Hello and welcome to the gifted life podcast where we have conversations about Oregon, Tissue and I Donation and we're here. I'm Joey Boudreau. I'm Sally Gentry and I am inspired guys. Listen what we have coming up.
We sworn oath to serve and protect this community. We stepped up in a fellow law enforcement officer needed a transplant. And talk about random acts. I'm just waiting to hear this.
Amazing guy. And of course we'll be talking a little bit about living donation and just a little bit more about how it works. Yeah, you are going to walk away inspired. Guarantee.
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So much to get to on the gifted life podcast. Hold on to your hats guys. Here we go. Here on the gifted life podcast.
We always talk about one person making a difference. We are going to introduce you to one person who's really making a difference in his community. His name is Deputy Andre Ardeno. Hey, sir.
How are we all? We are good. How are you doing? I'm doing wonderful.
Today is a slow day for you. Hey, what was I making? Hi, here. We've been reading up on Deputy Ardeno and we know that your career is in law enforcement.
So you weren't oath to serve and to protect and you do that job above and beyond. So we know that you were here to talk about transplant but we want to introduce people to you before we got to that. So we want to know why you went into law enforcement. I can tell you the date time and please that I kind of opened up and made it.
I was actually on a full scholarship to the University of New Orleans. I was working on my degree in mechanical engineering. I was getting ready to start my senior year and it just felt kind of empty. I'm good at math.
I was good at calculus. It kind of made sense to go into an engineering field. I wasn't feeling that complete factor in my life. Like I was making a difference and I was always ready to help others.
My dad was a military veteran. My mom has been a nurse for three plus years and helping people to always give me that inner satisfaction. So actually one of my uncles worked for Jefferson Parish's office and I had asked him when we were at a family gathering. Why is it you're always so happy?
You know, I'm in a majoring story to tell. You met this person. I think you know everybody. You have so many friends.
What is it that you do that just makes this a worthwhile? And he told me. He said, look, he said, every day I go to work. I get to meet different people in different situations.
And a lot of times I get to play the role on whether or not it turns into a catastrophic situation or people walk away with a smile on their face. He said, some of them, you can't change. I don't even know when you're going to family, death or things of that nature or just to really that incident. But you can't get an impact on these people's lives in just a matter of few minutes.
Like, you know, that sounds really awesome. It sounds like something I'd be interested in. I think there's a look. He said, you're going to go.
You can try it. He said, within six months you're going to know this was made for you or you're going to go find something else because it's not one or the other. You can't take your way through this. So it was December 30th of 2006.
I told my parents on my birthday at Jenny Brown's restaurant. And look at them. If I had a clock in the evening that I was going to be dropping out of college starting that spring semester. And I would be blind to get on with the St.
Anthony Beresher's office. I'm explaining to them my reasoning behind it. My mom was a little upset. She was kind of excited with the career path I was on prior to.
But they were very open to it. They said, you know, go ahead. So I went to it. It was March 22nd, 2007.
I got hired on and I look back. I work at the jail. I've worked on a, well, we considered a SWAT style team at the CRT corrections emergency response team. I worked there for a couple of years.
I made my way out to patrol and then about two and a half years ago now, they selected me to special operations and I was pretty much loved every minute. I don't look back. It's been more than I could ever ask for. So we think that decision that you made on your birthday is kind of paying off and we know that it paid off for Jason Trish.
So let's talk about the donation. Let's talk about this transplant and how you just said, I can help. I need to help. This is amazing.
Gotcha. That's a little bit of a small unit of a note. Actually, it's September of 2015. Actually, we get going on a cruise and we go on a cruise with a few other guys that I've worked with and they're live.
We do a couple of things. And the culture tree. You know, no kids. We go off for a week on a cruise ship, have fun.
Come back on to the kids and, you know, they love you. Well, on this one, we actually found out that one of my good friends lives, his mother was in for kidney failure. He was on dialysis and actually his wife had already gone and get tested to see if she was a viable donor. But due to some scar tissue issues from a previous back surgery, she was not going to be a candidate.
