Vacaville Magazine

by: C

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Giving Life From DeathAshley and Kolby Lankford had an unselfish relation-ship. They were each other’s best friend, confidant, sweetheart and enjoyed spending time together and time apart too, giving each other room to have separate hobbies.

Ashley Davis was born and raised in Vacaville until high school, when she moved to Oklahoma. After high school she attended college at Oklahoma State Uni-versity. Ashley’s friend from her hometown of Altus introduced her to Kolby and the two became insepara-ble very quickly even though he lived in Oklahoma City and she lived in Stillwater. Kolby and Ashley enrolled together at the University of Central Oklahoma in 2001.

“They say opposites attract and we were,” Ashley has said. Four years later, after graduation, Ashley imported Kolby to her hometown, Vacaville, during the summer of 2004.

Each of them worked full time while building their lives together in Vacaville. Ashley worked at Gap, Inc. and was a substitute teacher for the Vacaville Unified School District and Kolby managed Lids in Sacra-mento. They were planning their 2005 wedding and

enjoying every minute of it. The day came on October 22, 2005 Ashley officially became Mrs. Kolby Lankford in front of their family and friends in Oklahoma City.

Ashley and Kolby had always envisioned having children but wanted to get settled into their marriage and continued to put the building blocks into place for children down the road. Ashley was working full time at Notre Dame school as a fourth grade teacher and Kolby worked as a full time sleep lab technician in Vacaville for REM Sleep Diagnostics, Inc., moving into a great position for Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) as a Registered Polysomnographer (RPSGT) for Mercy Sleep Center in Sacramento. Kolby worked Wednes-days through Saturdays from 7 pm until 7 am, a perfect schedule for his frequent trips to Lake Tahoe. Kolby had a passion for many things, including trips to Santa Rosa with Ashley on Sundays to visit Russian River Brewery and a newfound bike-riding hobby at whatever time his schedule allowed, which was often in the middle of the night, but snowboarding was at the top of his list. Being opposite in nature, Ashley doesn’t even know how to snowboard and would encourage Kolby to pursue his hobby in Tahoe while she stayed in town.

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Friends and Neighborsphotos by Ryan Bates Photography

The Lankford Family

If it was cold outside, one could find Kolby snowboard-ing in North Lake Tahoe. He would stay in a house he rented and shared with other ski/snowboarding enthusi-asts. Sundays to Tuesdays he could be found either carving up a mountain or in his favorite area brewery, Fifty Fifty. Kolby loved the North side because of its casual non-com-mercial nature.

Kolby had playfully joked with Ashley that once he was able to snowboard for 100 days they could have a baby. However, they found themselves ready last summer and decided to try to get pregnant. A few months later, the e.p.t. test confirmed their hopes and overjoyed they shared the news with friends and co-workers. Kolby even carried the positive test in his pocket to work to illustrate the good news. Like most new moms, Ashley didn’t want to wait the normal 16 weeks to find out if they were having a boy or girl so Ashley traveled to a special 3D ultrasound clinic and found out they were having a baby girl. Together, they decided to name her Claire.

It was March 9, 2009 during one of Kolby’s snowboard-ing trips, a Vacaville police officer arrived on Ashley’s doorstep to give her the tragic news of her husband’s snowboarding accident. Kolby was reportedly found unconscious on a run at Homewood Ski Resort. No head trauma, no blood and no firm indicator of how he died. Upon arriving at Tahoe Forest Hospital in Truckee, Ashley and her parents found out Kolby was brain dead and sur-viving only on a ventilator. Ashley knew there was no hope of recovery at this stage and faced the horrible realization of life without her husband and the father of their unborn baby girl, Claire.

The doctors and staff at the hospital immediately asked Ashley about organ donation. Kolby’s Oklahoma records showed he was an organ donor, but this record wasn’t updated upon his move to California. Ashley, as his wife, was faced with the final decision. Ashley knew her hus-band’s giving and unselfish nature and knew he would want to donate his organs. As a 31 year old, healthy man, Kolby was an ideal donor.

Ashley worked with Sierra Eye & Tissue Donor Services in Sacramento to facilitate the organ donation. Kolby’s young and healthy organs/tissues are estimated to save, or otherwise benefit, sixty people. Immediate donations in March 2009 saved the lives of three people and the recov-ered corneas restored eyesight to two others.

Kolby’s heart saved a 21 year-old, recently engaged man who suffered from a grave deteriorating condition of his heart muscle. He had been on the transplant waiting list for two months.

One of Kolby’s kidneys and his liver were transplanted at UC Davis Medical Center to a 55 year-old man suffering from severe end-stage liver disease and kidney failure. He had been on the waiting list for almost three years.

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Kolby’s other kidney was transplanted to a 61 year-old man suffering from severe genetic disease of his kidneys, relying on dialysis to sustain his life for nearly five years while on the transplant waiting list.

These five people are forever thankful for Kolby’s gifts of life.

Two weeks early, on May 28, 2009, Ashley gave birth to their daughter Claire Kolby Lankford. Ashley has made a home for Claire and the two are inseparable these days.

Ashley is comforted knowing that parts of Kolby still live on. She has found some peace through helping other families avoid the tragic loss of a loved one.

“Family, friends and Claire have been my saving grace, she kept me doing the things I needed to do. I knew I had to look out for our baby,” Ashley said.

Friends and family can be identified around Vacaville by the “Ride Your Bike at Midnight” bumper stickers, made to signify Kolby’s newest bike riding hobby, but more importantly Kolby’s constant quest for adventure, always doing what made him happy.

This January Homewood Ski Resort will dedicate a new terrain park to Kolby. It will be called, Kolby’s Escape. Friends of Kolby’s in Lake Tahoe were instru-mental in making this happen. In fact, there has been an outpouring of support from many people who knew Kolby. His co-workers at Mercy Sleep Center helped with the insurance costs for Ashley during the last three months of her pregnancy and also for the first few months of Claire’s life. Their families have set up The Claire Lankford Fund at Bank of the West in Vacaville.

“Look, I’ve never had a dream in my life because a dream is what you want to do, but still haven’t pursued. I knew what I wanted and did it ‘til it was done. So I’ve been the dream that I wanted to be since day one.”

Aesop Rock’s song “No Regrets” from Kolby’s MySpace page. (Kolby was a lover of music. This was one of his favorite lyricists and songs).

For more information about organ donation visit: www.DonateLifeCalifornia.org.

In our friends and neighbors articles we like to feature people who have done amazing things for the com-munity along with people who have made Vacaville what it is today. As a thank you to these amazing people Motoring Specialists, located at 742 E. Main Street, sup-plies the featured citizen with a minor service on their vehicle. Thank you!