Hello and welcome to the Get the Life podcast where we have conversations about Oregon, tissue and eye donation. I'm Risiel. I'm Joey Boudreau. I'm Sally Chundry.
But Trio, hope they get the life back at it guys and do we have a story for you? NASCAR. Those fast cars fans, drivers all helping to save more lives. Are you?
Yeah, we've got NASCAR driver Joey Gates who's been a previous feature on our Get the Life podcast is added again. Oh, Joey also invited another donor family from Louisiana to the track and while they were there, they created an audio journal that they're sharing with us here on the Get to Life podcast. Yes. And we are so excited.
You can feel the emotion. Wait till you hear the audio from this family from the hero's mom, sister, grandpa. Hey, it's all coming your way right here on the Get the Life. I want people to hear it guys.
This is this is about learning. This is about inspiring others to become donors and you are our key. Yeah, you can certainly find us anywhere now. Apple podcast, Google Play or any of your favorite podcast apps on social media.
Donate life, Louisiana. If you're on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at donate life, LA and on our phone number, you can find us at 504. 648-3477. And that works like a voicemail.
I always tell people you can do it one o'clock in the morning. Whenever you can, we want to hear your story interact with us. Your audio may be used on this podcast. It's all about learning, working as a team to make life happen.
You guys ready? Yep. I am. Let's do it.
All right, guys, on this special edition of the gift of life, Joey Gates, once again, making an appearance. He was in episode 58 if you want to hear from him. Now you get to hear from a family that he teamed with to help spread the word about organ ion tissue donation. So here's what went down.
Best Home Burnishings dedicated the rear TV panel of Joey Gates's number 23 car to donate life and honor the late Ava Brandsetter who unexpectedly passed away the age of six. She attended the same school as the children of a Best Home Burnishings sales representative. Her family donated her organs and tissues. And her mom, Emily, submitted an audio diary of the trip.
And it's very interesting to hear her talk about what happened during this time. And we know it's something that our listeners would like to hear. Yeah, so that audio from Kentucky is so powerful. So you'll hear mom.
You'll hear Ava Grace's twin sister, Olivia, and older sister, Madeline, and they document their trip to honor that hero who was celebrating a birthday. So sometimes I sit back and ask myself how did all of this come to be? How is it that Ava Grace ended up on the back of Joey Gates's car and NASCAR? And so I want to tell you how that happened.
April is National Organ Darnation Awareness Month. And I talk to Ava's principal, Mr. Colin, at Spanish Lake Primary in March. And ask him if we could honor Ava by flying her donate lifelag that was flown during her organ procurement surgery at Arleigh the Wake.
It was given to us when her surgery was finished. And it was flown at Arleigh the Wake during her organ procurement procedure so that everyone would know that there was a hero in the hospital. So I talked to the principal and I asked him if there was any way we could fly Ava's flag high and proud over Spanish Lake Primary, which is where she was a kindergartner. She died one day after her kindergarten graduation, which was also the first day of summer.
And she was a proud Spanish Lake Bobcat. So I thought it would be really sweet and it would help draw some attention to that work and donation awareness and also honor her. In the meantime, I also talked to a reporter for the Ascension Parish School Board named Jackie Tisdale. And I asked her if she would consider writing an article about Ava to share it hopefully during the month of April for Organ Darnation Awareness Month.
It's kind of a spotlight on something positive and also because it was Organ Darnation Awareness Month. So the flag was flying high at Spanish Lake Primary and the newspaper article was released. The very next day I got a phone call from Mr. Colin, the principal at Spanish Lake Primary.
He was so excited to tell me that he had some wonderful news for me. Somehow Joey had gotten a hold of Ava's story and he wanted to feature her and honor her in one of his upcoming races. His mom was an organ donor who passed away unexpectedly and he had to make the decision that she would donate her organs and she was able to help over 60 people's lives. So, in the meantime, there is a teacher at Ava's School named Amanda Harris, who is married to David Harris, who works for best home furnishings, whose sponsors Joey Gates.
