Hello and welcome to the gift of life podcast where we have conversations about Oregon tissue and I donation You can always find us at the gift of life dot org. I'm Lori Steele. I'm Joey Boudreau And I'm Sarah Blakemore coming up on the gift of life today What we talking to someone who after getting his own second chance is helping others to get second chances as well And we're gonna talk about dread and how we can cope with it all that more right here on the gift of life hang on to your Here on the gift of life. We are so excited to introduce you to two of our friends We have Craig Smith and Francesca Ferranti joining us.
How are you guys? Yeah, we're gonna tell you how these guys work together to make life happen Craig. I want to start with you You have been directly impacted by donation, right? That's right.
All right. So tell us your story. You are recipient I'm a recipient. So in 2014 at the 8 to 26, I was suddenly diagnosed with viral cardi myopathy It came on pretty quickly and was a completely unexpected diagnosis But I went into the hospital living state college I was being at the time was diagnosed with viral cardi myopathy and told that I was likely need a transplant order to survive So the first action was they gave me I went to Pittsburgh and I leave any general hospital and they implanted a left in a triculist device And they were really hoping that with my age and overall health that that may enable my heart to kind of rebound I wouldn't need a transplant But after a few months it became apparent that my heart was too badly damaged from the cardi myopathy So they put me on the transplant waiting list in October of 2014 And I had the LVAD for another year after that and in October October 16th of 2015 I was lucky enough to get my second chance to get my new heart so so that LVAD of course, you know For those of you listening is the left ventricular set of ice it just helps the heart pump a little bit stronger while You know while obviously Craig was waiting in this time My question to you Craig is is what were your expectations?
Where you did you have any as far as getting that second chance at life? Did you were you were you kind of feeling doom and gloom that it would never happen or was it something that you felt would be really Short and obviously in comparison to the one year that you waited. Yeah, so you know I think my personality certainly helps in that type of situation I'm kind of an optimist in most situations So I can't really say that I had too many doing gloom days when I had the LVAD implanted I'm kind of a stubborn person also So I kind of made it my mission to not let the LVAD affect my life more than I had to and obviously have a medical Fanny pack attached to it's gonna change your life in some fashions But even with the LVAD I went hiking. I went fishing.
I went to sports events I went to concerts I really tried to do as much as I could so I really kind of thrive on the LVAD as much as I as much as you know Was possible given the circumstances but even with somebody who's doing well, you know obviously changed my life And the fact that I had to start taking all kind of medications I had to constantly have extra batteries with me and be aware of whether I had a cell phone signal in case the hospital would call me And and things like that so when you're waiting for the transplant, you know Even if things are going well for a medical perspective You definitely just kind of have this feeling hanging over your head that you're waiting your life is on pause And you're waiting for that transplant the next step before you can really get on with your life and do what you want to do So from that perspective and just from you know Obviously being alive the transplant was an incredible incredible blessing to have that second chance and to to really help me put in perspective How lucky I was to to to have such a good process through my waiting time and ultimately come out on the other end better off And now you know obviously I'm trying to try to give back and help other people achieve that same that same goal And can you tell us if you've ever reached out to your donor family or your experience with that? Yeah, I reached out to my donor family about three years ago now I wrote them a letter and core helps facilitate that and they sent it off to the family And I just when I haven't heard back which I completely understand you know through my through my experience working with organization I've met many donor families and some of them will tell you it's an absolute blessing to know they're their Recipient of their family or their loved one and other family members just kind of want to put it behind them And I understand both perspectives But you know with the way it works that both parties have to be amicable to making that connection and reaching out I certainly wanted to be the one that opened that door and would allow the possibility of communication and maybe even the future If the restate if the donor family would also want that from their side Craig obviously, I mean we could just hear your passion for donation and we love that you want to pay it forward You want to save more lives here on the gift of life? We talked about one person making the difference you actually took action to do that and creating your own nonprofit So tell us a little bit about that your motivation your mission Yeah, so I had such a good experience with my own transplant and recovery period of the after that So it became quite apparent from an early on standpoint that I wanted to you know try to use my own personal gifts and skill sets To make a difference to the cause overall so about six months after my transplant my best friend and I we started planning a 5k and at that point I was so Unknowledgeable about the organ donation you know the field in the industry that I wasn't even sure who the recipient organization Was going to be from the 5k I reached out to both core our local PO and donate life because I didn't even understand how that system worked on the Interactions so we started planning a 5k to raise money for awareness and we just started having all these other fun ideas Well, what if we did onal torment what if we do the golf tournament? It became apparent to us that we had so many more ideas and things that we wanted to do that we decided to just form our Nonprofit so we formed second chance fundraising in March of 2016 We held our first event which is our inaugural 5k in that August and the the reception that we got for our first race Just blew us out of the water house.
