Eye Donation Month - 2021

Hello and welcome to the Get to Life podcast, where we have conversations about organ tissue and ideonation and transplantation. You can always find us at thegiftedlife.org. I'm Maurice Nioh. I'm Joey Boudreau.

I'm Sarah Blakemore. Coming up on The Get to Life today. We'll be talking about a community of compassion with I Don't Am month and we'll also be talking to a grateful I recipient. And if you're struggling with letting people help you or asking for help, we're going to talk about it.

Yeah, all that and more right here, The Get to Life. Hang on. Here on The Get to Life podcast, we are talking about the I Bank Association of America and he's back, President and CEO Kevin Corcoran. How are you?

I'm doing great things. Good. Big month in November for you. Absolutely.

November is I Donation Month, which is our month to increase awareness about cornea and ideonation. And so we've been doing it since 1983. President Reagan commemorated ideonation month. We've been running with it ever since.

You guys do such a great job and I love seeing what you guys push out in November, whether it be the theme, the graphics, the stories that you tell. You're just so great at it. So let's talk about that theme, what you guys are focusing on and how we can play a part and help out. Sure, thank you.

So our theme this year is a community of compassion. It's actually the same theme that we used last year. Last year we put the emphasis on community. We were in the middle of COVID and everybody was feeling very disjointed and separated from each other.

So we wanted to talk about all of the people that make donation possible. Obviously there are the very donors, generous donors and their family members that make whether it's corneal tissue or organs or other bodily tissues available. But there are also the surgeons and the hospital technicians, the I Bank employees and all the people that go through that process. We wanted to draw the entire community together.

This year we're using the same theme, but the emphasis is on the passion part of compassion. But because people have gotten, whether it's their vision or if it's an organ donation that's gotten an organ, they're able to live out their lives more fully and follow the passions that are in their lives. So whether that's travel or reading more or reading their kids and watching their grandchildren grow up, suddenly it opens up doors that weren't available to them prior to their transplant. Well Kevin, you said something that really hit home for me.

You talked about the impact, the passion and everything that people have and the impact that it has on so many others' lives. The one thing that really struck for me was the grandparents watching their grand babies grow up. I actually had a very similar story. My mom had eye surgery two years ago on her left eye and it failed.

She lost complete sight in that eye and she knew she had to have surgery, the same surgery on her right eye. Again, it wasn't transplanted, but the scenario and the situation is the same. We said a lot of prayers and she actually went to a different physician, a different surgeon on this one, a renowned surgeon here in Louisiana. She had her surgery on Thursday.

It took, well, we didn't get word for an extra hour past when we were expecting to. So of course we were expecting the worst and then kind of find out. It was very successful. And so she can see and she was able to see immediately after, I mean, not great.

She's not going to be able to see great from here on out, but she can see and it's been getting progressively better. And for me to do this podcast today, she is actually babysitting my 11-month-old. Full circle, it's funny how the gifted life touches so many and has so many far-reaching connections. So I just want to let you in on that a little bit.

But you talked about last year and this year, the themes, compassion and breaking it up, community and passion toward donation. And of course, as a community, we all had such a major pivot in life with COVID. And I am the chief clinical officer for LOPA. And of course, from an organ donation, obviously the organ donation side, we had so many things that we had to change from a process standpoint, so many things that we had to overcome, so many challenges.

And I'm curious, this is actually the first time I have a conversation with someone from the I Bank, and of course, you being the president of the I Bank Association of America, how did it impact? What were the challenges that you guys saw early on? And where do you stand now with it? Obviously having peak surge out the surge out the surge.

Yeah, we got hit real hard real fast. If you recall, back in April of last year as COVID was really coming on across the country, there was a national suspension of all nonessential surgeries. And so all chronic transplants were canceled. So if we collect statistics from all of our I Bank, and if you look at our graph of the year, we went from a normal month in February to like in April, we only did 6% of the number of transplants we would normally do.

