Sturgis Day 5 The Roar of the Lions

Here at the booth we have had the South Dakota Lions volunteer for the past couple of days and it has been amazing to  watch them reach out to the people as they stroll by.  Not being discouraged by whatever answer they are continually reaching out to ask the question and start the conversation.  

 

Wanda, Don and Briann having great success

  We are have been very lucky with the partners that have joined us in reaching out and raising awareness.

Sturgis Day 4 Different answers for different people

Today as I talk with the different people that walk in front of our booth I am not surprised with the different answers I receive to the question “Do you have donor on your license?” Lots of “of course” “I am not going to need them when I am dead anyways.” We also get the “no thank you”. “You don’t want my parts I wore them out.”

Those seem to be the two ends of the continuum, but its the ones in the middle that are more interesting. They may have a question or they have been told that they can’t be a blood donor and so they say they can’t be. We get the chance to engage in the conversation about donation, how it can save lives as well as it can create a legacy for their family to hold onto after their death. We get to walk in those questions with them and explore what they believe and why they do.

It is those times we make a difference, it is create another chance to save a life through organ and tissue donation.

Ride Safe,

John

Sturgis Day 4 “My wife is waiting”

I talked with a guy this morning who was this huge mountain of a man. We started talking about donation and he mentioned that his wife was waiting for a kidney, she has been on clinic based dialysis for three years now. Her kidneys were destroyed when she was pregnant with their first child. She was very sick during the pregnancy and due to the high blood pressure her kidneys were destroyed. He talked about waiting and how hard it was to wait and that now with their 2 kids, (the second pregnancy went well) it is harder and harder to wait.  He told me that six of their family members have been tested and they are waiting on the seventh as a possibility.

As I stood there with him, I could see the pain and frustration in his eyes as he talked about having to wait and not being able to do anything about it. This was a man who obviously was very physically strong and listening to him talk he was smart and articulate but all he can depend on is someone willing to give the gift of life to his wife.

You can give that gift, make sure you have it on your license and tell your family that you want to be an organ and tissue donor.

Ride Safely,

John

A Hero in Life and Death

This eloquently written post was authored by my colleague, Cindy Thurmes.  Cindy is LifeSource’s special events coordinator and took the time to share with all of us about a personal – and recent – connection to donation.   

As a special events planner at LifeSource, I have the privilege of working with many donor families and recipients through the events that I plan. No matter what our jobs are at LifeSource, we are driven by their stories, their tears and their strength. Sometimes the lifesaving gifts of donation come into our personal lives also. That is what I experienced last week.

On July, 18, 2009, my daughter’s friend Army Ranger Ben Kopp died from injuries he sustained in Afghanistan while protecting the lives of his 6 fellow soldiers.  Ben was a fun and adventurous individual in high school who would do anything for anyone. This carried over in his life as an Army ranger. Ben served several tours in Iraq and was assigned to Afghanastan in May.

On July 10^th Ben’s unit was involved in a firefight with the Taliban where he put himself in the line of fire so that his fellow soldiers could get out of a location that they were backed into. Ben was shot in the knee which severed an artery and lead to his brain not receiving the oxygen it needed. Ben was cared for by medics in the field and then in a hospital in the middle east followed by a stop at Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany and finally the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington D.C.  Ben also became a hero after death by becoming an organ donor. Miraculously, after saving 6 of his fellow solders lives, he saved 6 more lives through organ donation.

I had not been to a soldier’s funeral before and do have to say that the ceremony of it with a Blackhawk helicopter flying overhead,  hundreds of patriot guards standing by with flags, the stories from his fellow soldiers and commanders, and the sound of bagpipes in the air brought out emotions I did not know I had. What I did know was that Ben was clearly a hero in so many ways and his actions were contagious. I looked across the room Friday night at his visitation and Saturday at his funeral and saw all of the people with the green wrist bands on supporting donation. It occurred to me we may not be the hero Ben was as a soldier but we can all agree to be the hero Ben was after his death by saying yes to organ donation. Ben’s heroism and his family’s desire to see it through on his long journey home from across the world will always be an inspiration to me. 

Dinner on Thursday in Sioux Falls

It’s the first Thursday of the month!  Everyone with a connection to donation or transplantation is invited to share their stories and share a meal.

Join donor mom Charlene Myers and friends at the Fry’n Pan, 5:30 pm this Thursday, August 6th.  The Fry’n Pan is located at 1720 W 12^th Street, Sioux Falls, SD and tables are reserved in Charlene’s name.  Please rsvp to Charlene at curlymom@sio.midco.net.