And so, I was going to be a good friend of mine. He was going to get tested to find out whether or not he could do it. Well, we're on the cruise. They were telling me about it.
It kind of piqued my interest. It was just an amazing thing. I didn't realize that this was even possible. You know, if we only donate blood, I have type of blood, which makes it viable for even young children at our, you know, the intubations.
I'm like, no, this sounds really awesome. I'd love to be able to help somebody that way. We got back in the town. I started looking into it.
And there's a lot of research trying to find out, you know, what my life's been afterward. You know, I definitely still wanted to be able to go to my kids baseball teams and go out and play football with them. And I didn't want to put myself back so much risk that I wouldn't be able to enjoy my life or be there for my own children. But the information I got back was, your life's not going to change much.
With the exception of some medications you can't take, you're pretty much back to normal within, you know, just a couple of months. So, I started looking into it further and found out that oxygen, which is over there on Jefferson Highway, is ranked, I think, number two, as far as being a transplant clinic in the nation. So I'm like, wow, we have an amazing clinic right here in our back door. You'll get tested.
So it was actually my anniversary date, March 22nd of 2016. I went and got tested. And when I went and got tested, I went out. That mean Jason.
Well, it wasn't that day I found out a week later that we were a viable match. And from the blood work, it looked like, you know, all the different, I'm not even certain what the term is, but there are different forms of things in the blood. There's like 13 different variations and we were apparently with you to the perfect match. It was kind of crazy we weren't related to, like, we need to go to further testing.
So after three trips to Jefferson Hospital, spending all day there, coming home, taking a 24-hour hour of, had to wear a cardiac monitor, they said we're going to go. So they told us at the end of June and then we went through with the surgery on July 22nd of 2016. Can you tell us, Andre, a little bit about how you found out about Jason. I saw a little bit about your story, but can you feel us in on that?
Actually, my wife had seen it on Facebook. She saw his sister and posted that he needed one. I was actually at work when I didn't tell if it happened. I did remember the story rather vividly.
I found out who he was and actually on that date I got tested. It was the day before I went to go into the test and I actually looked at him on Facebook and the private page, reached out to him on Facebook, imagine, saying, hey, you know, so I think it is and you're blind and going to go, I'm like, oh, I'm going to get tested. I love to hear that. It sounds great.
Yeah, you guys tell stories differently. It's very matter of fact. Calm. Here's every detail that happened.
I love it. But when you talk about the story in Jason, there was a shootout, right? I'm sorry. When you talk about Jason and the story leading up to him needing a transplant, he was on the job and there was a shootout?
Yes, man. Actually, that was in August of 2012. I got to consider that a terrorist attack. It was a sovereign certificate, which are the group of individuals that think that they do not have to abide by the law of the United States because they come from some previous tribe and our law is going to apply to them.
It actually originated off the traffic stop by another deputy. They ended up, you know, shoot out right there and they saw him. The story I can gather from Jason, he was telling me that whenever they dispatched it to him, they just told him that there was a mysterious object that looked like a medical agent in the middle of the road and then later they found out that it was a deputy shot. So they ended up going to the trailer park where the vehicle had been sighted going into to try and locate the perpetrators.
They went in and they contact as they were making contact and exiting out the back door. The body was hiding in the shadows and gunned down on him and three other guys. The other two didn't live. Jason was the only one that I'm aware of that survived.
I was actually on the day at that time. And we saw his story and he said he was losing quality of life. He just wanted to spend time with his family. So you have this complete stranger and then what kind of nudged you?
Like what pushed you to say, I can help let me help. Who does that? It was very personal for me. Honestly, I could put myself in issues.
We do the same job. So, you know, that there, you know, it was like, wow, okay, this can happen to me any day. It never happened to me. I was hoping somebody would step up and try and somewhat help me in any way, here, perform.