So the only transplants we were doing were emergency surgeries, if somebody was in an accident or got swabbing hot water or something else in their eyes and they needed emergency surgery. And it really wasn't until we got back to close to what was normal. So over the course of the year for 2020, domestic transplants, transplants, we're down about 14 or 15% overall. The good thing is for most people, they're able to, you know, from the declines that we saw in the spring, they were able to postpone and be scheduled their transplants later.

At the same time, because we want to make sure that the tissue supply is as safe as possible, our medical advisory board instituted all sorts of new restrictions on donors and who we could receive tissue from. So that has reduced the number of people that we have in our donor pool by about 18% for this year. So we're a lot more particular about Kaggle. We always check people's medical histories and what their current condition is when they pass away on their potential donors, but we're ruling out a lot more people than we had in the past.

So the number of donors we have overall is about about 18%. The good news is that even with that reduction, fewer than 2% of all of the surgeries that are scheduled to be performed have had to be rescheduled because there's a shortage of tissue. We have always had a surplus of tissue and our eye banks cooperate very well from one eye bank to another. So I've got an eye bank in Baton Rouge.

They had a surgery schedule and they perhaps didn't have a tissue available in Baton Rouge for some reason. We have a system where they can send the word out to the other eye banks and say, I'm a community tissue and another eye bank in Kansas City or in New York or somewhere else and say, well, we've got surplus tissue, we'll send that down to you in Baton Rouge and you can perform your surgery. So for patients, there's been very little real impacts, but for the eye banks, we have certainly had to change our screening criteria and selection criteria. When we get tissue that we can't use, we're transplanting.

We do use that for education and research purposes. I don't want anybody to think that tissue is going to waste. If we find that there's something in a donor's record that suggests that they may have an exposed COVID, we will reserve that tissue and use that for education or research purposes. Well, that's an amazing community system that you guys have to be able to get eye tissue from Kansas City or other places to Baton Rouge when there's a supply and demand disconnect is really nice to see.

Obviously, it's something we try to strive for as well in the Oregon community. So Kevin, as we had talked about in the past, on gift of life, we talked a little bit about the organ impact, the impact of COVID, the virus actually on the organs. And one of the things that we've obviously seen is that especially if they've got COVID pneumonia, the impact on the lungs is significant. So the possibility of transplanting lungs anytime in the immediate future of someone who is now testing positive is very unlikely for the lungs.

But we have seen that in abdominal organ transplant liver, kidneys, pancreas, that it's not, or at least liver kidneys right now, that it's not living in that area. The particles aren't living there, and they can be safely transplanted. In fact, dozens and dozens and dozens of kidneys have been now transplanted of people who are even inside the window of what we would consider infectious at this point. So can you tell us a little bit about where we are as far as, you know, does it actually, is there any infection in the eye?

Is it being picked up in the eyes, in the corneas themselves, and where we see that shift as far as what we're learning? Absolutely. Yeah. As I mentioned before, we have a medical advisory board which looks at the science for all aspects of chronic transplantation.

EBAA has funded research and other organizations have funded research, and we have found that the virus can reside in corneal tissue. And there is kind of the jury is out on whether or not that tissue can, that virus will replicate and cause the disease or it just resides in the tissue. So our medical advisory board is looking at that. In fact, it will be meeting, we have a meeting coming up in New Orleans actually in November.

And during that meeting, our medical advisory board will be considering perhaps revising our standards. But right now we are exercising the maximum amount of caution because we are fortunate that we have a surplus of tissue so we can afford to be more selective and still have sufficient supply of tissue. So the standards are very restrictive now. I don't expect them to relax a lot because we want to be as careful as our own.

But that's constantly being reviewed and taken into consideration. All right, Kevin, how can we help during iDone or a month? We're going to get more information. We know that we ask folks to share information on social media, learn the facts.

Where do we push people to help you guys? Absolutely terrific. We have a wealth of resources for our iBanks that are also available to everybody else in the donation and transplantation community. And that is at iDonationLots.org.

