Hello and welcome to the gifted life podcast where we have conversations about organ tissue and ideonation. I'm Roy Steele. I'm Joey Buteroe. I'm Sally Gentry.
And thank you for listening guys. Our goal is to make life happen. We do that through education and you sharing what you hear on this podcast and you'll want to share this one. Today on this podcast episode 92 we get to know a tiny hero.
Not only was he a hero, Laurie, he was a superhero. He enjoyed everyday heroes that he looked up to and he considered superheroes like the policemen, paramedics and firefighters that save lives on a daily basis. And he was a superhero to others. He's helped save four lives.
All that and more here on episode 92 of the gifted life. We want you to share it. That's our ask guys. We try to make it as easy as possible to find.
You can find us on Apple Podcast, Google Play or whatever your favorite podcast app might be. Their social media, Facebook, donate life, Louisiana or you can follow us on both Twitter and Instagram at donatelife. LA guys. Obviously we have lots to get to on this episode.
You guys ready? Yep. Let's do this. Ready to go.
It's March 22nd 2017 and it is on Wednesday and it's just me and my little grandson, Xander. Oh, no, you're Xander. You're the one. That's one of the favorites of Wing.
You're four years old? Yes. You're probably probably going to be five years old, huh? Oh, yes.
You're going to be five years old in June. June is one of you. So do you like playing music and listening to music? Yes.
I know you can follow around your parents a lot because your mom plays music and Mary plays music and mom plays and your pop-up plays. Yes. And sometimes you play triangle. Yes.
So besides playing music and you're following your parents around and your grandparents, what else do you like to do? I like to do. I like to say kung fu. You like to make up words?
That's funny. Talk to you. Do you love your football so much? That's why you just kiss me like that.
Yeah. Yeah. And you're not a natural girl football. So is there any kind of favorite toys of yours that you like?
Police cars. You like police cars the best out of everything I know it. I knew it. And do you also like Amazis and Pardra?
I like Amazis and Pardra. I like Amazis and Pardra. I like this because I think that you probably like Superheroes and stuff like that. You know, you like Superheroes.
I like Superheroes. I like this. Yeah, you like people that like to help me play. Because I always did like that when I was doing that.
I know. It's the same little studio that's supported by all these music channels. Yeah. Same place.
And one day you might be bored. Yeah. I know. I love everyone.
I love the couple. I love the couple. I love the other so much. I'm glad you can spend the day with me.
Yeah. So what you think you're going to do tomorrow? I don't even know. You don't even know.
That's how it is when you get four years over. Yeah. You don't even know what you're going to do one day to the next. That must be nice.
What about if I'm weird? I'm not going to be in the morning. You already test. You're in the street already.
You're getting bigger. I'm going to be a bigger one. You're going to be a bigger one. Yeah.
Well, do you want to just tell everybody? Bye. And you want to sign off on this thing? This is Lee Benoit.
And. And. Saying. So long, folks.
So long. Just leave. I love you. I love you.
That interview you just heard was from Lee Benoit, who was visiting with his grandson, Zander. Little did he know that a year later, Zander would become that Superhero that he loves so dearly. And Joey had an opportunity to talk with the Ben was, and we're going to share that with you now. Lori, steal here with the gifted live on location at our Lady of the Lake Hospital.
And I'm visiting with two folks, Lee and Valerie Benoit. How are you guys today? We're doing fine. We're okay.
Yeah. Today's an emotional day. I am honored and there are several team members who are honored to be here today with Lee and Valerie because their grandson, Zander, is a hero. And today they met a recipient, a life saved because of Zander, right?
So we know it's emotional. What are you feeling right now? That's right. I'm happy and I'm elated right now to meet Mr.
Marin and to see how well she's doing and to see her spirits. So happy and high. She's a firecracker, huh? Yeah, I'm happy for her and her kids, but I'm thinking about Zander, so I'm kind of sad.
So tell us a little bit about Zander and his getting heart. Oh yeah, he was a very giving child and I kind of raised him just about half the time. He was his father figure. He had a daughter as a dad.
So he never knew his dad. I kind of, I was raised the old time way and I was kind of like raising him the old time way too. And he was so giving that he would share anything he had with anyone, even his candy or his toys. And we just love little Zander.
He was just so nice. He loved to play and he always said play with me. He spent part of his life on stage it looked like from the pictures. Yeah, well he would come with us to work because you know we worked in the restaurants where kids were welcome.
We didn't work in the bowlers and so he would just come on stage and play the T-Fai or sit close to his football and sing a couple of songs that he liked a lot. That was from your influence, that's your background? Oh yes, we played music and also I was a paramedic and I always like to be a life saver through God. And I was respected authority and so he always wanted to be a policeman or a far man or a paramedic.