The other thing that we just meant, the tip factor. You know, one of the best things that I can do, my favorite thing to do is go out and play with my kids. Whether it's football, baseball, reading books, I mean, just spending time with them. And I'm like, wow, this is a father that would eat me up inside.
And if I can go and I can give this guy the opportunity to have a better quality of life, let's do it. So, it was very personal. And I just, I could really relate to his situation. I'm not because I've been in it, but just because I understand that that could be me one day.
And I had the opportunity to help. And it was my obligation to human being and trying to do this man would be new to fight. And you know what, Andre? You are truly the epitome of giving individuals to you.
And I'm not going to be able to do this. You know, it was my obligation to human being and trying to do this man would be new to fight. And you know what, Andre? You are truly the epitome of giving individual.
I mean, you were just so impressive with your realism and wanting to help others. It is really a pleasure to talk with you. It's a way that I was ready. You know, we always thought, yes, sir.
Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am, no ma'am, et cetera. And, you know, every time that we could have the opportunity to help the body, it's not an opportunity to pass up. I mean, if you have the means to help the body, then why not help them?
It seemed as though it wasn't going to be a difference in the quality of life on your standpoint. You weren't going to have any different challenges. So, how's that been for you since that time? From the data surgery to back to work full duty, I was out of work for seven weeks.
And I was full duty back to work as if nothing happened. How are you feeling? I feel wonderful. Nothing really changed.
You know, obviously I have to get my endurance back up with Jim because, you know, I'm going to stay away from that for a little bit. It doesn't. There were no complications or anything of that nature. And I mean, I feel that it's a little and back to life is normal.
I had the pleasure of meeting you, Andre. I don't know if you remember, but you received an award, Deputy of the Year for the State of Louisiana, because of all of these stories that we are today because just an incredible human with a servant's heart. But what I loved is that they called you up to the front of the room to accept your award. You were so humble.
Like, not everybody is doing what I'm doing. Like, it was just incredible because you just see life in a different way and it's refreshing. To give you a little quick factor on that one, what a lot of people don't take into consideration is I work with an absolutely outstanding group of people. I mean, when I tell you these guys were through themselves in front of a train, they would train you.
They absolutely would. Every one of us, you know, we deal with some different situations, but we always have each other's back and we always know we can rely on one another. And when you're working around a group of individuals like that, they're constantly trying to make each other better. You know, just this guy is absolutely the limit.
I don't think many agencies can say it, but you know, the guy that I was speaking about earlier, one of my really different friends actually went through with a train point two months ago now. And there was actually another individual who I was able to speak with before I went through my surgery because I was a little nervous. But actually donated a kidney to another individual back in 2013, I want to say. So just within our agency, which is roughly about 700 people, we have three people in all going through a living going down.
Wow, that's phenomenal. I feel like we all in this room should be doing more. Listening to Deputy Andre Ardeno. We salute you, sir.
Thank you for what you do. Thanks for inspiring us to go out and do something that we don't normally do to help make life happen. You don't get anything financially out of it, but you know, I've been able to watch Jason leave the hospital. I've been able to watch him go on to wear a mask.
You know, now he is in jigit with his son. He's originally a little weak team. He's actually back at work as a very cool 19 for the first time in five years. He has to go back to work.
He's in the gym. He is just a picture of health right now. So just to see and know that I was able to contribute to that is just a great feeling. I mean, we joke about it for Christmas.
I bought him a shirt because he is a Tennessee volunteer friend. I went ahead and took a shirt and made it that I bleed orange for Tennessee. However, I peep purple and gold. A little picture of a kidney on him.
Because no matter what, one part of him is always going to be on the back of the backpack and then we go back and talk about it. I love it. And we actually named the kid. His name is Mr.
Bean. Every now and then we'll be text back and forth and we'll ask Mr. Bean to do it. It's just a little kind of inside joke between the two of us, but it's all fun and games.
Incredible story about shedding a light on living donation. Thanks for what you do and continuing to protect our communities. We appreciate you. It is absolutely my pleasure.