It includes social media tools, talking points, media outlines. We have videos, we have three different videos this year. One is an update on a cornea recipient. We featured last year.

Her name was Zoe. She's four years old. She lives in Texas. She got a transplant, 20 years, just a few months old.

And we featured her last year. We wanted to get an update on what's happening. She was down in kindergarten. She was a tremendous little girl.

Very electric. And then we have another cornea recipient story and then a cornea donor family story. So we have three videos that will be on our website at iDonationLots.org. They're also fact sheets and talking points just to allow people to understand the full nature of cornea donation.

And of course, while we are talking about it from the context of cornea, anybody who registers to be a donor is registering for iDonationLots. So regardless of what it is that draws you to register as a donor or causes you to talk to your family members to say, I'm a donor. And so if something happens to me, this is what I want you to do. We'll also have a flow down effect for all three organ-byes and tissues.

So it is life saving and life restoring whether we're looking at it from the i, the organ of the tissues standpoint. Perfect. One snapshot, iDonationLots.org. Kevin, we appreciate your time.

And I want to let you know we're going to continue this conversation with you. We'll talk about the conversation with a grateful cornea recipient who tells us, my donors have given me my life and vision back. They have given me a better life. So that is exactly what we've been talking about with you.

Thank you, sir. My pleasure. Thank you so much for the opportunity. You all have a good day.

Greatful cornea recipient Melissa St. Pierre is joining the conversation here on the gifted life. Hey, Melissa. Hi, good afternoon.

Thank you so much for asking me to do this. This is truly, truly an honor to be chosen to share my journey. Oh, we just, we love what you submitted as well. Like you just seem so grateful and so passionate.

And you just want to talk about all these milestones and we just want to hear your story. But we are so grateful that you chose us to tell that too. So tell us how this started. It talked about with maybe not taking the best self care because you're taking care of everyone else.

Exactly. And that's what I feel like happened so much in today's world. But I wouldn't do it any differently. I was about 51 years old and for the last couple of years, I've been having to help my mom take care of my ill grandmother.

She was 98 when she passed away. And we definitely have no regrets because we took care of her 24 seven. And she was basically blind when she passed away. But really just, I guess we brought her back and forth to doctors.

But really, I guess at that point, there was like no official diagnosis. It was just kind of, you know, that was just something that she dealt with that she was just kind of, you know, needed assistance with everything. So I helped my mom and then my grandmother did pass away at the age of 98. So the next month, my mom said, you know, you really need to just go see, I've been having some problems with my vision.

You need to take care of yourself because we have put everything else. Make her offer our team put our help and everything on the back burner. So I've been having some problems with my vision. Those were hazy, smoky.

I was having some glare issues, pain in my eye. And when I say hazy and smoky, even I told my husband, I said, our house is on fire one point. Our house is literally on fire. What is wrong with you?

And my daughter like, I'm talking smoke. And they're looking at me like, what in the half are you talking about? It got to the point where like I said, go up in the attic. There has to be some sort of fire and my husband pacified me.

And he's like, there is nothing. And so at that point, you know, I'm just like, I had no idea of what was going on. It was, you know, it was crazy. It was either my vision or something was wrong with me.

So I did discuss the a local optometrist. And after the examination, he looked at me and he said, has anyone in your family ever had a cornea transplant or have you ever heard of Duke's corneal dystrophy? And I just looked at him and I'm like, I've never heard of either. Is that even possible?

And he said, yeah, he said, I said, well, we're going to get you in with a cornea specialist ASAP, but do me a favor. Like, don't get your core on Google. Yeah. I happened to be out of town at the time.

So it was my mom and I were just like partners and crime. So we got in the car and the person we did, of course. Of course. Yeah.

And that's when I saw, I was like, OK, the only really cure for this is the cornea transplant and the way donor and the active donation. So needless to say, I was pretty shocked and just couldn't wait for that appointment, you know, to find out more. So he got me in with Dr. Heigl, my cornea surgeon, within two weeks very soon.

