Suburban family encourages others to become organ donors after daughter's donation saved 3 lives

A Frankfort family is turning their pain into purpose, forming the Maddog Strong Foundation to encourage organ donation after their daughter’s organ donation saved three lives.

Maddie Grobmeier’s nickname was Maddog, a moniker given to her by her father at birth.

“I immediately thought of Cubs pitcher Greg “Maddog” Maddux because he was so unassuming, but when he got on the mound, he was a completely different person. And I thought, ‘That’s her!’ She's just this petite, little child and then she lets out this cry,” said Frank Grobmeier, Maddie’s dad.

Maddie was known as Maddog not just at Lincoln Way East High School, but also in the gym where she competed as a gymnast.

She planned to compete in college at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, but tragedy struck soon after Maddie’s high school graduation in June 2019. She went to a concert with friends and collapsed.

“Someone had found her on the floor, unresponsive, clutching her asthma inhaler in her hand. She had been an asthmatic her entire life and she must have just suffered an attack that just took her down,” said Cyndi Grobmeier, Maddie’s mom.

Maddie wouldn’t recover and her parents celebrated her 18^th birthday by her side in the pediatric intensive care unit. The next day, Maddie saved three lives.

“She was able to donate her heart and liver to one woman and her two kidneys, one each to two people. She gave sight to two people, including a little two year old girl. And so far, her tissue donations have changed the lives of 11 people as far away as Seoul, South Korea,” Cyndi said.

Her parents were simply carrying out Maddie’s wishes that they had learned three months earlier, after Maddie had been in a serious car accident, but walked away with only with cuts and bruises.

“She said, I want to tell you guys something. If anything like that car accident were to ever happen again and the outcome wasn't as good. I want to be an organ donor. And the dad instinct kicked in and I said, ‘No, no, no, we're not having this conversation. We don't talk about death and dying and that car accident was enough scare for a lifetime,” Frank said.

“And she was a tough kid. She pressed on and she said ‘No, you've got to know.’ And we did. Okay, check. We understand,” Frank said.

Up to eight people can be saved by one organ donor. That’s why the Grobmeiers formed the Maddog Strong Foundation, which has three pillars – education, registration and conversation.

“We've created an education curriculum called the Teach Life program, and it's free to high school teachers to implement in their science, health, PE, driver's education classrooms,” Cyndi said.

The foundation also encourages registration for organ donation, but Cyndi and Frank want people to go one step further and be sure to have a conversation about organ donation with friends and family.

“Thank God that we had that conversation that she pressed on about and we knew,” Frank said.

So far, the foundation has helped encourage more than 500 registrations, potentially saving up to 8,000 lives.

With more than 100,000 people nationwide on the waitlist currently for an organ, the Grobmeiers know there is more work to do.

“The key is just think about it, consider it, register and have that conversation with your family,” Cyndi said.

In sharing Maddie’s story, the Grobmeiers have met the families of other donors and received notes from all across the country.

“We tell people that her story did not end that day. Her story continues through the lives that she affected and changed and saved. And that gives us hope and gives us, you know, a sense of healing,” Frank said.

For more information about organ donation and to register to become a donor, go here.