Skip to main content

Father who died in crash saves life of family friend’s father through organ donation

By CNN

Click here for updates on this story

    KENOSHA, Wisconsin (WDJT) — Sometimes life’s greatest gifts come from where we least expect them to. For a grandfather in need of a kidney, a Kenosha father’s organ donation following his sudden death turned grief into hope.

Kristina Vazquez says her ex-husband, Wilbert Toto, died suddenly while walking to work on June 10. According to a copy of a crash report she shared with CBS 58 from the Kenosha Police Department, heavy winds, severe winds and low visibility caused a driver of a vehicle to not see Toto as he crossed the intersection of 39th and 45th in Kenosha.

Vazquez said Toto was in a coma for over two-and-a-half weeks. Due to his severe injuries, his family knew this would forever change the life of the working father of two daughters, ages 9 and 17.

“This is the man who worked three jobs or two jobs for 26 years. We had to realize, Wilbert wouldn’t want to live that way,” Vazquez said.

Vazquez said even before the crash, Toto told her that he wanted to be an organ donor.

“We had this conversation,” Vazquez said. “He said, ‘When I go, what am I going to use it for?’ He goes, ‘Give it to somebody better. Give them, save them.’”

That’s when one family’s grief turned into another’s hope for life.

Evelyn Danecki’s father, Steve McNeill, was in need of a kidney for over two years. Vazquez knew Denecki through her photography studio. Denecki said she had been watching Vazquez’s situation unfold when Vazquez contacted her.

“She reached out to me and said, ‘Wilbert is not going to make it through this, he’s going to pass away either way,’” Denecki said. “And then, I was hit with, ‘Well, we want to give your dad the kidney.’”

From that point on, Denecki and Vazquez say their families were connected both physically and emotionally.

“We were with him the day before he passed, and we were praying with him and praying over him and just being with the family,” said Serena McNeill, Steve McNeill’s granddaughter. “That’s an incredible, very unique experience that doesn’t happen for most people that receive organ donations.”

Through Toto’s organ donation, Vazquez says Toto saved a total of six lives. Vazquez’s family found comfort in knowing that Toto’s legacy lives on through others.

“Wilbert Toto is a hero and he matters,” Vazquez said. “We always called him Super Papi, and now he is.”

Toto’s gift of life has already made an impact for people who have heard his story in Kenosha. On Aug. 21, Rumor’s Lounge in Kenosha is holding a benefit for Toto’s daughters as they grieve. Micklyn Kent with Rumor’s Lounge told CBS 58 they were interested in holding the event because the owner is also a donor recipient.

“He would not be with us today if somebody didn’t donate their organ,” Kent said. ““We take these for granted. Life is not promised to any of us.”

A fundraiser to support Toto’s family is available.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

What we know about Hayden Panettiere’s sudden death and who was with her

By CNN
(CNN) — By all accounts, Hayden Panettiere’s new life was just getting started.The actress who shot to fame playing an indestructible cheerleader in the NBC show “Heroes” was far more vulnerable in real life. Mental health challenges, postpartum depression and addiction plagued her young adult years and temporarily halted the career that began when she was less than a year old.But this year, Panettiere addressed her struggles in a memoir and spoke publicly about losing her brother. And her career was making a comeback, with her latest film released in January.So when the 36-year-old was pronounced dead in a South Carolina apartment where police reported she was with a man identified as her boyfriend and his brother on Sunday, shock and grief stretched around the world.“I just feel that she’s with her brother and they’re at peace,” Lesley Vogel, Panettiere’s mom, told NBC News through tears on Tuesday.Panettiere said there was no relationship between her and her mother earlier this year on Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast.Here’s what we know (and don’t know) about Panettiere’s death:She suffered cardiac arrest at a home she was temporarily staying inMedics responded to a 911 call about a “reported cardiac arrest” around 1:51 p.m. Sunday at a residence in Greenville, the county coroner’s office said.The report came from the Judson Mill Lofts on Easley Bridge Road, Greenville police said. The coroner’s office said Panettiere, a California resident, “had been temporarily staying” at the apartment complex, but authorities did not say who lived at the residence.First responders arrived and found Panettiere in cardiac arrest, the coroner’s office said. Dispatch audio obtained from Broadcastify.com references a possible overdose and CPR in progress, though authorities have not addressed whether an overdose actually took place.Medics tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate Panettiere, who was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:32 p.m., the coroner’s office said.Panettiere’s reported boyfriend and his brother called 911, police sayA Greenville police officer arrived at the scene and interviewed brothers Brian and Zach Hickerson, who said they called 911, a police report states.“I spoke with Zach Hickerson first, he advised this was his brother’s girlfriend,” the officer wrote in the report.Brian Hickerson showed the officer a bag of Panettiere’s medications, the report said. But many details of the police report are redacted, including a list of Panettiere’s medications.CNN has reached out to Brian and Zach Hickerson for comment.No obvious signs of trauma were foundAn autopsy performed Monday revealed no signs of trauma that would have contributed to her death, the coroner’s office said.The official cause and manner of death have not been determined, pending the results of additional testing. Toxicology tests, which are standard in many death investigations, can take weeks to complete.Panettiere detailed domestic abuse in memoir months before deathIn a candid memoir published less than three months before her death, Panettiere detailed the evolution of a once-exciting, new relationship that quickly escalated into years of domestic violence by a man she referred to only as “Brian.” The actress wrote about heated, many times drunken, arguments ending with him slapping and hitting her between screams: “One night he busts up my face so badly I don’t leave the house for weeks.”“You never forget the first time someone slaps you,” she wrote. “Nor do you forget the last.”According to the Superior Court of Los Angeles County Clerk’s Office, in 2019, a Brian Hickerson was convicted of two felony charges of “Injuring a Spouse, Cohabitant, Fiance’s, Boyfriend, Girlfriend or Child’s Parent,” and sentenced to four years of formal probation.Panettiere also wrote about at least three different instances where “Brian” was arrested after he’d hit her during a fight, including on Valentine’s Day in 2020 while the couple was on vacation in Wyoming.In May 2026, Brian Hickerson did an interview with TMZ, saying he had read Panettiere’s then-new book, acknowledging that he “had a lot to drink and I got physical with (Panettiere) and I got arrested,” on February 14, 2020. He called the parts of the book detailing domestic violence “my chapter. Everybody should read it.”CNN’s Lisa Respers France and Sara Smart contributed to this report.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
Read Next Story

Related Stories

Latest News
Red lights are flashing in energy markets
9 minutes ago

Red lights are flashing in energy markets

Ukraine's fired defense minister calls for elections despite war with Russia

God save the drag kings of England

Nolan Wells would have turned 19 today. Here’s where the investigation into his death stands

La última advertencia de Irán a Estados Unidos evidencia la influencia creciente de los sectores más intransigentes