And once again, my husband was out of town. So my mom and dad, here I'm 51 years old, my mom and dad, bring me to my appointment. And we're in the appointment. And Dr.

Heigl, of course, says, you know, you do have to do a cornea dystrophy. It is an inherited disease. Has anyone in your family ever, you know, and it habits. And I'm like, well, my grandmother just passed away a month ago.

And she was pretty much blind. I imagine that could have been what she had. And he said more than likely. And I think it was more prevalent in females.

So he said, you know, I have a lot to discuss with you. Are you here with anyone or have anyone here with you? And I said, oh, yes, my parents, you know, he said, what do you mind? If I bring them in.

And I said, of course not. He said, I'm going to be giving you a lot of information. He said, you're not going to remember any of it more than likely. He said, but between the three of y'all, you will be able to remember bits and pieces and put the puzzle together and just kind of I'm going to map out the process of what this looks like for you to regain your vision.

And he said, also, when he brought my mom in, he said, just on curiosity, were you hopping the chair? And she said, sure. So she hopped in the chair and he said, uh-huh. You are showing signs of the cornea dystrophy also.

Not to the point that I was, but it definitely confirmed that it is definitely an inherited disease. But he mapped out the process. I've had eight surgeries, including the transplants. The first step was head narrow angle glaucoma, which could render you blind at any given second if the pressure builds up too high.

So he had to go in and do two iridottimies, which is basically punching a hole into the bottom six o'clock position of your eye to give it, I guess, like room to breathe or release that pressure in case it got built up too much. So we did that in both eyes and then had cataracts as well. That needed to be removed and that needed to be done before any transplants. So after the two eyes had the iridottimies done, and we did one eye at a time because Dr.

Heigl just thought it was too risky to do a cataract surgery and a transplant surgery at the same time. So I had the iridottimies done in October. My first cataract surgery on my right eye was in December. And then at that point, I was put on the organ donor waiting list with really, you know, you have no idea how long that could take and just for the best match possible.

And you just kind of, you give them every number you can, you tell them if you're going out of town, whatever. And believe me, I didn't go anywhere else. But when I said you just remember, you just remember, first of all, the shocking diagnosis of this condition. And then you remember the date, the time and the place where you were at and what you were doing when you received that call that you did have a donor that was available.

And you remember those emotions that you felt. One you were so happy that you were about to receive like the best gift, the ultimate gift in the world. And you also feel the grief for that family that just, you know, lost a loved one. So it was a lot.

It just, I don't think you could ever be prepared fully for those emotions and what leads up to it. But I got that call and on February 22nd and on the 28th was my first transplant. And the transplant went remarkably well. You stay awake during the process because you can't, you know, you can't move.

So if you're given anesthesia as Dr. Heigl explained to me, some people tend to snore or jump, you know, when they're in a deep sleep. So you have to be perfectly still. So you're awake during the whole process.

And it's just kind of surreal, you know, knowing when the corneas removed, everything kind of goes black. And then you see some, a little bit, just like a shadows after that point, I think when they were placing the new tissue in. And then after that, you go home and you lay flat on your back for four days, which short breaks in between only the snack or go to the restroom, just to let that graft make sure that it takes and that there's no rejection. But I do remember after like two or three days, like a little pinhole, just a little pinhole of light coming through and I'm like, oh my goodness, that was just, it was the most beautiful thing, the greatest thing that I could ever imagine.

Because you in darkness and that one eye and then all of a sudden that little pinhole of light coming through and you know, you know that there's hope and you know that you owe it definitely to a donor. So, you know, that just made that that selfless decision. And it's the neatest thing about this is that, you know, we didn't have to be the same gender. Both of my donors are male, one was 56 years old and one was 54 years old.

So, close an age to myself. So they were the best matches. But you know, it just is just life changing. And Dr.

Heigl each visit looks at my cornias and he says, you know, they're beautiful. They're absolutely beautiful. Like they are. They are.