I was hopeful that we would get maybe a hundred Participants at the first race. I said that I would consider that a big success We ended up with about 300 participants for that first race and I Read small festival grounds and we have food and music and giveaways So it's kind of a whole day it was really great and it was a really competent building kick off to second chance So since then over the last four years, we've held four or five Ks Peltrina from golf tournaments we have done a cornhole tournament We used to do a bowling event every winter and we just do various events and then the whole just behind is I want to get people together and talking about organization because anybody who works in the organization field knows that one of the Biggest hurdles to awareness is just getting people to talk about it is a subject that people don't like to discuss it makes them uncomfortable And even if they share your viewpoints, they still might not want to discuss it So I think it's really important to start that dialogue and healthy conversations with people about organization that way they can learn the facts Because there's so many bits out there about it. So our mission is to just have fun events They get the community together and at the same time we try to raise some money and put it towards good causes that maybe we're not able to do ourselves So in that regard core we become a great partner of us We donate the 5k funds to core every year and one time of Pittsburgh a few years ago I became you know really close with core and their staff and it gave me an ability to get out and even do even more than I was So I've spent a lot of time since then in hospitals and schools and all over the place sharing my story and talking about the nation and just Being able to really engage in the community, which is you know, that's my first now That's what I love doing and if it's helping to raise awareness for good cause them even better Okay, I definitely like to commend you for everything you've done You know, of course getting a second chance and then starting the second chance fundraising as you did and and you know I can tell you from a firsthand experience I didn't know what local was you know back you know in the day and I was a nurse And so hard to understand how these you know, you know And a opo and core and donate life, you know kind of kind of fit together It took a while for even me to figure that out I have to say I have come across many of you colleagues or many of the colleagues there at core and that is definitely a well-run Organization Brian break-breaker is a friend of mine and and I always lean on those guys to help us You know, we like to share a lot of a lot of ideas there And of course in meeting from from you and meeting a lot of their employees of course You didn't got to to meet Francesca and I would pronounce her name here in KG country Fae Ron, but as I understand it's very confusing. It's for a day or Working on it.
Yeah, so so Francesca Can you tell us a little bit about your experiences when you first met Craig and and of course the whole college core college challenge? Yeah, so it's actually pretty interesting because right around the time that Craig was really getting involved with core was actually when I got hired A core we both kind of joined at the same time and so I've had so many opportunities to work with Craig as my primary role is working with youth Educate them on organ donation. So Craig has just been absolutely amazing with just, you know He's sharing his story and with second chance fundraising They were able to donate as he mentioned they donate their proceeds from the 5k to core And so Craig decided that he really wanted to do something special because he had donated so much money over the last couple years And so he had come up with the idea to create a college challenge And so we are on coming up on the third year We just we were supposed to have the third year But then everything happened and so we did delay the challenge until next year But we have done it for two years so far and it has just been so successful in raising awareness on college campuses through different activities awareness tables They host special events post on social media and then we even had I think last year We had over 250 new registrations just from this three week long or how many weeks of the Craig it really ran from the Second week of February through bloom green day. So April 13 14 Somewhere around there so really about seven weeks.
Oh, okay, so seven weeks about two months long and just by having I think last year We had ten schools involved this year. We had we did it as a statewide campaign this year But we have just seen such great results in awareness and it really is making a difference in these communities You can see the designation rates are going up We are getting reach where people from these colleges are reaching out to us professors asking for more resources So they can educate in their classes instead of just around campus And it really has just evolved into something so amazing to raise awareness all over Pennsylvania and West Virginia on our service So what do you all think is working the most in this program? So definitely the fact that we do have funding to provide giveaways to these college students for awareness because I mean if you see a campus Cabling event you think oh, you know, this is interesting But whenever you know everyone has these matching shirts with a big don't eat life logo on them that really draws people in you see the green bracelets You see highlighters pens things like that that really draw the students in I think that that has been a really really big thing because you know We can go to community events and everything and try to raise awareness But in college what a kid wants free stuff is to hope I having Craig don't need that money to so we're able to purchase all Those giveaways for this challenge and then also purchasing tabletop posters and banners that they can also display has really helped with the awareness of the challenge I think one of the other really positive things about the challenge and what makes it successful is the fact that these are these are peers These are other college students that are running these campaigns and communicating with their colleagues and their friends because we can do a lot of community events But when when college kids see me and Francesca stand behind the table when our our business suits and They don't know for selling life insurance or what we're doing behind the table So to see a group of college kids there and seeing them passionate about a cause It's a lot easier for the other college students to relate and start those conversations and again There's a conversation they might otherwise have so I think it's just a lot easier to open that dialogue that way I'm listening to you guys and I'm thinking oh my heart is so full but Craig your your donated heart must be so full that this I'm not an extra room now. I'm not hard But this simple idea of wanting to pay it forward wanting to educate wanting to save more lives and then teaming with core The center for organ recovery and education has now turned into this great program.
