with donor families.

“We didn’t want to disgrace the American flag in any way,” Sutton said. “We wanted the Donate Life green and blue to show up on the outside of the fold and to be certain the flag would not come apart while folded.”

Shy by nature, Sutton said it took months to work up the nerve to pitch her idea for Walk of Love, and she said it involves constant collaboration and communication to keep it going, not to mention compassion.

“It is most definitely a team effort,” she said. “Our chaplains have kind of pioneered it, supported me in it. I work with the best team of chaplains, I feel like, in the world.”

Despite wishing there was more she could do, Sutton said it was a blessing to work toward such a gratifying goal with her peers.

“Sadly, we can’t give them the gift of taking their loved one home,” she said.

Sutton was fortunate. In 2016, she was diagnosed with an ovarian tumor that was safely removed. Less than a year later, doctors found three tumors on her liver. She had a partial hepatectomy to remove a portion of her liver.

At the time of her hospitalization, Sutton had seen a video of an Honor Walk but had not been a participant. Since then, she has been privileged to take part in and facilitate several Walks of Love at Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola. Each one has been as unique as the donor who was being esteemed.

On one occasion, the family wanted Sutton to hold the walk, but they didn’t want to be present.

“We got to experience it as a staff.  It went amazingly well in honoring the donor.”

Recently, a Walk of Love was held to honor a donor who had planned to join the military.

“The folded flag was very symbolic for that family because it gave them something to hold onto that was part of the donor’s dreams,” Sutton said.

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Cristy was also featured in Honoring Organ Donors