NFL Player Ronyell Whitaker Saves 4 Lives Through Organ Donations After His Death at 46

Ronyell Whitaker in 2006
Credit: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty

“Ronyell loved coaching high school kids,” Charboneau told M Health Fairview on Wednesday, April 29. “He would introduce himself to the parents and say, ‘I’m not just their coach for football. I’m their mentor, so if the kids ever have something going on, I’m here.’ He always wanted to help in any way, and I’m sure he felt the same way when he checked the box to be an organ donor.”

Whitaker “would be very excited to know that his, his life continued on,” Charboneau told KARE in another interview published on April 29. She said he “loved his family and he loved this community.”

Whitaker was born in Virginia, but spent part of his NFL career in Minnesota. Although he also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions, he chose to stay in the Minneapolis area after retiring from pro football. He coached high school football and established his company, Whitaker Group, LLC, in the city.

While the specific details of Whitaker’s organ donations were not shared, Charboneau told KARE that his lungs were among the organs that helped those four people.

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“I do think about them. I think about their families and I think about how their health is now, hoping that they're feeling better,” Charboneau told the outlet. “He would have been so proud and happy to have helped them. He donated his heart to science as well. So that's pretty amazing.”

Charboneau was so inspired by the work of the M Health Fairview Donor Care Unit that she is now advocating for organ and tissue donation, and hopes Whitaker’s story will inspire others, she told KARE.

The unit is a partnership between M Health Fairview and LifeSource, and celebrated its first anniversary in April. After a potential organ donor is found, LifeSource helps organize the donor’s transfer from a non-transplant hospital to the Donor Care Unit.

“Our role is to honor the donor and their family,” Erin Schaden, the unit’s nurse manager, told M Health Fairview. “We do that by trying to maximize the gift and supporting the family through one of their hardest moments. We want them to feel supported, respected, and never alone as they spend time with their loved one and navigate the donation process.”

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