And it turns out she is the one that shared Ava's story with Joey who then asked if Amanda knew me and if there was any way we would feature Ava on his car. It's all kind of divine how it came to be just little details here and there that kind of linked us all together and that is the story of how Ava was featured on NASCAR. And it's a pretty amazing story, such an honor to have her sweet face and her name on the back of the car in an NASCAR race because I never ever would have imagined that or guessed that a year ago. So, mom Emily said she was nervous and excited as she took off on this trip, but she took us along and she's taking you to.
Okay, it's 4.15 in the morning on Friday, July 7th and we just got to New Orleans. We're about to take a shuttle to the airport and we're headed to Kentucky for the race with the Ava. What do you think? I'm excited.
I'm thrilled. And there are three different families going. One group's gone to Houston, one group's gone to Washington, DC, and one group's gone to Chicago and we're all going to wind up at Cincinnati. And this is a great way to think that remember our sweet little Ava we love her so now you get to hear from mom and Olivia, that's Ava Grace's twin sister because they are all on the plane and prepping for this journey that they're on.
What kind of sister Ava she is a hero? It should be a smooth line at 32,000 weeks and the weather on Houston. We got the GRIERSTAGE with visibility, which is not the GRIERSTAGE right now, we got the GRIERSTAGE right now. We'll give you an update on the controller, but I hope we get the software to get the go for the bus, we should be on the way shortly once again.
What works? Just because we're in heaven. Good. I'll throw it.
No, I think heaven's up higher than us. I think it's up. Welcome to Cincinnati. So they successfully made it to race day.
Let's listen in. Today is Saturday, July 8th of 2017 and we're going someplace very special today. Where are we going? To our NASCAR race.
And what are we going to go there for? Ava. What about Ava? She got to go in a car actually.
And so what are they going to do today for Ava? Pit, um, a picture of her on the car. On the back of Joey Gace NASCAR driver. How does that make you feel?
Flat. You proud of her? Are you excited about today? You think you're going to win?
Yeah. I think he's going to win too. I think Ava's going to be sitting right there with him. She'll be driving that car with him huh?
What do you think? Yeah. Anything else? Um, she was really nice to me and she'll read it to me and talk me how to read books.
And she'll love to swim. And she'll love to ride a bike. And she'll love to, um, hold me. She'll love to hold you.
She'll love to take care of little kids that were smaller than her huh? And she'd like to take care of me whenever I was a baby. That's right. Okay, so we just parked our car at Kentucky Motor Speedway and we were walking over to Gate Number 20 where they have Ava's car on display and we're going to go and see that.
And when we pulled up to the track, we were chills and tears in my eye. And just so excited to see her car, be here based on the car and not sure what to expect. I feel the emotions coming on. Happiness and sadness and so excited and so thankful that Joey would choose to honor Ava at this rate.
There it is. It's sweet. It's really good. Do you like it?
Where's Pete? He's so strangled. He's not even there. He's not even there.
He's not even there. So he has the same concerns. So it's really cool how he's going to go home. Right now we're going to go on a tour of what the anxiety track looks like.
And then when that's over, we are going to go up to the Vess home furnishing hospitality tent. And we are going to, we're going to meet Joey Gates. We're really excited to meet him and talk to him about Ava. He talked to him about his mom.
And Olivia has learned her Princess birthday clowns today. So everybody knows her birthday and Ava's birthday. You don't want to be a what now? Now, could you buy me a race car driver?
You like it huh? Yes. What's your favorite thing about it? Dad, do you like to eat the ride when there's cars?
What's your favorite car driver's car? Body and dreams can go back. I think that when a parent loses a child, one of their biggest fears is that people are going to forget about their child or people are going to be scared to mention their child's name because it could upset them. And really as grieving parents, all we want people to do is remember a child and say their name, don't be afraid to say it.
It brings us comfort. The fact that Joey personally called me himself and invited us to NASCAR and told me that he wanted to honor Ava and this race was huge for me. And it shows me that she's not forgotten and she never will be. Joey's only 24 years old and he is a huge promoter for organ donation and I can't say enough good things about him.