He was given a following policeman's funeral. They had over 100 policemen in his procession. There was a tragic accident and then donation came into your lives. Did we think about it, talk about it before?
Is it just we knew what his heart was and we knew him? Tell us about that. Yeah, we just knew that he was such a giving person that if he didn't knew anything about organ donation he would have been all for it. And I just knew that.
I knew that in my heart because he was such a giving person. And we knew that there was no hope. Once we found out that there was no hope for him then we were all on board with donating his organs to help save somebody's life. And so we call those organae and tissue donors heroes what a legacy, right?
You met a life saved because of Zander and she is here to watch her daughters getting married next month. She can do all of these things because of this five year old superhero. We're gonna call him a superhero. Yeah, that'd be fine.
So tell us what was that like walking into the room hugging her listening to her talk about Zander. She said she's taking good care of the kidneys that he gave. Oh yeah, that was one of the first things she said she's gonna bring him to her. And she said I just want to let you know Mr.
Bit more that when I look in the dictionary under the word hero I see a picture of your grandson Zander. But I mean, first of all good. And before I always thought about when people got organs it never crossed my mind that someone has to die. I really never thought about that until it happened to Zander.
So now I have a whole different perspective on it. And if there's no hope I would say don't even hesitate because you can meet Mr. Maron in save lives. And I don't know the folks but I just want to know how they're doing.
It's just still alive. They didn't reject it. And I found out that everybody's doing great. And that like as hard as soon as it was put into another young boy for years old.
It started beating right away. You know that makes me feel so good. And that helps me get through all the grief and trust me. I mean I'm stronger now but I've had really really rough times.
And all that helps. All that helps Zander live on. Zander at five save and enhance multiple lives. He is forever our superhero.
Thank you to Lee and Valerie. We just talked to the Benoit family and we are honoring Zander a five year old superhero who saved lives. And we thought that we should introduce you to the life he saved. Her name is Tamara.
And today she met the family of a little boy who saved her life. Miss Tamara, how are you? I'm fine. I'm real good.
Yeah, he saved my life. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be here to think. Tell us about your journey because you had kidney trouble. Yes, I had cancer in both kids.
And they were removed at the same time. I walked around on earth five years straight without any kids. And they kept trying to find a match for her. And little did I know that then we would be the one that saved my life.
He's my hero. And so when we were in there there were a lot of tears. But we were laughing because you're a firecracker. That's how we describe you today.
But you say you take care of him and you only feed him the best. You drink water, your name brand. Fiji. Yeah, I get to give him the best.
If I find something better than Fiji, I get that. Yeah. And so how are you feeling having met his family? I feel good.
I wanted to meet them the moment I found a head down the stairs. I wanted to tell them thanks so bad. And I was able to do that today. Can you tell us how many years young you are?
Yes, I'll be 64 years old in November 13. And that's one of the things you and I were talking about. So your 64 year old was five and that was hard for you. It was.
I couldn't accept it because here I'm always doing it. That's how I feel about it. And this baby hadn't had a chance to live his life. And I just couldn't accept it.
But one of my nurses explained to me, days of love, the moment we come in the world. And that was his time. I hate it like that. But you know, he saved me.
Yeah. And now you can go out and let the world know about this hero, right? Yeah, I do. All the time.
Well, Miss Tamar travels with an entourage. We were honored to be part of that entourage today. But we got to meet your two precious children. So Tamisha and Kepi were here with us.
And so Tamisha, I'm going to talk to you. You brought in a superhero cape that you created because that must be how you see. Yes, he truly is a hero. And we waited for this moment for a very long time.
And sometimes I think we had to convince ourselves to not give up. And when that moment happened, it really felt a super power, actually a blessing for our family. And so you still have a mom. Mom gets to see and witness things.
You have a big event coming up in your life, right? Yes. I'm getting married in one month. Congratulations.
Yeah, we were talking about that. Destination money. How are you? You can take us to it.
Let's back. But there's a possibility that mom can be a part of all those life memories. That was the actual first question I asked after the doctor gave a follow up before she was in charge. Yeah, that's amazing.
That's incredible. So what are your feelings after this meet today? Oh my gosh. I didn't even imagine what I was feeling.
It's really hard to still describe it. But I know it's joy. Joy at the same time. Just appreciation for the family making the decision for such a young person.
Lori Steele here with the gifted life on location over at our Lady of the Lake Hospital. Just witnessed something amazing. A donor family and recipient met today. There was a crowd in the room because it was so special.
