Hello and welcome to the Gifted Life Podcast where we have conversations about organ tissue and idonation. You can always find us at thegiftedlife.org. I'm Roy Steele. I'm Joey Boudreau.
I'm Sarah Blake Morn. Thank you guys for listening today on the podcast. What is it Joe? Today, Lori, we're going back to the basics about organ tissue and ideination.
And the myths that still exist out there. Alright, we'll tackle that. And we're going to go ahead and talk about materialism and identity. We're getting deep Joe.
All that and more right here, the Gifted Life, you guys ready? Oh yeah. Me too. Here we go.
On this second episode, we have lots happening. So let's get to it. In the news, a new place of serenity for our donor families. In the recovery segment, we'll talk a little bit about some of the hospital donor awareness initiatives.
Yeah, we'll tackle myths. Do you rule yourself out? Man, I hope not. And in our community segment, college kids making a difference.
We love to hear that. Technology, there's an app for that, Joey. We'll discuss. Oh my gosh, that was awesome.
Yowza. That was coming back in 2015. One of the first episodes of the Gifted Life Sounds Great, Hoss Sarah. Sounds so good.
So Sarah's one of the newest members of the Gifted Life, but Joe. Oh my goodness. Oh, it reminds me of standard death and now tries new 4K. Is this a little bit of a difference?
Yes, lots has changed. Oh, the last four and a half years here at the Gifted Life and in the world of donation. Hard to believe that this is episode 121. Did you think we'd make it, Joe?
Did you? Yeah. Unbelievable. Right.
So we thought, let's have a discussion, right? We're going to go back to the basics and then take you to where we are now. And it's just incredible. We're sitting here and we said, are we going to have enough content?
Now we have too much content, I think. We do want to bring in a friend to the Gifted Life podcast. Kirsten, hi, how are you? I'm doing great.
Awesome. So Kirsten is the executive producer, guys of the Gifted Life. So don't normally hear from her, but she's also Lopez, director of communications. Glad to have you back.
Glad to be here. You've been on this ride with us since the very beginning. That's right. I never would have envisioned that we would still be doing this four and a half years later.
Because you were so bad when we started, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's a...
We had a lot of opportunity. That's true. It's about six hours to record about 20 minutes. The director of communications said it better, right?
Opportunity for growth. I love it. All right. So we thought we'd bring Kirsten into the conversation.
She's been with us since the beginning. Sarah's the newest member, Joey and I. And we're just going to talk about what's happening out there. So lots of change.
Lots of stay the same. So we talk about working tissue. Eye donation and the gift. That's solid, right?
Yeah. It ultimately from the method standpoint who can become donors for the most part is really a lot very similar to where it was in 2015. Organ donors in general still is the primary method that you would become an organ donor. Still, brain injury resulting in brain death, which is why there are so few organ donors compared to tissue and eye donors.
And there's still an opportunity to become an organ donor if you have a brain injury or some other issue and you don't want to live on life support or your family wishes to remove eye support. You can still become an organ donor. A smaller pool of the population as compared to tissue and eye donors where everyone can potentially be a tissue and eye donor, whether you die from a neurological criteria or brain death or you die from circulatory criteria. So those things are pretty much the same.
But what we have seen, one of the big things or a couple of the big things that we've seen advancements in donation is what's happened with the hepatitis C community. Right. Yeah. That's true.
With the HIV community. You know, what, two or three years ago came out with the new treatments for hepatitis C and that completely fueled the big game changer. He's huge. And then we had to transplant hepatitis C donors into hepatitis C recipients.
Right. And I don't even think all organs. No. And so, and you had worse outcomes because when they were transplanting hepatitis C and hepatitis C, especially for thoracic, for the hearts and lungs, the outcomes were just poor and they didn't really have a good grasp otherwise, but they were poor.
And now since hepatitis C is curable, they're transplanting hepatitis C into non hepatitis C. And then if they do have a transmission, they cure it with the medicines. Yeah, it's amazing. It's really opened up the possibilities and kind of the potential that people can help others.