Ava's sweet little face in her name on the back of his car got a lot of attention and it got people talking. And it got people talking not only about organ donation and how to spread awareness about that. I'm also honored Ava as the hero that she is and always will be and I wish the world would do more of that like Joey is. You know, the people that pass away and donate their organs, their heroes and they should never be forgotten about because if it weren't for them, there are a lot of people today that would not be alive because of those donor heroes.
Not only did it honor Ava but it also brought a lot of happiness to my family and Ava's sisters, Madeline and Olivia and their cousin, Ethan. You know, that was probably the most exciting thing in the entire world that they've ever done and to go down into the pit and to meet the owner of BK Racing into Pentime with the owners and the staff of Best Town Furnish and get a tour of every single thing at NASCAR. What goes down, you know, in the garage or in the pit row, it was incredible. It's something that I never dreamed of doing and never even imagined it but it was spectacular.
We were treated like family from the moment we stepped into Kentucky Motor Speedway. Every single person that we met was hospitable and they felt like family. Everyone was asking what can we do for you? What do you need?
What can we show you? Would you like this? Would you like that? And Joey was very, very sweet.
He took the time to find autographs. He took the time to take probably a thousand pictures with us. He answered questions that Olivia had and Ethan had and Madeline had and he gave them the experience of a lifetime and at the same time, he honored Ava for being a hero and every single time that his car passed on the track to see Ava's face and name go by. You know, every forty seconds it went by and every single time it was just overwhelming pride and happiness and joy for her.
So I was able to watch from home. I was texting mom. She was so excited and so thrilled to see Ava Grace on the back of that car. So she took that experience in and then she let us know her thoughts which was pretty powerful.
Let's take a listen. On behalf of Ava Grace Bransetter and all of her family, I want to give a huge thank you to Joey Gates, his entire team, V.K. Racing, best-time furnishings, David and Amanda Harris who kind of helped this come to be through Ava's school Spanish-like primary. And I don't think that y'all even realize yet how huge of an impact y'all are making on the world and even us individually.
So thank you from the bottom of all of our hearts and thank you for honoring our sweet Ava. It's something that we will never forget and there is nothing in the world that can ever compare to what y'all have done for us. So thank you. Hey guys, I like the race yesterday because it was fun to watch and cars were really, really pretty, especially 23rd.
And that one had my name in that name. Yeah. Yeah. And I met Joey Gates and he was the nicest person.
How was your name on the back of it? Um. Because the owner left. Do it.
Who else got to do it? Madeline, Madeline, Madeline. I wrote my name on the board. What did you do with one board?
Because, I mean, Ava is a butterfly. Which is really, really nice. Okay. What other kind of stuff did you do today?
That was it. Did you go on a golf cart? I went on that one. Do you think you were supposed to be doing it?
I made a new model. Well, I had my mama but I have a note on one because he's really nice. And this one is... It works for Joey Gates, right?
This one works for Joey Gates. And yeah. And I also want to give a huge shout out to Leanne and Delana who work with Joey. They took us under their wings and they showed us everything.
And in fact, Leanne, you feel like family. I mean, Leanne and I talked on a regular basis of Olivia and Leanne talk. It's pretty incredible that there was just this instant relationship that formed between us with Leanne. And so I want to thank Leanne so much for being a part of our lives.
And that's all because of Joey. So that happened. And most importantly, we thank God for giving us happiness in such a tragic time of our lives. And that's it.
So thank you. We are now NASCAR fans for life and we will always support Joey Gates. Go number 23. Whoo!
So part of this trip was celebrating Ava Grace's birthday. And Ava Grace had a twin. Olivia, so they were celebrating their birthdays. Big Sis, Madeline was there.
Mom, Emily, sister, grandma, grandma. Everybody was there to honor this hero in this special and unique way. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday.
Happy birthday. A special thank you for all you do to honor donors, Joey Gates and his team, BK Racing and Best Home Frish. In our hero segment today, we're honoring Ava Grace's brand center. Mom, Emily, helps us to know a little more about Ava Grace.
Let's listen. When I think of Ava, I think of a happy little girl with a huge blue eyes and a sweet smile. And she had the sweetest little giggle you could ever imagine. She was silly.
