Anderson tissue donation gives professional baseball player chance to keep playing

Katie Erdman

Grant County Herald

When a loved one leaves us, memories become our greatest inheritance. Photos and keepsakes offer a glimpse of the past, but our memories keep their presence alive.

However, there is a way to have more. Through a donor program, there can be parts of your loved one helping others to live on.

Jacki Anderson knows just how it feels to encounter a part of her loved one that is still living and helping another person. She has been asked not once, but twice if she would be willing to let her loved one be a donor.

Jacki and Pat

Jacki and her husband, Pat, were living on a farm near Hoffman, raising their three children, when tragedy hit. Pat was killed in an ATV accident and Jacki was left to raise their three children, Ben, Ross and Brooke.

The children were attending school at West Central Area High School and were active in many activities. She was busy attending sporting events, concerts and programs. For Ben and Ross, baseball season was their favorite. 

When Pat died, she was asked and agreed to allow him to be an organ donor. Little did she know but that question would be asked of her again just three and a half years later.

The children grew and graduated from high school. Ben went on to college at South Dakota State University, where he played club baseball for a semester then on to North Dakota State University to finish out his academic journey. Ross joined him two years later. 

Ben and Ross lived together in college and were actively involved in the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity. Ben secured a job at AgCountry Farm Credit Services in Willmar and planned to start there after graduation in May of 2020.

Ben’s story

On Feb. 22, 2020, Ben was involved in a snowmobile accident. He was flown to Fargo where emergency medical personnel worked hard to save his life, without success. 

Once Jacki arrived to see her son for the last time, she was asked about organ donation. Ben had not been a registered donor but she agreed to the request from LifeSource for him to be a donor.

LifeSource supported Ben’s family through the donation process and recovered his tissue. Ben’s donated tissue was received by MTF Biologics, who prepared the tissue for transplant and ultimately identified waiting recipients.  

Ben donated bone and connective tissue, skin, as well as saphenous and femoral veins. LifeSource then worked with various tissue partners in the country, like MTF, who receives donated tissue from LifeSource and prepares it for transplant. 

Once the tissue is deemed healthy and suitable for transplant and prepared, the tissue is sent to hospitals and/or clinics where there is a patient with a particular need. 

Jacki returned to her life, not thinking much about the donation process.

Jordan’s story

In 2020, Jordan Brewer was in an exciting place in his life. He was a young man who loved sports—especially baseball. It became an important part of his life and introduced him to lifelong friends.

He played for the University of Michigan before being selected by the Houston Astros in the third round of the Major League Baseball draft. It was everything he had worked so hard for.

Then, while playing for the Astros, he injured his knee. He tore the tissue and cartilage located behind his kneecap.

“Unfortunately, my career took an unexpected turn. After multiple surgeries and years of fighting to get back on the field,” Brewer explained in his letter to Jacki. “I reached the point where there were no more options. I was preparing to walk away from the game that had been such a defining part of my life. More than losing my career, I felt like I was losing a piece of myself.”

Shortly after Ben’s passing, Brewer was notified that he would be a candidate to receive tissue and cartilage for his knee from a donor. “Because of your loved one’s generosity,” Brewer stated, “I received the transplant that gave me another chance. What may have seemed like one decision in the midst of unimaginable grief completely changed the course of my life.”

That gift allowed Brewer to play baseball again. He had more time to chase his dreams. 

“Every time I step onto a baseball field, I carry the memory of that gift with me,” Brewer explained. 

Brewer was eventually recruited to play first base for the Loco Beach Coconuts.

He wrote a letter to the family of his donor in 2024 and sent it through the proper channels to reach the donor’s family. However, since Jacki had moved and her email address changed, she did not receive it.

Brewer was persistent, and reached out a second time with a request to have the donor’s family be his guests at Target Field in August, where Brewer would be playing in a Banana Ball League game representing the Loco Beach Coconuts.

Reuniting

On Aug. 9, Jacki, Ross and his family, and Brooke, along with Jacki’s significant other, met Brewer in a Twins meeting room prior to the game. Brewer walked in, presented Jacki with flowers, and gave everyone a big hug. 

Brewer invited Ross to play catch with him prior to the game, which was something the brothers loved to do together. The family was then able to watch the game from seats just behind the dugout, and walk Brewer out onto the field for one of his at-bats.

As they walked out, a video that Brewer had recorded about the gift he received from Ben played on the JumboTron in front of nearly 40,000 fans.

Brewer also walked out wearing Ben’s high school baseball jersey.

Ross’s daughter, Bennett (named after her late uncle), was the “Banana Baby” at the game, which was another special honor. 

Brewer and Ben would be the same age, just 23 days apart. They both loved baseball and family. 

Brewer now also has a daughter who is eight months old. Another coincidence: all the jerseys still at the school from the years Ben played baseball, his and his brother Ross’ jerseys were some of the few left.

Be a donor

Jacki now has a different look at becoming a donor. 

She feels that a part of Ben is still going on. “He would be so proud,” Jacki explained. “Baseball was his favorite sport.”

As proud as Ben would have been, Brewer is just as thankful for his gift. 

“I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Brewer stated. “I will carry this gift with me for the rest of my life. He is going to walk with me.”

 Jacki encourages everyone to consider registering as a donor at the DMV or online at Life-Source.org to save and improve lives as Ben did.