And we were also honored to be in there. And Wardo, I'm going to start with you representing Tulane Transplant Institute. You are very familiar with the families that were in this room because you have a personal tie to that recipient, right? That is correct.
I was actually the coordinator at the time that was in charge of working up and talking for a transplantation. So I was involved in the workup process to get her on the transplant list. And which eventually led to the Oregon donation. And is it normal to be invited to these types of events where the donor side?
I know you see the recipient side a lot, but have you been to many of these? This is my first and it certainly has left an impression. That was some emotions going on in there. I love how Miss Huggins refers to you guys.
She just loves you, right? Because you took care of her and got her to where she is. She looks fantastic doing well. And you were calling her a firecracker.
Oh, she's pretty amazing. I was really honored that she remembered who I was and exactly after so many years. It was really wonderful and it was very rewarding and honored to be able to actually witness in participate. I was getting teary-eyed in there and I know you must be as well.
You work closely with Miss Huggins as well. So tell us what you do and what your thoughts were in that room today. It was a lot of emotions. And I was the person that brought Miss Huggins the donor letter from the family.
And so we've had multiple conversations and she wanted to meet the family. So it was an honor to be able to be a part of that and to actually see it. And it tells a lot about you guys that she wanted y'all to be here for that meet because I can tell you're close, right? Yes.
And she's very thankful and she's reminded me about Xander all the time whenever I talk to her. How she's taking care of these kidneys. And it's very telling the care you provide because you guys were talking about her daughters wedding coming up and different things. So obviously you guys are very close.
So Josephine, quality manager for Tulane Transplant Institute. You were in that room. Thoughts? So I've been new to Transplant.
So this was the first time I was able to meet a donor in a recipient as well. And it was very touching to see how much the recipient was affected by receiving the gift of life and how much the donor family as well. How much they know that their gift to someone else is helping her and her children as well. So Eduardo, you go back.
What is your title now? My title now is the director of the Transplant Institute. So you just witnessed this amazing journey. Does that impact you going back?
It does. It reminds me exactly why we do this. And it's really, you have to witness this to see the raw emotions and exactly what organ donation means. How it really improves others quality of life and how that person, the effect that they have on their families.
Because you're not just donating to that one person but it's that entire family. And it was very rewarding to see the outcome of this donation. It's a sad situation that turns into just a medical miracle to be able to do something. It's working out.
Organ donation is just amazing. And it's a walking testimonial of the care provided at Tulane Transplant Institute. Thank you. Joining me now, we have some of our LOPA team members.
Amazing people. We have Samantha Miller and Jessica DuFran. Donation service coordinators for LOPA. Hey.
Hi. Hey guys. So often I hear from our families. It must take such special people to do the jobs that the folks at LOPA do.
So I get the fun side. We're out in the community. We're honoring those heroes celebrating life. You guys see a different side of donations.
So Sam, you want to cover kind of what you do. Right. So oftentimes I'm working with families who are going through a very tragic time. They have just lost a loved one.
But they're thinking of others and they're saying yes to donation. And so we'll walk through that process with these families. But today was a much different day. There was hope, some smiles and laughter.
And it was just really inspiring and encouraging to walk away from today and having seen that. So I'm a community educator out in the community. And I got an up close and personal look at what you guys do and how beautifully you do and how you must have been chosen specifically for your jobs because it was so amazing to watch the family connect with both of you guys. And by design because partnerships, relationships, that's how we make life happen.
Right. And so what did we see here today? Jessica, we saw kind of everyone coming together to support these families. Oh, absolutely.
And that's what I think is so beautiful about a day like today is that we had our Transplant Facility. We had two-lane Medical Center here supporting the recipient. And we had our Lady of the Lake here as well. We had their staff here to support the donor family.
And then we had LOPA here of course, you know, and we all tied it in together. And we were here for one common cause to support this family. And you know, just like Sam said, to see them smiling and to see the family, the donor family so proud and happy to see the recipient, happy and healthy. And that's a piece and part of it that I want to take with me and it humbles me to be a part of this.
It truly is humbling. And I often hear that it's a work in the donation world. They either see one side of the donation side or the recipient side. So Sam, I've been with you.
We've been through a couple of these meets. Always emotional. Jessica, this was your first meet. Absolutely.
And I'm glad I had my tissues. I will say. I'm going to bring out because the family mentioned these build-a-bears that Sam, you brought to this meeting today. So tell us a little bit about the thought behind it and why you would do that.
So as such, an honor we keep using honor and privilege. And it truly is an honor and privilege to be here for these families. And we wanted to think of a way to thank them, show them we care and we appreciate the ability to see this. And so whenever we were caring for Xander, his family said that he wanted to be a first responder or a policeman because he wanted to save lives.