She loved to dance and play. She was very outdoorsy. She loved to ride her bike. She loved to play soccer with her sister.
She wanted to be a teacher when she grew up. She loved to take care of people. And she could not stand to see anyone upset or hurt or crying. And if she saw someone crying, she would cry too because she had such a tender heart.
I think what I remember the most about Ava is the fact that she loved to help people, which is how I knew that Organ donation was the right choice for us. Because I knew that she wouldn't want to help people, even though she was not going to survive. I knew that if she had the chance to help people, she absolutely would do it. And that's how I knew that Organ donation was absolutely the right thing for her.
Ava was six years old and she had a fraternal twin sister named Olivia. She literally was about 40 pound heavier than Olivia and probably four to six inches taller than Olivia. So I used to joke around and I would call her my gentle giant because she was so big. She just looked like she would be a tough little girl and she was.
But on the inside, she had the most tender heart of anyone I've ever seen. Looking back, she even knew more about life than most of us know as adults. She knew what was important and what wasn't. She knew that helping people and going out of her way to help people was more important than whether or not she had two un-nuts shoes or two un-nuts socks.
Or whether or not she cut her own hair and left herself bald in certain spots. I thank God every day for the gift of Organ donation. I don't know where I would be right now if we hadn't donated Ava's organs. I feel like it was a life-rathic God through to us in the hardest time of our lives.
It was an opportunity to help people and save other lives. And that gives me hope that Ava's death was not in vain. And I know she would be so proud and happy that she did save three lives. I really would encourage anyone who was unsure about Organ donation to truly consider it because I cannot imagine having said goodbye to Ava in the hospital and knowing that her story ended there versus now her story is to be contained.
And that story is to be continued because she saved three lives and three people are alive because of her today. She lived on through those people and her gift of Organ donation has impacted so many people across the nation and it's really helped to spread Organ donation awareness. Ava is a hero. She saved three lives and countless others just by sharing her story.
I don't know very many six-year-olds that their families can say that they're a hero because they saved lives and that's exactly what she is a hero. And now we pause to say thank you to Ava Grace for the gift of life. In our question and answer segment today, we actually received a call with a great question. Let's listen.
Hello, I'm Dale in Covington, Louisiana. I have a big question. I never see this answer. Nobody knows when someone dies.
Like if I die, what would happen to my body? Who would I call? I wouldn't want any organ to be wasted. I'd like much if I could, but I don't know the process of what happens when I die.
Thank you. Alright, so thanks for that question. Joey, Paul, I'm into you. The first, you know, the most important thing is that you sign up on the registry and you can sign up by going to our local website, Lopa.org or our nationalregistry at registerme.org.
But secondly, it's very important that you also have that conversation with your family. As long as your family understands and of course you are a registered donor, when that time comes, of course, the hospitals will notify us and at which time we will evaluate. So there's no need to call anyone at this time, but certainly two big things. Sign up on the registry and notify your families.
Yeah, you can take action today, actually. Very easy. Alright, thanks for that call. Thanks, Joey, for filling us in.
And look, we want to hear from you. We try to make it as easy as possible. Absolutely. And you know what that number might be, folks?
It's 5-0-4, 6-4-8, 3-4-7-7. Give us a call. And Joey can answer your question, perhaps? Lori, or perhaps myself.
There you go. We'd love to hear from you. Another episode of The Gifted Life in the Books, guys. And we have to say thank you to Emily, Ava Grace's mom for securing that audio journal for sharing her thoughts and feelings with us.
And also for Ava Sisters, Olivia and Madeline and all of Ava Grace's family and friends who support donation, who want to help us save more lives. It's just an incredible thing. So thanks to Ava Grace's family, especially mom Emily, for pouring her heart into this very special project. And we also want to thank Joey Gates, for once again inviting another donor family in and doing so much for Organ Tissue and Eye Donation.
And we thank everyone for listening. And remember, you can register to be an organ, eye, or tissue donor anytime at www.wrechtherme.org. Now go out and do something today 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 Heinz and Shalom Caraway. We are recorded, engineered, and mixed in our Metery, Louisiana studio by Troy Perez.