That's really moving the needle when it comes to registration. So For you, what is that like You know, I think it's great. I think anybody who kind of gets into a role where they want to give back It's it's you get that fulfilling feeling just from getting out in the community and then feel like you're making a difference But to do a program that you can kind of see tangible results. You know, we can like Francesca mentioned We can see the designation rates go up.
We can see how many People are wearing the shirts that we might give out around campus. The first event we did was actually at my graduate degree at St. Francis University, Coretto And I reached out to them to just do an awareness table and they kind of took and ran with it We ended up doing a Q&A session with some of the nursing students there And then we had an awareness table in their cafeteria around dinner time And in an hours time we signed up about 50 people to be new donors I mean, that's just an incredible number of people making that pledge in that short amount of time So that is what really showed us that wow, maybe this is an area that is worth exploring and figuring out if we can start reaching these kids At your age and college where they are more open to dialogue and learning about new things And that's kind of really how it started and I was fortunate enough to have core behind me with this process So for instance, I'm the rest of her staff really how developed the program so the sustainable and And organized going forward and wasn't just you know me and one other person or so trying to try to make these Make these impacts on the community. So francesca I'm out in the community as well.
I work with our volunteers We go on campuses and things and I think having the testimonial having a crag to walk them through like that work So talk about that magic when he's there saying you probably can't tell but I have been impacted and this is important And the attention that that gets yeah So I always ask teachers for feedback after any sort of presentation even if it would just be a cring would go on a presentation on his own You know, I always feel like to get feedback to you know, make sure that we're recognizing our volunteers for all the great work They're doing and one thing that I always notice whenever Craig is doing something I always get the oh, you know We absolutely loved having him here. Can you come back again next year? Like people love having that real connection because they say you know during the presentation that people don't even realize that he's a Harvard recipient and so he mentions it which is just speaks to how amazing Transplantation is that you know, he looks just like anyone else but he's had this amazing gift And so I do always especially with like the college students and the high school students I love for Craig to come along because you know, he was in his 20s whenever he received his transplant And so that's something that people can really relate to seeing that it doesn't just happen to people who are older Which is obviously a huge misconception that a lot of people think is that it's always the older population But Craig is a perfect example of someone who you know didn't previously have any health problems didn't realize what was happening And just kind of speak to the fact that it can't happen to anyone And that's why we all really start talking about it because you you know, you never know you might meet someone who is also Happened to I love it here on the podcast we say go out and do something you would normally do to help us make life happen Well, Craig just walked out and did and it sounds like really quickly after after transplant, which we love so Craig I know a lot of folks will be wanting to support you learn more about you So if you could both just walk us through how do we find you? How do we keep up with these amazing adventures that you guys are going on?
Yes, so we're certainly on all social media. We have facebook instagram and twitter say we most active on facebook instagram We also have a website it's just second chance fundraising.org and on there you can find You know upcoming events that we're doing we have two different shirts and things that we sell in our store to help support the cause But more importantly, it's just so we know a way to connect and follow what we're doing We try to do a lot of the communities and we like to upload those pictures and videos And just you know connect with people and spread their good news about organization Miss ransjesica. Yes. All right.
Tell us how to find you guys and more information All right. So to find us at core we also have social media on all of our platforms facebook twitter and instagram We are at core donate life and our website is core.org and again like craig said we have so many different resources on there But um, we also have testimonials anything any sort of resources that people could use in classrooms or in their community And one thing I did want to mention that craig actually did not mention is if you do go on to second chance fundraising or core Instagram you will find to pumper the heart to craig if you want to talk a little bit about that I feel like that's one of the most important things you do. Yeah, so part of one of the best things that we do with second chance Is I have the idea to get a mascot. So our mascot is pumper the heart.