And they said that now he is saving lives through ordination. And so that was something that just stayed with me. And so we went to build a bear and we looked for the police officer costume and we did all the things that build a bear encourages us to do. So we have to rub the heart on your heart and on your knees and you have to turn around and shove up and down.
So we had a lot of fun with that. And then we put five of the hearts in the bear, one for each of the lives that Xander saved and then a heart for Xander. And so that way these families can take all of the lives that he saved back with them. We also put a recorder in the build-a-bear and it's Xander as he's singing his ABCs while his grandfather, who is very musically talented, plays his idyllum music behind the ABCs.
And so it was, we were all crying and build a bear as we were making it. It was a very special moment. And I really hope that the families find that it's a special keepsake that they can have forever as well. One of our donation champions, Alice Fatista joins us.
She's the Director of Supportive Care Services. It's a great job for the families that come through our Lady of the Lake. It's just wonderful with our Loba families, with our Loba employees, staff, folks who have to come through this facility. So Alice, we were honored to be invited to this meet today, this donor family, this recipient.
We were in there, emotions were running high. We've been through a couple of these meets. It doesn't get easier still to your slow and go like you take away. What I saw was for the grandmother and the grandfather was a sense of hope in meeting the recipient and knowing how much she is honored to have to give the Xanders kidneys and the difference it's made in their life.
Grandma did share that it is still very difficult, that her heart still hurts and misses the little boy, but she really felt this was an important step in the healing process for them. In a great way for them to honor his life. And it's hard to have that donor family because her emotions are so wrong. And to come and be able to meet that family and be present in their current emotions and their current feelings and at the same time see the positive difference that they make for that woman.
To hear about her not having kidneys being undiolicid for six years. To see the emotions of the recipient's daughter. What a difference it's made in their life and the life and the relationship with their mom. That is why we do what we do every day.
It's very telling that you made a point to be here. We know that you are busy from sun up to sundown helping these families that come through this facility. You made a point to be there. So what do you take away from this when you go back and tackle what you have on your plate?
It's a reminder once again of how short life is, how precious life is and how life can change at any given moment. And the importance of donation. To me it's also important to be able to make sure my family knows languages about donation. It to me is an opportunity also to share with our team the story of donation.
Our team sees only one side and that is the donor family side of donation. And by being able to share this story with our team we're going to help them see both sides of donation. And what we've seen over the years that you've been working with us and we've been working together. We've seen where our staff now can realize that donation is giving the gift of life at the end of life.
That when we can't save the life of the patient we're caring for we have hope through the gift of donation. In every episode we honor a hero. And today's hero is Sander. At this time we pause and say thank you to Sander for the gift of life.
Okay we're going to sign out so bye for right now. Bye for right now. I love you. I love you.
Bye bye. In our question and answer segment today I just learned that a girl in my town is waiting on a lung transplant and she had to move near her transplant hospital. Didn't want to ask the family why they had to move closer but why did the family have to move closer to their daughter's transplant hospital. Joe turn that over to you.
As we've spoken about in other episodes donation and transplantation are very time sensitive. In a lot of situations the higher you move up on the waiting list especially for lungs and hearts the more time sensitive the need to get to that hospital is. It's a real challenge if your hours away and they call you and you keep going back and forth to the hospital that's a challenge. And then sometimes things happen in a minute's notice and you've got to really be there and be prepared.
Because especially for heart and lungs there's only really a four hour window of the time where the heart and lungs would be not hard beating and not in blood flow. They would be on ice. So because of that it's very very important for you to not be a distance from the hospital. Alright great question thanks Joe.
So if you have a question for us that you would like for us to discuss here on the podcast please give us a call at numbers 5046483477 or you can also email us at info at giftedlife.org. And that's a wrap episode 92 of The Gifted Life. Yeah we thank Xander's grandparents, Lee and Valerie for sharing Xander with us Tamara for sharing her story of her journey in the meeting with Xander's family. We thank Tulane Transplant and Alated Late Regional Medical Center for helping us facilitate this wonderful event.
And you know what a healing process this is for not only the family but for the recipient and their family also. All these years of working with donor families and recipients it's always very heartwarming to see how they react to one another and what sort of peace it does bring to each. Yeah it was inspiring to be in the room it was an honor to be there with those families to learn more about Xander so we certainly appreciate that. And hopefully this inspired you to maybe register to become an organ tissue and I don't know to save lives to make life happen you can do that at registerme.org.
And we ask that you go out and do something that you would normally do to help us make life happen. Thanks for listening.