April is National Donate Life Month!
During this month, we celebrate the gift of organ, eye, and tissue donation and raise awareness about the critical need for donors. Here are some important facts:
Why Donate?
- More than 100,000 people are currently waiting for a lifesaving transplant.
- Every 8 minutes, another person is added to the waiting list.
- Tragically, 16 people die each day while waiting for an organ transplant.
- One organ, eye, and tissue donor can save and heal more than 75 lives.
Here are the stories of two of our colleagues who are champions of the cause:
Lisa Read,
Marketing Assistant,
Palm Beach
Lisa’s journey as a donor began about 20 years ago when she was grocery shopping and saw a picture of a young girl who needed a bone marrow transplant. There was a mobile unit outside of the store that was swabbing individuals to find donor matches.
A month later Lisa was contacted about her donation. She was not a match for that particular little girl, but she was a match for a man in Michigan who had Leukemia.
Lisa took the required test to prepare for the donation. The bone marrow procedure happened at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. Lisa stated it is a simple procedure where they remove bone marrow from your hip—lifesaving, and life-extending for the recipient.
She was told you have to wait about a year before either party can be in contact with the other. The recipient sent her a letter, and they corresponded by mail and on Facebook. Interestingly, she found out that before the bone marrow transplant, the recipient did not like chocolate, and now he does, a characteristic he picked up from her!
Lisa says she doesn’t know why more people don’t do it, and she would do it again if she could. However, there is an age restriction. After age 45 you cannot donate.
Lisa’s recipient would go on to live 5 more years; time he would not have had with his family if not for her selfless act.
Karen “KP” Paxton,
Paralegal,
Palm Beach
“This was not on my bucket list”, laughs KP as she describes her journey to organ donation. Karen is a former long-distance runner and tri-athlete and a great friend.
Karen and her 6 kids are all into swimming and this is where Karen would meet the person who would receive one of her kidneys. Her recipient is one of the swim moms who, after having a dental procedure, needed emergency heart surgery due to a bacterial infection.
Karen says that after the heart procedure her friend’s kidneys never “came back”. She would need a kidney transplant. Karen along with several others were tested and Karen was an exact match.
Karen would go through the mandatory testing, where you get to learn a lot about your body. What is interesting is that the exact match has levels to it. For example, you have to have had the same viruses, and your antibodies have to be the same. It’s not just having the same blood type.
Karen and her friend completed the transplant at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, FL. Karen would stay 2 additional weeks for recovery/observation. A typical patient would still have to do dialysis for an additional 30 days to get the kidney “going”, however since Karen’s kidney was such an exact match, the recipient did not need dialysis.
Her friend was able to see her first grandbaby !!
Always the swimmer, Karen says if you see someone drowning you jump in and save them.
She says if you are considering organ donation or if you have a fear, get educated. It will help ease your mind, no matter what you decide. During the process, Karen reached out to one of her kids’ former teachers who had also donated. She was able to get more advice and information.
Karen said studies show that people who donate have a longer life span. Living donors provide the optimal outcome for recipients.