It's just a big foam heart And it's usually say 95 percent of time. It's me wearing pumper because I think that adds to the mystique that the transparecipians in the classroom Um, but we just we love getting out there in the community with pumper I I walk our 5k every year as pumper I went to the transplant games two years ago as pumper into things out there And I think it's just a really easy way to Make those conversations again, you know people people try to avoid when you approach people in the community to ask them Or you know or you know or you know or you know what? I might try to start by you, but it's pretty hard to avoid a giant smile art Usually people with a very easy attitude whenever you start having those conversations and you know One of the best things that we've done one of the most proud things I am of second chance is we started it Is two years ago actually I wanted to show people that like francesca said, you know transplant patients They can you can't tell their transplant patients, but I think a lot of people have this misconception that transplant patients are sick or feeble Or can't really live their life. So I wanted to try to put that to rest so be organized a video campaign two years ago To show that transplant patients can get out in the community and they can live their life and do anything they want to do Even you know just as much as they weren't a transplant patient.
So all summers throughout 2018. I dressed up as pumper And we did all kind of crazy and wacky activities. I went white water rafting with jumping Bro roller coasters. I played roller derby like I said I was out of the transplant games And I did all that in the pumper costume and it was just a really fun summer And I think it really got the message at point at the point across that you know We're not held back by our transplantation Complete opposite our transplant have given us a complete another chance of life So I think it's important to encourage people to know that and to take advantage of it.
I love that and then um cry one more thing before we we wrap up We have lots of um recipients here and they they want to do something But sometimes it's things that are outside of their comfort zone like they don't know if they could do a race or start a non-profit So what words of encouragement would you give for those recipients who do want to pay it forward? Who do want to make a mark on or their their hero? Just that drive that mission that passion. Yeah, I think it's important to figure out what you're good at What different ways that you can make a difference?
You know me. I'm a people person that I love organizing events. So for me, it was it was no Question that I was probably gonna start organization and start holding events like that But you know other people might just be really good at speaking and like doing public speaking and making get out At hospitals and colleges and in the community and talking to people and then you know, there's so many other jobs I know there's so many volunteers that I work with through core that might just come into course office and help them with things around the office and Or they might go to the hospital while during celebrations like flagrains and things like that There's so many options to get out there I think the point is just do whatever you're comfortable with but I think it's important for people to do Something because it's such an important cause and as a recipient we know that we wouldn't be here without it So I think it's important to find your niche and to you know, help spread that good news that other people get the second chance that we have I love it guys. Thank you so much for taking the time to spread the word to encourage us To share what's going on where you are.
So uh, Craig Smith with second chance fundraising francesca with core. Thank you guys so much Thanks for having me. Yeah, thank you On the gifted life. We take a moment for mental health.
Yes, sir. What are we diving into today? So today we're gonna talk about dread there's been a lot of research done recently on what dread does to us So that's what we're gonna talk about. So what really is dread?
So when we're talking about dread what we mean is our Physical and emotional symptoms to something that we are not looking forward to so that could be different things like if you're going to the doctor and you're getting results from a scan Um, you know those pesky little texts when you get hey, we need to talk What happens on that we feel dread right so that's what we're talking about this Yep, so um what we're gonna say is so when you are looking forward to something positive whether that's a trip or a really good conversation You can be a little bit more patient. You don't have to distract yourself from it, right? But what if you're expecting something that you're dreading? What if it's a phone call from your doctor?
What researchers have found recently is that your emotional reaction to something you're dreading mirrors the actual feelings of when that news comes Does that make sense? Yeah, so essentially so essentially if you are dreading if you're about to get a phone call from your doctor And you are worried that you're gonna get bad news and that you're gonna have to do treatments What your body does is mimics those feelings of what the treatments could be like so it causes a lot of anxiety And what they call you know that those pins and needles right those feelings of anxiousness those nerves So our brains tell us that it's happening now instead of happening later So it's harder and we want to slow it down and not receive that news and I feel this to my core I feel it now, but my biggest uh tailtail sign is my breathing and then I physically like I recognize okay So calm down like I have to calm down and then you know we have these new smart watches and so it's whipping and it tells you to breathe I was like that's not helping but I'm trying to breathe but I get exactly which like I feel it right now Right a little chest pain like I'll get anxiety You know, you know if I know there's something major coming up tomorrow or that that is gonna be a challenge for me in whatever form My manifests itself kind of a little bit of chest pain a little bit of shortness of breath Like I can feel it you know physically it feels like more than even emotionally Right. Yeah, so the anticipation of pain triggers that same response of the experience of actual pain So with that being said, what can we do? We've got to use this coping skills that we know so well that we talk about so well, right?
