Dakarai Tucker Scholarship Variety Show Tonight
This evening [Sept 28] Warwick Academy is set to host a variety show in honour of Dakarai Tucker and the gift of life that he gave even in death.
Supported by Dakarai’s parents, Dawna and Stephen Tucker, the show will bring together musicians and artists from around the island in order to celebrate the young man’s life and their own decision to donate his organs after his death, with all proceeds going to support a scholarship in his name.
The school said, “In May of this year Dakarai’s mum came to see us and said she would like to put on a concert to recognize the 5 year mile stone of Dakarai’s passing and also celebrate a significant birthday for her. When Dakarai died money was donated in his memory in the form of a scholarship.
“There is not quite enough money in this fund yet to award it and so Mrs Tucker’s idea was to have a concert featuring people from across Bermuda to come together in music, song and dance to celebrate Dakarai’s life, raise money for the scholarship and to promote the greatest gift of all, the gift of life through organ transplants.”
It was five years ago that Dakarai, a well-liked 15-year-old Warwick Academy student who showed great promise in all areas of his life, collapsed without warning at the school. After discovering massive bleeding in his brain at a local hospital, Dakarai was flown to John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland in order to treat the brain aneurysm that threatened his life.
Following a ten day struggle, doctors there pronounced the young man brain dead, leaving his family to decide whether or not to donate his organs. In the end, they made a decision to donate five of Dakarai’s organs, including his heart.
It was that generous decision that saved the life of a young man facing a heart-related struggle of his own.
16-year-old Ryan Miller, had recently been diagnosed with an enlarged heart. He was quickly transported to Newark Beth Israel Hospital, and following a failed attempt to implant a defibrillator, Ryan and his family learned that only a heart transplant could save his life.
With anywhere between 40,000 and 80,000 Americans on the waiting list and very few donated hearts available, his situation did not look promising. It was not long before the Miller family learned that a well-matched heart was available – Dakarai Tucker’s heart, generously donated by his family only hours before.
Following the heart’s transport from Baltimore to Newark and a grueling 16 hour operation to transplant Dakarai’s heart into Ryan, the Miller family learned that the procedure was successful and that Ryan was expected to make a full recovery. Over the next few years, he did just that, returning to the football field and leading his team to a country championship, completing high school, and enrolling in university as a broadcasting major.
Video: The Story of Dakarai Tucker and Ryan Miller:
It was after completing these goals and reaching so many new milestones that the Millers received a letter from the Tuckers inviting them to Bermuda in order to meet for the first time, and the Miller family set off for Bermuda for what was to be an emotional and highly fulfilling meeting, four years after Dakarai’s death and Ryan’s life-saving operation.
The families spent several days together, sharing their stories and experiences as they celebrated the lives of the boys who would always be intertwined in the most profound of ways.
In honour of Dakarai’s death, his family’s generous decision to donate his organs, and the life that Ryan has ahead of him, the Dakarai Tucker Scholarship variety show is set to go ahead on Saturday, September 28 at 7pm at Warwick Academy, with both the Miller and Tucker families to be in attendance.
The show will feature dance groups In Motion and United Dance Productions, Ryan Bean, Sandy’s Middle School’s drumline, singer McCartney Darrel;, Alex Miranthis, Bermuda Institute’s steel pan band, the 7th Day Adventist Choir, with local radio personality Bootsie set to emcee the proceedings.
Tickets to the event can be purchased for $20 by visiting this page.
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I cannot attend but I have been on line and paid for one ticket to this very worthy cause.
If a couple is short of funds perhaps they could buy one ticket and request the ticket I have paid for.
Best wishes to all involved. MS
That is the most touching story. It brought tears to my eyes. Amazing to see the life long bond the families will have.