Sturgis Day 3 Billboard

Today was a bit of adventure, working with a local advertising company we were able to secure a spot on an electronic billboard promoting organ and tissue donation. The billboard company provides spots on their electronic billboards as public service announcments. I went out to find it in the wild and was successful. Here is a photo.

Donate Life Billboard caught in the wild

Ride Safe,

John

Sturgis Day 2 con’t

a very thankful recipient

(editor’s note the blog posts will be dated in regards to the day they took place)

I was able to have a conversation with a gentleman. His appearance was that of a typical sturgis attendee. He walked up to me and said I like your shirt. I said thanks and asked his connection to organ and tissue donation. He said that he was a recipient of a transplant 6 years ago. The Sturgis rally following his transplant he asked his doctor if he could go to Sturgis that year an they said no, but he was able to come the next year.  As we talked, he shared with me how amazing it was that he was able to come back to Sturgis the year after and ever since. One donor gave this man a second chance at life and he is living it to the best he can and telling others about it,  another story from Sturgis.

Ride Safe,

John

Sturgis Day #2

A quick entry for this morning. While talking to folks as they passed by I started up a conversation with Sherm. After the little small talk it came out that Sherm was actually starting the process to get listed for a lung. As we talked he told me his life story of working hard doing concrete work and not work on the gas pipeline. As we talked more it became apparent that Sherm did not know a lot of the process yet, of donation and transplantation. It was a great chance to sit and talk with him give him the background on the actual process. It was a greeat honor to talk with Sherm to share a moment in his process, hearing him be hopeful that he made it this far in life, farther than a lot of people and that he had a strong heart and could still be working. I feel hopeful for Sherm that with his strong heart and good perspective he has a good chance to make it. There are 102,000 people like Sherm of someone who is doing everything they can to stay alive while waiting for a life saving transplant. You could be the person that gives Sherm the gift of life, make sure to register to be an organ and tissue donor.

Sherm

Ride Safe,

John

Sturgis Day #1

We made it to the rally and have been talking to people from all over the world. We gave out over 500 wristbands and had many different conversations. It is amazing the amount of people that when asked if they were an organ donor said “Yes I am, don’t need them when I am gone.”

For the morning crew we had two of the South Dakota Lions members who did not rest in asking the question of  ”Are you a donor?” to those that happened to walk by. One of them named Bob, seemed to have his own gravitational pull for those who came near to him and every one walked away with a green wristband and knew what it meant. We also had Don and Christine who are the parents of Gabriel. Don donated one of his kidneys to Gabriel and now Gabriel is a 2 year old bundle of energy and doing quite well. Brandy Thompson from the South Dakota Lion’s Eye Bank also volunteered and took the message out into the streets handing out bracelets to folks as she passed by.

Paul and Christine (recipient parents and living donor) along with Brandy Thompson from South Dakota Lions Eye Bank

In the afternoon Doug and Carol Pavel took over the booth and the wristbands started flying again. During the many different short conversations, laughter was heard and powerful moments were shared. As Doug and Carol shared their son Brian’s story and how he was a donor and ultimately how helpful it has been to them to know that people had received the gift of life out of such a tragic event. We stayed to the last moment to hand out as many wristbands and talk to just one more person.

Doug and Carol Pavel and myself posing for a picture at the end of the shift

The grand experiment of coming out to Sturgis so far has been a success.

Ride safe,

John

Thank You Letters

Dave Costello from Burnsville is waiting for a heart transplant. Susan Schroer from Brainerd lost her brother Mike in 2008. These two LifeSource volunteers spoke to about 50 young people at a Pequot Lakes Driver’s education class in June.

Here’s what some of those students had to say:

Dave and Susan,
Thanks a lot for coming in and talking about organ donation. I learned a lot about the different organs and how many people can be saved from just one person. I will probably be an organ donor now that I learned how much one person can really do. Thanks. Anonymous

Dear Dave and Susan,
Thank you for coming in and telling us your stories. They were very touching and I hope you will continue this program. I talked to my parents and I think I am going to be an organ donor. I like how you explained how we “recycle our organs.” That was cool. Thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to come and help me with my decisions. Erika

Thank you for explaining more about organ donation. I really had no idea how important it really was. I agreee with you. Why wouldn’t you check the boxa/ I know that i am going to, now. Jamie

Ok. I cherry picked these thank you letters but honestly the majority of writers where strongly supportive of donation, stating they would definately register as donors.
Thanks Dave and Susan for talking to these young people and for sharing your letters with the rest of us.

Jeff Richert