And they're live saved. Yes. With each, yes. So many more lives saved with each else that's hepatitis C positive.
Right. And then also with the amount of transplant centers and transplant recipients in general who can be saved. It's a, it's a lot of two prong thing. So it's amazing.
That was a huge breakthrough. And the goal is making life happen. That's been across the board. And so education, you know, is the case of the more education that's out there, the more to get these facts in front of people who were more likely to see those yeses.
And now we know the gift of life is being used in nursing schools and high schools to learn more about the process. And that's a good thing. Right. And of course, that's our big, the big purpose, our big purpose is to get the word out the power of one.
We talk about it and to be able to spread and squash the myths and spread the word about donation in all of these areas. You know, we see, we've seen a lot heard a lot from, from our listeners out there about how big of an impact this has all been. The part of the conversation. Yeah.
And these changes are happening really so quick. I was talking to a woman who was waiting for a liver and she was saying that, you know, she really had to think through whether she would be willing to take a hepatitis C liver right because she did not have hepatitis. And so there's still a lot of, you know, standing fears in the community and also with the HIV potential now that with the Hope Act that now HIV positive donors can donate to HIV positive recipients. Now unlike the Hep C, it's going positive to positive, but still that opens up a whole another group of people that were told they could not donate more lives, people contributing to society.
It's amazing. And the more you talk about it and the more you debunk that stigma that's other in the community, the more lives are going to save. And like Joey said earlier, it's a much more rare opportunity to be an organ donor. So we really need to take advantage of everything we can.
It's just moving forward. Who knows what's going to be available in the future? Again, that's a part of what this is about, what podcast is about to be able to reach some of those in the HIV community. You know, we've had a couple of episodes in the past and talking about the Hope Act and explaining that now you can become a donor and you can save others in the HIV community.
And so just even, you know, to be able to reach, like we were talking about, be able to reach areas that really weren't getting education because, you know, for years and years it was illegal to recover and transplant an HIV positive organ. So those things have really changed over the past few years and really taken off. And a lot of what we're doing here is helping that, I believe. Yeah.
And I know that all of us, when we've been either in the community or working with a family, have heard people say that, oh, I can't be a donor because I was told I couldn't donate blood. So they assume that they don't need organs. And so my own family, my aunt was like, why didn't you tell me I can't be a donor? I have diabetes.
And I was like, what are you talking about? She had heard a story about bone marrow donation. And so, you know, just to reiterate to people, please don't rule yourself out, things are always changing. Even if you do have a condition at this moment, when you pass away, it may have changed and it may be a possibility.
And so let the medical professionals make that determination at that time. And I feel like a couple years ago, we were saying this TV show or that TV show and now it's some social media combos are coming in. So we just had a presentation with some kids. Well, I saw a post about this.
I was like, well, that's not true. If you think it through, well, that makes sense. But I wouldn't have thought about it. Have we not had this conversation?
So we're trying to spur those conversations. So education is still the key, not only for us, but our partners across the country who we partnered with on this podcast to help make life happen. That's what it's all about. So let's tackle some of those myths.
So Sarah, newest member to our gift to life podcast team. What's the one myth that you're like, oh, man, if I hear that one more time, no. I think it's the big one. It's if they know I'm a registered organ donor, they're not going to save me if I go to the hospital.
And I hear this all the time. And the main thing I tell anyone is the only people who have access to know if you're in the registry are the organ procurement organizations. When you go, if you go to the hospital, no one is digging through your items, looking for your license to see if your heart is on your license. Their main job is to save you.
And they do that. And they try really hard. And the nurses and doctors we work with are truly dedicated to that mission. So it's just not, it's not true.
And the biggest and easiest way to debunk that from my standpoint, from being an ex emergency room staff and of course working on both sides is the fact that if they didn't do everything to try to save your life, you would never become an organ donor. That was huge. When I started working for Lopa, all of a sudden it was like, oh, yeah, I'm like, yeah, you try to save me and my organs have to be functioning before I could possibly be a donor. That's right.