I can assure you. Last segment, Incredible Guy, Incredible Story, talking about living donation. I'm actually teamed with Shalom, one of our producers here on The Get to Life, to learn more about living donation. Yeah, Laurie, we were able to speak to Amy Ronenburg, who's a transplant social worker out of Ashner to learn about living donation a little more in depth.
And Sally, you know Amy from working with her. We've worked together. Yeah, we've worked together. Oh my gosh, I want to say 15, 16 years.
Amy, it's really been instrumental in helping us on our end of family services connect folks with one another, you know, send correspondence back and forth. She's been a great, great person to work with. Awesome. Let's listen and learn.
18,000 people are waiting on a life-saving organ transplant in the United States, and 82% of those waiting are waiting on a kidney. And so the living donor option for these and other patients are great for those who would otherwise wait for a long length of time for that much needed organ. Yes, Shalom. So today, of course, we've got an expert, Amy Ronenburg, who is a social worker at Ashner, and she often helps facilitate a living donation there at Ashner.
So welcome aboard Amy. Glad to have you in studio. Thank you, Jerry and Shalom. Good to be here.
So I guess my first question is if someone wanted to donate a kidney or even part of their liver, you know, from a living standpoint, from an altruistic standpoint, they don't really know anyone, but they say, look, I'm on the donor registry, but I want to do something now. How do they go about beginning that process of being able to donate to someone else? To start that process, that person that would like to make a donation, they would first need to contact the transplant center, possibly nearest to them or a transplant center they may be familiar with where they live, and that transplant center will have a living donor coordinator for each organ system, for kidney, for liver. That's how they could get the process started by speaking to that living donor coordinator, because they first would have to get, of course, a standard blood test, the lives and health questionnaires to ensure that they would be a good medical donor.
And of course, then meeting with other of the transplant team professionals, the hepatologist, the social worker, the living donor coordinator to find out why do they want to donate and what are their reasons for donation, even if they don't know someone and making sure they're a good candidate for donation. How long is that process from the time they talk to that living donor coordinator until they finally could possibly be that match and actually donate? The timeframe can vary, I think with the organ system as well, whether it's kidney donor transplant or liver donor transplant, and as far as just the timeframe of getting the testing done and the processes of getting the testing done. So it could be a few weeks to several months, just depending on the complexity of the case, a match, who is the correct match for that, for the donor and the recipient.
So it just really depends on the donor and the recipient. And so is it often a relative of that recipient who is a match? Sometimes it is a relative, whether it's a living relative, living related relative, a sibling, a mother, a father, or a child. It could also be a living unrelated donor, meaning there's a husband or a wife.
Yes, they're related, but they're not related by blood. Right. Or it also could be a friend, a church member, a brother or sister-in-law. And we think of that, of course, as related, but actually it's considered living unrelated.
So really anyone who may know or not know the potential kidney transplant recipient could be a potential donor. I would assume the majority of the time these living donations happen either with a living related or, I don't remember exactly how you said, living unrelated. Yes, yes, living unrelated donor. Most of the time that is the way it is someone that they know.
Now there are some chances that they may know of that their donor, but they may not personally know their donor. It could be a friend of a family member who hears about the situation that this person needs a kidney transplant. And they want to get worked up to see if they could be a possible donor because they see what their friend is going through with their family member needing a kidney transplant. And their friend may not be a donor, so they want to get worked up and become a donor.
Do the majority of the people that want to donate become donors? Or are there things that inhibit that? No, not everyone is a candidate to become a donor. They may not be the blood type, may not match.
Then with the blood type, the direct HLA matching, the antigen matching may not be right. But if you start with the blood type correct, is the HLA antigen matching correct, then you move on to other medical reasons, checking out, making sure that medically you are a good donor. Because we don't want to put our living donors' health at risk. We want to make sure our living donor's health is going to be taken care of too after they donate.