They are. I had two beautiful, two beautiful donors. So, I did that on my right eye and then after that, in August, after February the first transplant in August, I had the cataract surgery in my left eye and then was placed on the Oregon donor waiting list at that point. And November 11th, I got the call and I had my transplant in my left eye on November 13th.

And it's just, it's surreal because you know, you're sitting there and it's almost selfish to say that you're like, you know, oh my goodness, I'm just ready. I'm ready. And then I'm like, I have to take a step back and say, you know, but no one is ready to lose their life or lose their loved one. So, how selfish of me to feel that way.

But I guess it's just human nature that, you know, you just know, I knew how great the outcome was with my right eye and I was ready. I was so ready for my left eye to get my life back again. And that truly, truly is what has happened. This, the act of, you know, Oregon tissue and ideonation, it's so many lives, but at the same time it betters and it enriches so many lives and it gives you, gives you your life back.

You know, I was to the point where my vision was just so terrible. No one even wanted me to run a car with them. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I'm getting ready to hit the body. I just didn't have a seat.

Be quiet, be quiet, be quiet. You know, and I was like, my daughter just graduated from law school this year. I was like, am I going to be able to see her, you know, walk for her graduation? Yes, I did.

Of course I did. And I look forward to watching her walk down the aisle one day. Oh, you know, it's just, these people that I have never met have truly given me the ultimate gift, the most wonderful gift that one could receive. And it's just that decision that was made at one point during their lives or that decision that was made by a family member at one point in their lives to just give the ultimate gift is just, it still amazes me how impactful it is upon my life, not only my life, but my family is my parents, my daughter, my husband, my friends.

It's just, it's amazing how it is just, you know, just made such a great and definite difference in my life along with everyone that I love. I can hear the passion. I can hear excitement in your voice. And then I was also thinking like, oh my gosh, you had all these major things happening to you within just a couple of weeks.

And then you get this diagnosis, your mom. And so did you guys know about donation? Were you pro donation? Was this like a whole new topic you had to learn about?

It was. I was an organ donor. No one else in my family were organ donors. And it was just a whole big process of learning about the condition.

And just, you know, as soon as I became like aware of my diagnosis, you know, everybody, my family, you need to sign up, you need to sign up now. Like, and this is just like making them aware as well as everyone else that, you know, you know everything to the donors and that the bravery and strength to become a donor and or a family to allow their loved ones, organs, eyes, tissue to be donated. In the midst of their grief is just the best thing or just the most selfless thing that you can do for someone. And I've done countless hours of research on my condition and I continue to do so to create awareness for those who are traveling currently on this journey and for those that may have to travel down this path at some point in their lives.

Just personally, I know that my mom probably will. My daughter has terrible eyes. I know that she's in her twenties, but they say that you start exhibiting signs in her thirties. So, you know, I hope and pray, you know, that her vision doesn't take that same path that mine does, but more than likely so.

And it's kind of selfish on my part, but I want them to be able to have the same opportunities that I am having to have my life back. I got my vision back. I got my life back. I want that for them.

I want that for everyone, you know, to be able to have that same opportunity. You know, they say, or organ donor can save eight lives, but besides my life, it saved my entire family's life. I feel like, you know, just by taking care of me. I was going to ask if just to summarize, you know, if you have what message would you give to someone who's thinking about saying yes to organ donation, but maybe not to tissue and eyes because they say, well, organ donation saves lives and tissue and eyes may not save lives.

What message do you have to them? They're making sure. No, I totally, I totally understand that question. You know, when I started getting my vision back, I realized like everything was just vibrant.

The grass was green. I could see the trees. The sky was blue. The sun was shining just like it's shining now every day for me.

So besides saving a life, right, I still would have lived on, but the quality of my life is just just unbelievable due to someone's selflessness because everything that I see today, my donor is living on with me and seeing this. I feel as well there with me every day. I get thanks for them every day. They're with me.

