Vanessa Hughes Vanessa Hughes is the Executive Director of the Larry Hughes Family Foundation, established in 2000 to assist children who are waiting for or have received organ transplants. The Foundation also assists families of organ donors. Ms. Hughes has been a lifelong advocate for organ donation, working with other organizations to spread the word about the need for organ donation while also focusing on the need for education surrounding organ donation. She has made it her mission to help ensure that children won’t suffer medically because of financial reasons.

Under her leadership, the Larry Hughes Family Foundation has helped many young transplant recipients and their families, as well as assisted in offsetting burial expenses for families who have donated their loved one’s organs. And the Foundation has been a strong voice for transplant awareness. In addition to her work at the Foundation, Ms. Hughes is also an ambassador for the American Heart Association’s “The Power to End Stroke” initiative and a host to the Better Family Life’s “The Family Reunion 2007.” Ms. Hughes became involved in educating about donation because her own son, Justin, was born with a heart defect and eventually had a heart transplant in January of 1997. He died of heart failure in May of 2006 at the age of 20. Ms. Hughes lives in Caseyville, Ill. Her son, Larry Hughes, is a professional basketball player and married to the former Carrie Lawrence. Vanessa is the proud grandmother of three, Lauryn, Landys and Larry II.