One of the things I find remarkable about the work we do at LifeSource is the extent to which we are committed to supporting donor families, both at the time of donation and for years afterward. Donor families are the cornerstone of the work that we do – without them there would be no transplants. It is an incredibly generous gift.
I’m always so excited to tell people about this, as many people don’t realize that donor families receive this kind of support in the months and years following donation. At LifeSource donor families are part of our aftercare program for as long as they wish; we have some families that have been coming to our events for nearly 20 years! In addition to receiving support and remembering their loved ones, these long time donor families are also able to provide hope and perspective to our families that are more newly bereaved. That too, is a wonderful gift.
Part of our aftercare program involves facilitating letters between transplant recipients and donor family members. Either party can write to the other; often, recipients want a chance to say thank you for their gift of life and donor family members may want to share memories about their loved ones. Donor families and recipients can request to have direct contact with one another and, sometimes, they even meet. These are often very rewarding relationships.
This was the case today, when I was honored to attend a donor family and recipient meeting with my colleague Jill, whose job it is to support these families. She connected this pair after some persistant detective work, as the donation and transplant took place more than 40 years ago in 1966! It was an incredible meeting and I think we were all touched when Steve, the kidney recipient, immediately hugged the donor’s sister and told her he had been waiting for 43 years to give her that hug.
Saturday was an amazing day! We filmed our new advertising campaign to increase the number of registered organ and tissue donors and it couldn’t have gone more smoothly. We got some incredible footage and can’t wait to see it come together and share it with all of you.
In addition to the dozens of people who helped make the commercial happen – from creative direction and production to our fabulous volunteers and wonderful partners at Driver and Vehicle Services – we also had five actors in the commercial. And something really cool happened - we found out that our lead actor, Brian Kelly, has a personal connection to donation! Take a look at what Brian had to share with us.
It details a paired kidney exchange last week between Hennepin County Medical Center and the University of Maryland Medical Center. Paired kidney exchanges are one idea to help save more lives through donation and shorten the transplant waiting list, more than three-quarters of which is comprised of people waiting for a kidney (83,000 people).
Basically, a paired exchange can occur when you have a person who is willing to be a living kidney donor for a loved one or friend but is not a match for that person. The living donor can agree to donate their kidney to someone else in exchange for their loved one/friend receiving a kidney from that person’s donor.
If you’re interested in learning more about paired kidney exchanges, you’ll want to contact a transplant center. Here’s a list of LifeSource’s transplant center partners.
Don’t forget to turn on your TV this morning to watch the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade at 10:00 am CST. Tune in early – this year the Donate Life Float is entry #10 and is themed “New Life Rises.”
When people say “Yes” to organ, eye and tissue donation, New Life Rises, giving hope and healing to those in need of life-saving transplants. In Donate Life’s seventh Rose Parade float entry, a phoenix, the mythical symbol of life coming out of death, rises into the sky, representing those who give life in their passing and the people whose lives are renewed by their gifts.
This year, LifeSource is honored to sponsor the Van Hecke family’s participation in the Rose Parade. Jack Dean Hook-Van Hecke is honored for his gift of tissue donation that saved the life of a little girl in Minnesota after his death in 2006. Jack was only 15 months old at the time of his death.
Watch for Jack’s floragraph on the Phoenix’s tail! Here’s a close up of this gorgeous baby boy’s floragraph:
Last week Jennifer and Eric Van Hecke put the final loving touches on Jack’s floragraph here at LifeSource. You see, Jennifer is not only a donor mom – she’s also part of the LifeSource family as part of the team of people that support tissue donors. She has shared that each time she takes care of a tissue donor she feels close to her son and reaffirms her donation decision. We’re lucky to have her!
Here are a couple pictures from the decorating event. Happy New Year!
As the year and the decade draw to a close, I want to share some comments we received from people in our community who have been impacted by donation and transplantation. We asked for our community’s reflection as we honored 20 years of saving lives in 2009. I am so proud to be part of an organization that supports and cares for families with such respect and dignity and gets to be part of the journey of new life for transplant recipients.
May 2010 bring you peace, health, and joy.
I received my kidney donation from a very generous family who had just lost their young son to a bicycle accident, I believe. I have had his kidney for 19 years and each day is a blessing and a gift. I cherish this gift of life and always have. It’s hard to even put into words how much this kidney meant to me.