They're present with me every step of my life. They're sharing the joy of everything that I'm able to experience. And it's just that we have so many more memories to make and cherish. And I feel like my donor, my donors are there to witness those with me.

And I will never take that for granted. With my eyes, like I said before, I will see everything that there is to see. We will do all that we can and they're with me every step of the way. And I will cherish their gifts until I'm no longer able to cherish them.

And I hope one day I will definitely pay this forward and can maybe make an impact in someone's life like they have made in mind. And you know, when we say we're from the deep South where one would literally give you the shirt off their back to help someone in need, my donors ultimately gave me the greatest gift. They gave me the shirt off their back. They gave me themselves.

And like we say, they're no strangers in life, just friends and family that we haven't met. But I hope one day I've written my letters. I hope one day I could beat my donors families and thank them in person. And ultimately one day and heaven, I'll meet my two special angels, my donors that gave them of themselves to meet so that I can continue to have the life that I do have now and hope to have for many, many more years with my family.

Aww, Melissa, I love it. I can see why our partners at the Baton Rouge Regional Eye Bank suggested you share your story. Thank you for saying yes. Thank you for joining us.

I loved your quote. I got my life back. So amazing, especially during a national eye donor month. If you want more eyedonationmonth.org.

You're on a gifted life where you take a moment for mental health. Yes. Today I plan on learning a lot from Sarah. It's about how to let people help you.

You're already nervous. Yes. All ears here. Before we got into this, we were talking about it's one or the other.

Some people are so resistant and are so afraid to ask for help and some people are really great at it. So this is really for the people who are very uncomfortable with asking for help. So why does this happen? So essentially in the U.S.

specifically for societal and cultural norms, but we grow up believing that the less you ask for, the better. So we're very driven and parenthood to create independence and to create, we're very excited as parents to let kids like feed themselves, walk to the bus stop, do all these things independently, but sometimes it can go too far to where it's led into feelings of imposition and burden when you do ask for help. So there's a lot of guilt and shame if you need help. Why is that?

Are you weak? Can you not handle this? Are you codependent on your loved ones? All those feelings of shame have just kind of developed and for a lot of people it really sticks.

I don't know about y'all, but I'm getting better, but I used to be very independent. I felt a lot of pride in being independent. So when I couldn't, I would just crumble. Yeah.

I could see that. I mean, I have the three kids. So we kind of had to do like, here's my white flag. I can't do everything.

So can we do carpool in the neighborhood or something like that? It's just trying to find the time to coordinate, which makes life much easier. If nobody would have taken that first step, then I'd probably be crying. Yes.

And I remember this one time specifically in college, I was so prideful that I was paying my rent, but I was doing all this stuff. I was short, like $50 on my rent once and I called my mother crying. I couldn't even get the words out that I just needed her to give me $50. And then once I did, and she was like, of course.

And she was like, thank you for coming to me. It made our connection stronger, actually. And it probably gave you extra. She gave me a little bit of extra.

And then during the storm, we had Ida in Louisiana and some of my husband works in emergency management. So it was me and three kiddos and they ran to come over and help me tie things down. I need to help with the generator. It was just like I'm vulnerable.

I'm here. I mean, I'm trying, but it was nice to have that support. And people were so happy to do it. So I'm like, boo, on Louisiana for hurricanes, but hey, for Southern hospitality sometimes.

But I just put a shout out like, can somebody come and then they came running? Great. And what would have happened if you didn't? You would just have been so overwhelmed, so stressed out.

I think the point is that we can grow stronger and closer to the people who can help us. And it makes you feel so inspired by your community and empowered to ask for help and to give help. And the moral of the story really is that if you can't receive with an open heart, then you're certainly not giving with an open heart. So and that's from Bernay Brown, shout out my favorite person in the world.

But I think that's really it. We need to challenge this idea that it's a burden when you ask for help or things or something. Because if we want to give and if we want to ultimately be a part of our society, we also have to be able to receive openly and with grace. Yeah, that's the you mentioned burden.

