October 9, 2025
Shawnee Brave Rock was often described as feisty, yet loving. When she died in 2023, she saved five lives through organ donation. Photo courtesy of Ramona Big Head.
Shawnee’s brother, Jesse Brave Rock, hangs prayer sticks with tobacco ties as his mother, Ramona Big Head, prays. This location on the Blood Reserve is where Ramona likes to go to remember her daughter. Photo by Leah Hennel.
Story by Su-Ling Goh | Photos by Leah Hennel & Ramona Big Head
Shawnee Brave Rock was one of Ramona Big Head’s seven children, a triplet who fought for her life as an infant. Big Head describes her as feisty — “the toughest of all of us” — yet loving.
“She wasn’t afraid to show her affection to her children.… I came from a residential school — that wasn’t something we did.… it didn’t come easy for me,” says Big Head, who is Blackfoot.
Brave Rock left behind four children of her own when she died of an opioid overdose in the spring of 2023. The 36-year-old had been sober for nearly a year prior to her death.
“She was talking about going back to school. Then she went out one night and she relapsed,” says Big Head. “With those drugs, when you’ve been off of them for a period of time and then you get back on, usually you overdose.… your body no longer has that tolerance.”
Big Head was called to the Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge, where the intensive care unit (ICU) team explained they had done all they could to save her daughter, but she had a severe brain injury and would not survive. Internist and intensivist Dr. Sean Spence later approached Big Head about the possibility of donating Brave Rock’s organs and tissues.
“When the doctor came and asked me if (organ and tissue donation) was something I would consider, he did it in a very gentle way, he did it in a way that was very sensitive of a mother whose daughter was (on life support),” recalls Big Head.
“For me, (the answer) was an immediate ‘yes’, because my cousin was a recipient of lungs a couple years ago, and he’s still around today.” Spence is one of three SEND physicians in southern Alberta (two in Lethbridge, one in Medicine Hat). The Specialist in End-of-Life Care, Neuroprognostication and Donation Program was launched across the province in 2021, dedicated to education and consultation with healthcare teams to identify and care for potential organ and tissue donors.
“If more people are helped by transplant … or organ and tissue donation has helped provide at least some positive memories or silver lining to an otherwise devastating situation, this is a major win,” says Spence.
Brave Rock was transported to Calgary’s Foothills Medical Centre for recovery of her lungs, kidneys and liver. Her organs saved five lives.
“We also donated her pancreas for diabetes research because diabetes is so rampant among Indigenous people,” says Big Head. “If we could do something to help find a cure for diabetes, I felt that was important.”
Brave Rock’s Blackfoot name is Itspaikitsstakiaakii, meaning High Holy Offering Woman. Her mother recently received an anonymous letter of gratitude from one of Brave Rock’s lung recipients.
“At the end of the day, when I got that letter, that was a confirmation that Shawnee did good. The blessings that come from that I believe are going to be with her, but also with her children and grandchildren. We don’t always know what those blessings are going to look like, but with my faith, I know they’re there,” says Big Head.
“I believe my daughter is smiling down … and she gets to see how (her recipients’) lives have been blessed.”
More than 500 people are waiting for life-saving transplants in Alberta. For more information on organ and tissue donation, visit GiveLifeAlberta.ca.
