Marshalltown man donates organs after fatal accident
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO — Robbi Kluck, a Marshalltown man who recently passed away after a two-vehicle accident, is pictured with his five children and his girlfriend Michaela Nelson.
Robbi Kluck, center, is pictured with his friends Eric Suaves Seymour, left, and Melissa Nelson, right.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO — Robbi Kluck, a Marshalltown man who recently passed away after a two-vehicle accident, is pictured with his five children and his girlfriend Michaela Nelson.
Robbi Kluck, center, is pictured with his friends Eric Suaves Seymour, left, and Melissa Nelson, right.
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Robbi Kluck's life ended at a hospital in Des Moines on May 20, but thanks to one final selfless act, five others will continue.
"It means a lot. In a way, he's still living on, and that's how Robbi always was. He was always helping everybody out," his father Tim Kluck said. "Even though he had five kids, if his neighbor kids were working on their bikes, he'd go over and help them work on their bikes. He was always helping everybody."
Kluck, a 33-year-old Marshalltown man, was involved in a tragic accident near JBS on May 16, when a vehicle turned in front of his motorcycle and forced him to emergency brake, laying the bike on its side. He was air transported to the local hospital first, and he eventually wound up at Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines.
It was there that his friends and family learned he had suffered brain damage and wasn't going to survive, but because he had made the decision to be a donor, he was kept on life support while his organs were harvested. Other than his brain and his eyes, all of his major organs were intact.
Michaela Nelson, his girlfriend, said it also gave his family quality time to spend with him and say their goodbyes, and she praised both the child life specialists who worked with Robbi's five children -- even providing them with handprints and recordings of his heartbeat to remember their father by -- and the Iowa Donor Network for their efforts to make the process as comfortable as possible.
"The social worker would literally text us and give us all the updates as they came. Surgery got pushed back a few times on Friday, and the lady even took our kids to the park to wear off some energy," Nelson said. "Even in the worst situation, these people who we didn't even know were there for us more than we could ever possibly imagine."
When the hospital held an honor walk on the day Robbi was taken off life support, at least 30 close friends and family members gathered to say their last goodbyes, and a special flag encouraging organ donation was raised to thank him. The recipients of his organs were even flown into Des Moines from across the country, and all of the transplants were successful.
"They had specialists coming in from all over the country. It was a big deal," Tim Kluck said. "I just think something needs to be said about it because it is a big deal, and it did save five lives."
According to Tim, contact information has already been exchanged with the recipients, and he looks forward to corresponding with them in the future as they live with a part of Robbi inside of them. As it turned out, Robbi became an organ donor because a close friend, James Lavender, had died in a motorcycle accident about 10 years ago. Coincidentally enough, he was 33 years old.
Processing and coping with the events of the last two weeks has been an incredibly difficult experience for Nelson, the kids and everyone who called Kluck a friend -- in her words, being a dad was "everything" to him -- but they will all do their best to make sure his memory lives on in various ways. Perhaps none is more important than the decision to provide a lifeline to people he'll never get the chance to meet.
"I feel like these people who got his organs might not have lived long enough to even receive the organs they needed," Nelson said. "I think it's amazing that Robbi was an organ donor. Even when the doctors couldn't save him, he got to save other people. It's honestly changed my perception on being an organ donor, and I'm actually going to become one myself."
As she looks back on his life and what he left behind, Nelson hopes others can take a few lessons from Kluck: it's never too late to turn your life around and do the right things, and be yourself no matter what.
His father will always remember how selfless Robbi was and how quickly he would lend a helping hand.
"He always helped somebody out without asking why or anything in return, you know, and if more people would do that these days for other people then people wouldn't be in binds like they are," Tim Kluck said. "That's about all I can really say."
A GoFundMe organized to benefit Kluck's family and children has already raised over $2,500, and Nelson said it has allowed her to stay home with the kids and grieve during a trying time. The link to the GoFundMe is https://www.gofundme.com/f/robbi-kluck-family-memorial-fund, and all other donations can be sent to the Mitchell Family Funeral Home. A visitation was held on Friday night, and the funeral service was on Saturday afternoon.
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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or
rmharry@timesrepublican.com.