And that's my biggest thing. I find it much easier to ask for help if I'm helping someone else. So but if if the help is for me, I hate to burden someone else because I know that they've got a lot of issues or maybe they had to deal with something similar before and I wasn't there to help them for one reason or another. So there's a guilt and a burden in that.

Yeah, I think if we assign a value to asking for help instead of just assigning burden and position all that stuff, if we assign, I know if I ask for help, it's going to enrich our relationship. It's going to enrich my connection with this person. They're going to feel happy to help. I'm going to feel happy that I received help.

I think assigning the value to that and just shifting the narrative in your head is going to be really helpful for me to always say like, Oh, maybe if you need help, like call me back and do anything and then you really don't get so many. I'm like, yeah, and then I'm going to like, well, what if I find the time? Oh, we just find the time. Like you're just going to find the time.

It's going to work. Yeah. All right. Ask for help.

It's okay. Maybe have a topic you'd like Sarah to cover. Just email us info at thegivedlife.org. And our question and answer segment today.

Can you still have an open casket funeral if you donate your corneas? And we get this a lot. So I when I work with families, I explain the donation process and the recovery process. And we tell every family that regardless of donation, anybody can have an open casket funeral and for cornea specifically, they do place a cap so that there isn't any delays in funeral arrangements or we minimize any visual changes.

So that's, you know, that brings a lot of comfort to our families. I know that for sure. So yes, Sarah, just to add to that, of course, working with funeral homes as we so closely as we have over the years, I've been informed that they have to put a prosthetic in regardless because the eyes aqueous to maintain the same shape for the viewing, they would be doing it regardless. So we're just doing it a step ahead, you know, so it's very similar.

All right. Thanks guys. Maybe you have a question for us and give us a call 504-648-34-77. In every episode of the Gifted Life, we honor a hero.

Today, we honor Brenda Abshire Myers. And we learn about Brenda from her family. A wonderful life, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, and friend, left this world in 2005 as the result of a stroke and brain aneurysm. She gave so much of herself throughout her life that it seems so natural for her to make the decision to be an organ donor, a decision that she made in the late 70s.

She was always extremely adamant about her wishes to be a donor. So when the time came for her family to be questioned about donating her organs, the decision had already been made by her. Brenda's family is very proud to know that her liver, kidneys, and corneas went to five different recipients in Louisiana, Mississippi, in Mexico. And they are very sure that she would be pleased as well.

Brenda never met a stranger and touched the lives of everyone she ever got to know. Brenda's family made a quilt square in her honor. You can see it and learn more about her on our website, lopa.org, on the Heroes tab. Now we pause and say thank you to Brenda for the gift of life.

And that is episode 173 of The Gifted Life. Thanks for listening, guys. And remember, you can always register to be an organ tissue and eye donor anytime, register me.org. Special thanks to Kevin Corcoran for coming on and telling us a little bit about Eye Donor Awareness Month.

And for Melissa St. Pierre for exemplifying just why it's so important to celebrate it. Wow. She was amazing.

Oh, I just let her storytelling and compassion. I'd like you to hear it. Oh, yeah. Oh, I love it.

And you'll see here more hopefully here on the Gifted Life and in our communities here in Louisiana. The best place to find us guys is at our website, the GiftedLife.org. You can listen to any of our episodes on the website or wherever you like to listen, whether it's Apple, Google, or Spotify. If you do listen on Apple, go ahead and give us a five-star rating and subscribe so that others can find the podcast.

On social media, our Facebook is the Gifted Life podcast on Twitter and Instagram at GiftedLifePod. Please follow us, comment. We'd like it. And we ask that you go out and do something you would normally do to help us make life happen.

Until next time. This is a production of Loba, our Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency. The Gifted Life is hosted by Lori Steele, Joey Boudreau, and Sarah Blakemore, our executive producer is Kirsten Heins, producer is Shalom Caraway. Intern is Rebecca Rannam, and we are recorded, engineered and mixed in our Covington, Louisiana studio by Troy Perez.