VERNON â Kim Sass, a Vernon Center Middle School guidance counselor, is encouraging others to consider being organ donors after she donated a kidney last month that went to a young patient in need.
Sass, who underwent surgery on Dec. 3 and said she is quickly recovering, was inspired to donate her kidney after hearing about a message that appeared on billboards throughout the state from a mother whose son was in poor health and needed a kidney donor.
That mother, Mary Kozicki, said the messages were placed on various digital billboards for free by Lamar Advertising Agency in December 2019 and appeared between paid advertisements. The spots have encouraged at least three people, including Sass and the donor whose kidney went to her 25-year-old son, Austin Kozicki, to donate over the past year.