Now that is a risk, anything can happen after donation. But we want to ensure that their kidney that will be left will be working, can work well, that there's no hypertension or diabetes, or other medical reasons that would prohibit them from becoming a living donor. So they have to go through that health screening with their nephrologist or in the liver case with the hepatologist. And then that's part of it.
And then there's also the psychosocial assessment part of it where our social workers and our teams come in and we will do a psychosocial assessment with the potential donor. And showing why do they want to do this donation, ensuring that they know the risk and benefits of the kidney transplant working or maybe not working. And that could be a risk. And then of course we also get involved, our living donor coordinators.
They would be involved in that process too of making sure that this was something that the potential kidney donor or liver donor wasn't being coerced or forced into. And is this something that they were doing of their own accord? Is there a cost if I wanted to go and donate, you know, to someone there at Ashner or any of the transplant centers, for that matter, is there a cost to the donor once they say yes I want to donate? Good question.
No, there is not a cost to the donor. The cost is actually picked up. Well, first the potential recipients insurance would have to cover living kidney donation or living liver donation. So there is no cost to the donor.
It's all on the recipient's insurance. And that includes aftercare, I assume as well, related to the donation. CMS or Medicare and Medicaid picks up the majority of these expenses specifically for kidneys because if someone's on dialysis has end-stage renal disease, CMS and Medicare and Medicaid is incurring that cost. And the cost of someone on dialysis or a length of time is so much higher, such a significant difference that it would be who that person to get a living donor or find a living donor because it's a much less cost all the way around.
Most insurances will also cover donation, kidney donation, but you know, you would have to check with your specific insurance carrier. Actually, that is something that the transplant center would do at the time that the patient gets referred for kidney transplantation work out. The financial coordinators would check and see, make sure that they had coverage for kidney donation or living kidney donation. Well, I mean, you mentioning, you know, the financial coordinator that I didn't even think about that court.
That seems like quite a bit of people involved in on one case. Yes, we have a very large multi-disciplinary team starting with, of course, the transplant surgeons, the nephrologists, hepatologists, social workers, nurse coordinators, pharmacy, dietitian, the financial care system, dietitian, the financial coordinators, living donor coordinators, and of course, all the support staff as well. We don't want to leave the support staff out, but it's a large group that you're working with. Although you are typically assigned to a specific nurse coordinator depending where you are, whether you're going through the transplant evaluation process or you're actually listed for an on the waiting list for transplants.
It's a beautiful thing. We talk about the power of one all the time here, you know, in making that impact and donation and saving lives. And you guys have such a large force that's putting all their efforts into that, making that one life happen, making that one surgery and saving that one life. And that's, you know, that's a beautiful thing.
It takes a large group to work together, but that's why we're getting patients transplanted through living donation and throughout types of donations. And so, Amy, what happens if you have a donor who has gone through all the testing, who has done all the prep work, but they are not a match for that person they wanted to donate to? What happens then? Because you have somebody who's willing to save a lot.
When that does happen, when we have someone who is a good kidney donor, but they're not a match to the recipient that they intended to donate to, but they're still interested in donation, we do now there's called paired kidney donor matching. So you would have a donor who would be a match to a different recipient, and then their potential donor may not be a match to them or would be a better match to another recipient. And then they switch, so you would have four surgeries going on at once, potentially, because you would have two donor surgeries and two recipient surgeries could be going on at the same time. And so at that point, we're talking about multiple transplant centers coordinating with each other to get this gift of life.
Yeah, so more and more lives can be saved. More recipients are able to get off of kidney transplantation and off of the kidney transplant waiting list. Well, Amy, that's such an interesting concept. I mean, it's a blood donation in that if you want to donate to someone who just had a major accident, you know, it ends up going oftentimes, not to that person.
Sometimes it does, but oftentimes goes into pool where someone else's blood then goes to that person. So it's a guest kind of concept that was taken from the donation. Of course, it's in its infancy, you know, even at an Oscar in the local transplant centers, but it's certainly something that we see as one of the major improvements from a process standpoint that will save more and more lives in the years to come. Absolutely.