I received a letter from the mother of the donor a few months later and I replied how the kidney changed my life and that of my husband and son. I have no idea who she is since the letter was sent through Lifesource. I still have the letter and read it occasionally just to remember how special that family is to me. There isn’t any transplant recipient that isn’t grateful and blessed for their donor. It’s truly a gift of life to us.
- Diane, kidney recipient
We are so grateful for the chance to know that our Jennifer lives on in others. A miracle didn’t happen to our family as we prayed and hoped for a miracle to keep Jenny alive, BUT a miracle did happen to other families. We are so delighted about that. Her death gave hope and life to so many people. Life was very important to Jenny.
- Don and Judy, donor parents
In 2008 Dean was placed on the heart transplant list. Also on that date our daughter told us she was expecting our 7th grandchild. She told her Dad he had to keep fighting to see this child. January of 2009 we got the call we had been waiting for. They had heart for him. We prayed and cried for the loss the donor family was experiencing and thanked God for our gift. 12 hours after the heart was placed in Deans chest, our new grandson was born! Life has been very good to us and we will be eternally grateful for one families unselfish gift. The new baby is doing great too!
- Dean and Joan, heart recipient and spouse
My mom was 60 years old when she passed away from a massive heart attack in June 2007. She was a donor and I would like to say that we are happy that she will be able to help someone in need. After she died it was not easy for me to answer some of the questions that Lifesource asked. I was crying and the staff person used comfronting words to help me through the process of the questions. I have to thank Lifesource for that because it meant alot. Our mom will be missed dearly it is nice to know that she will be able to help someone who needs it.
Thirteen year old Halley Anderson from Brooklyn Center, Minnesota knows that she is alive and well because of a decision by Kayla Borgerson to put “Donor” on her driver’s license. Halley received a liver transplant just over a year ago and is doing great. Her new liver was given to her by a girl named Kayla, who died in a tragic auto accident. Kayla, the shy honor roll student who liked to clown around with friends and family, was only 17 when she died.
Halley (ryhmes with Sally) wants the world to know about organ donation and about a girl she will never meet who has made all the difference to her. Halley appeared on the TV program Twin Cities Live this past Friday and is also featured in the December/January issue of the teen magazine Girl’s Life, in a story titled “The Best Part of Me”.
In an age that people are talking about the power of social media such asTwitter, Facebook, Myspace, blogs and so on, here is an example of a positive outcome. The story is based locally in the Minneapolis/St Paul Area and out of the City Pages, a local newspaper. It is about how Chris Strouth used Twitter to get the word out that he needed a kidney and what the response was. It has been on a couple of different venues television and print but this one is a pretty good summary, find the link to the article here.
Here is the story about a boy named Jack and his mom. Through the tragedy of Jack’s death lives were changed. A little girl that received his heart valve and his mom, Jennifer who had been given a mission.
Jack and Jennifer Van Hecke photo taken from the Monticello Times article
Not sure what to talk about when you arrive at the Thanksgiving gathering this weekend? Worried that there might be too much silence in between the passing of turkey and the mashed potatoes? Don’t want to talk about the financial woes of the country or start the old political discussion of red versus blue or green or whatever color you are represented by?
Have the conversation about organ and tissue donation. It can’t be worse than all of those other conversations and you might actually change someone’s mind. Up to 60 people can have their lives saved through organ and tissue donation. 8 of the people sitting around the table could be saved by organ donation alone, not to mention over 50 people whose lives would be changed by being a tissue recipient.
Yeah, you might get the initial gross factor reaction but press through, people’s lives are at stake as they wait for donation. If you need some background information or want to have the stats to back up what you are saying you can check out our websites:
We do have many things that we can be thankful for and one of them is that each person can save someone else’s life by registering to be an organ and tissue donor.
Coverage of yesterday’s press conference has been fantastic and we are so thrilled that the life-saving message of donation has been shared throughout the state. Loren Kersting’s challenge to the state of North Dakota to become “number one in saving lives” is a goal I know its citizens are ready to embrace. Wouldn’t it be great if we were to host another news conference in January to share that we have exceeded our own expectations in registering North Dakotans as donors?
Check out the links to news coverage below and forward to your family and friends. Encourage them to make a decision about donation and to document it online at www.donor.nd.gov.
