And they remember how his charisma made him a very effective salesman.

“He could sell you something you already owned,” said his mother, Becky Grazier, of Fort Dodge.

“He was a smooth talker,” added his brother, Brad Grazier.

They also remember that how in death, Travis Grazier gave life to a handful of other people through organ donation.

-Submitted photo
Travis Grazier, of Fort Dodge, died Feb. 27 at age 29, but because he was an organ donor, his death gave new life to a handful of others. His heart, kidneys, lungs, and liver were donated, along with some skin, veins and cartilage.

“If my son had to pass away, I’m glad he was able to help them,” said Becky Grazier.

After his Feb. 27 death at UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center, Travis Grazier’s heart, kidneys, lungs, and liver were donated, along with some skin, veins and cartilage.

Becky Grazier said her son signed up to be an organ donor when he got his driver’s license.

On Feb. 23, Travis Grazier suffered a seizure that left him brain dead. He was 29.

Becky Grazier doesn’t shy away from stating that her son’s seizure resulted from illegal drug use.

She was by his side almost constantly in the intensive care unit. Other family members, including his 4-year-old son TJ, also visited.

After Travis Grazier died and the medical teams were getting ready for the process of recovering his organs, Jess Haub, a nurse practitioner, told TJ that his father was going to be a hero because he was giving his organs to people who needed them.

Becky Grazier remembers the boy asking “So my Dad’s going to be a superhero in heaven?”

“Absolutely, buddy,” Haub replied.

When it was time to take Travis Grazier’s body to an operating room so that surgeons could recover his organs, friends, family and hospital staff members lined the corridor in a salute called an Honor Walk.

“The hallway was just packed on both sides from the intensive care unit to the elevator,” Becky Grazier said.

When the family left the hospital later that day, they saw vans from the Iowa Donor Network lined up to transport his organs to other hospitals, where they would be transplanted into other patients.

“I’m glad that was still able to help someone and at the very end he was still a hero,” Becky Grazier said.

A celebration of life was held for Travis Grazier on March 14. His mother said there was “a ton of people there,” including someone from Oregon.

The family was given an X Box controller signed by all the people who played games with him.

“That tells you about Travis’ personality,” she said.

Becky Grazier said the staff of Trinity Regional Medical Center and the Iowa Donor Network were “amazing.”

About Travis Grazier

He grew up in Fort Dodge with one brother and one sister.

His brother, Brad, remembers all the things the two used to do as boys including swimming in Expo Pool and camping at John F. Kennedy Memorial park. He said when they went camping there, they used to look for golf balls that came into the park from nearby Lakeside Municipal Golf Course.

Travis Grazier graduated from Fort Dodge Senior High School and was a member of the homecoming court in 2014.

He volunteered to help with the annual Moose Lodge Easter Egg hunt.

He was a salesman and worked for Fort Dodge Ford Lincoln Toyota. At the time of his death, he was working for Schwan’s.

His family plans to do something special on Sept. 25, which would have been his 30th birthday.