We have to take some calming deep breaths on a joey mentioned your breathing will spike You'll feel some chest pains. You need to do some really good calming deep breaths You need to remind yourself that everything's gonna be okay Remind yourself of those supports reach out for support and just get through it You know, we just have to use those same coping skills that we would in the actual event when we're anticipating the event So should I use my coping skill that I learned in covid of wine? Yes, and I always say as long as the couple of glasses of wine don't turn into a couple bottles of wine You're okay. Okay.
Yeah, so really just to wrap it all up I think you know a big point is that how many times have we heard like you want the bad news first and then this good news second So what we can do is distract ourselves use those good coping skills of distracting taking deep breaths to prepare ourselves for when the actual event Happens and we'll get through it and make sure you remind yourself of all those supports that you have and I have to remember to breathe So I'm sure shortness of breath and I'll continue to work on that, but that's good I mean, I'm glad I'm not the only one right sometimes you feel like it's just you so I like that Sarah Maybe you have a topic you'd like Sarah to cover info at the gifted life.org we'd love to hear from you In every episode of the gifted life we honor a hero today's hero comes to us from our partners at core Our hero is Matthew Christie and we learn about Matthew from his mother windy Matthew was kind smart passionate and creative his friends describe him as loyal and always willing to lend a hand or make them smile When they needed it the most unfortunately at the age of 24 Matthew was involved in a tragic accident and passed away a few days later Matthew became an organ donor because of a talk we had when it was time to get his driver's license I was always an advocate for organ donation, but the loss of my son strengthened my advocacy I'm a volunteer with core and have been speaking at high schools and local hospitals about the importance of organ donation in honor of Matthew I was able to meet the recipient of Matthew's heart Ronnie and was able to listen to Ronnie's new heart Matthew lives on in his gifts to others And now we pause and say thank you to Matthew for the gift of life In today's the question and answer segment this one lorry is for you I see college students involved with donation on social media. How can I get my school and class involved? I am so excited to receive this question and yes I too see college students on social media and we love it. They are influencers, right?
So some that we have come into contact May work for a brand a company in that certain area And so we kind of mimic that if they can push a product Why can't they push our mission of making life happen, right? So we armed them with the facts and then they march out and tell their friends and hopefully their friends tell their friends, right? That ripple effect and we love that And so what I would suggest is contacting your organ procurement organization your OPO And if Louisiana if you're in Louisiana and you contact me I will do a cheer right Joey Sarah, you know It's so exciting so if you don't know how to find your organ procurement organization where you are go to aobo.org That's the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations so AOPO.org and there's a drop down that says find your OPO So click on your state and get that contact information. So here we're flexible.
What talents do you have? What connections do you have that we can use? On our campuses here in Louisiana we team with the Mass Comm departments nursing PRSSA journalists So people from different walks of life and they want to help us make life happen And so we utilize their talents as they come to us And so that's what I would suggest call reach out have that conversation because I know folks across the country we want you on our team We appreciate your reaching out and we will use your talents to help save more lives great answer Do you have a question for us that you would like us to answer on the podcast go ahead and email us at info at thegiftedlife.org or you can give us a call at 5046483477 Thank you for listening everyone and if you're not registered as an organ eye and tissue donor you can do that now register me dot org Also a very special thank you to craig smith for turning his second chance at life into the second chance of fundraising and then taking that a step further And teaming up with core and frances for aunt there and to initiate the core college challenge that they've done It's been amazing. I know we love our partners and that they take the time to visit us here on the gifted life The best place to find us that episode the gifted life dot org You can listen to all of our episodes on our website or you can listen to them on iHeartRadio Spotify Apple podcast wherever you listen your podcast and go ahead and leave us a five star rating and subscribe so others can find the podcast And we're on all social media like our facebook page the gifted life podcast and follow us on both twitter and instagram at gifted life pod Please share what you heard here today on the gifted life our goal is to make life happen You're part of our team and we do hope that you go out and do something you wouldn't normally do to help us make life happen You can do it have a great one This is a production of lopa or the louisiana organ procurement agency the gifted life is hosted by lory steel joey buidro and sarah blakemore Our executive producer is kiersten hines producer is shalom caraway intern is rebekah rannum and we are recorded engineered and mixed in our cubbington louisiana studio by troy perese