And so, Amy, we really cannot give enough thanks to you for coming here and joining us and talking about living donation explaining the process for our listeners and giving us more information. Is there a place, you know, where we could send our listeners if they're interested in if they're in the Louisiana area on Oshner's website that we can ask them? Oh, yes, definitely. They should look up on www.Oshner.org, kidney transplantation, kidney donation to find out more information.
And as well as to get the contact information for the kidney donor coordinator. And she can take take their calls if they're interested in kidney donation. And so if you're outside Louisiana, we encourage you to visit Donate Life America's website, DonateLife.net. They have a living donation page where you can find out more information and get more facts.
And we encourage you, if you're interested in living donation, reach out, get informed and get educated. As in every podcast, we honor a hero. Today's hero is Fred Hart. We learn about Fred from his life.
Fred was a strong and loving husband, father and mentor. Always ready to tell a joke about something. We met at 17 years of age. He told me that on our second date, I would be his wife's someday.
Married for 21 years, he adored our two daughters and son. Fred trained our 11 year old son in basketball and football. And he was a volunteer coach at the neighborhood parks. To the community kids, he was so much more than a coach.
Despite being on dialysis since 2008, he would work extra hours at his part time job to buy, or the children he mentored. No amount of pain would stop Fred from showing up at work, being on the sideline, all across the country for his son, picking up loads of kids who didn't have transportation, beating the hungry, or lending a helping hand to anyone in need. Fred was hopeful that one day he would receive a kidney. He shared with me upon exiting Tulane Hospital at 1am, six months before he passed, that he would not last long enough to wait for another possible donor call, as his body was getting weaker.
However, he never gave up, and set out to spend more time with his family, coached at an additional park to reach more kids, and continued to keep everyone who came into contact with him, full of laughter with his jokes. Fred was always doing whatever he could to help someone else live better through his mantra. I'm God's Child. His final act was that of a side-giver.
And now we pause to say thank you to Fred for the gift of sight. Our question and answer segment today, Joe, and our through this one to your court, I saw that there was a little boy in need of a donor near New Orleans. How do I find out if I'm a match? Can my blood be kept on file for potential matches in the future?
That's a great question and one that Amy and I kind of touched on earlier, you would first have to find out which transplant center that he or she is listed. And then they would test your blood, they would check for what blood type you are, of course size and all that plays a factor. And then especially for kidneys, they'll test your antigens just a little closer cross match. Now, as far as the future, what they do, since they can test your blood for the blood type and the antigens, so in the situation, if you wouldn't be a match and as far as holding your blood for the future, they would necessarily need that because they've already done the typing, the initial typing, and they can do what's called a virtual cross match and tell with almost certainty that you would be a good match for someone who would be a potential match up with you in the future.
So not necessarily that they would be keeping your blood, but they've got enough of the information to where they could still match you up in the future. There you have it. We like that you're thinking about this. We're having these positive conversations about donation.
Maybe you have a question, info at lopa.org, or you can give us a call, 504-648-re477. What a Power Pack episode here on the Gifted Life. We do have to thank Deputy Andre Ardenow, for mechanical engineer, to law enforcement officer, to living donor, to all around do-gooder, right? My goodness.
Oh my. You know, altruism certainly would describe what he has done to help others, a fantastic individual. He's not done yet, I assume, right? And we also thank Amy Ronenberg, for giving us some insight on the ins and outs about living donation and just what it takes to become one.
Great episode here on the Gifted Life, and hopefully we inspired you to register Redisirme.org is where you can say yes to organ, eye, and tissue donation, and we do hope that you go out today and do something that you don't normally do to help us make life happen. You can do it. This is a production of the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency, or Lopa. The Gifted Life is hosted by Lori Steele, Joey Boudreau, and Sally Gentry.
Our producers are Kirsten Hines and Shalom Caraway. We are recorded, engineered, and mixed in our Metery, Louisiana studio by Troy Perez.