It was just kind of one of those aha moments. You know, it's amazing is when we have the donor families join us on a presentation and they walk you through. And I think that light bulb moment for those who are in the audience like, oh, okay. And what that makes sense.
I didn't make the connection there. I think to mention social media, we mentioned, you know, television shows and stuff. And I think a lot lately we've heard about celebrities needing transplants. So I'm so glad that is the lady from modern family.
Yeah. And so then they're like, oh, of course, because they have money, right? Well, there's all this stuff that goes into matching. So it's not just that easy.
That's one of the other myths that we have to tackle quite often is, well, I've got money. So, you know, I must be able to get higher up on the list. And I can tell you firsthand, because I'm one of our representatives in Louisiana that goes to all the meetings, attends all the meetings, votes on policies. And of course, one of my big roles here at Lopa is the allocation portion, getting the right organs to the right homes.
And I can tell you firsthand that, you know, there's no financial statement, no, you don't get to see a 1099 or a W two or anything like that from someone that, and it bumps them up and gives them three extra points. It is strictly by the scores and proximity and, you know, and blood type and size. And so we don't have been waiting and how long you've been waiting, you know, so we don't have any idea who's got more money, less money, lives in poverty, nothing. Right.
Their name isn't even on. Yeah. It's not like a list with names. Right.
Right. But, you know, it doesn't matter how much money you have. You can't move up the list just because you've got money or fame for that matter. Yeah.
And I still like, you know, after all this time of just working on at an OPO organ procurement organization, doing the podcast, we always say it's a gift, right? Like it's the greatest gift that one can receive. And so when we're out with donor families and we're out with recipients, like I still get the so inspired today, like we're doing the right work, we're doing the right things. We're pushing it forward.
We're trying to have these conversations because look at the lives and the legacies that are there and you guys work with these families too. Yeah. And kind of going back to what Sarah said though about, you know, they want to try to save me. How many times have you watched a TV show and just absolutely cringed because they got the donation part totally wrong.
Right. Like a show like Grace and Adam who has a couple times like had organ donors or recipients. I guess the thing we can say is go to the source. When you see something on social media or in a show about organ donation, go to the source.
Go do research for that organ procurement organization. Call, ask questions. But don't assume what you're seeing or reading is how it actually happens. Right.
And you see it a lot less. I think and you guys obviously Kirsten and Laura can speak to it a little more than I can. But with donate life, America's involvement or donate like Hollywood's involvement in those, you know, because it was, at least my perception of it. It seemed to be a lot more often and more dramatic in the past.
And you see it a lot less, but they're still out there. And you know, one of my wife's favorite TV shows is The Good Doctor. And there was one episode last year or so maybe a year and a half ago where they did a liver transplant and he was helping transport. And then he figures, of course, he's kind of got a genius mind.
And he figures out that the liver's got a blood clot in it. So he takes, has a person pull over and then does on the side of the highway. Right. And then and then re-sex the liver right there.
And of course those type of things, you know, it's good for TV. Unfortunately, you know, not, it's not really reality because we have to be in a sterile atmosphere. Yeah. And that's the problem.
It's fiction, you know, TV is not real. But yet, you know, we get so into these storylines that I've had friends, you know, say that they really believed that. And I was like, really? You know, it's a drama, right?
Right. And I think the overall thing, and you show off watches that work and donation is good. And you see it, it saves lives. But it's really about the process of how that happens.
And when you go into the details, it's just so wrong, but it's good. And I think the shows capture that, but and they can just make it a little more fearful than how it actually happens. And I think we're harsher critics watching it. Like, oh gosh.
I go tomorrow. I'm going to have to talk about this part. But we are laughing because it's a family atmosphere here at LOBA. So if we have an event, like the whole family comes.
And so for us, it's just like, we're going to have a heart on their license. We're going to say yes, right? And so I have a 12-year-old, soon to be 5'6". And so we run across somebody that doesn't have a heart.
They like slap their head like, what? Why not? It's such a good thing. And so my husband realized, he said, so this is, they're growing up.
And they just know, and like all these people have become our family, right? These donut family recipients are part of the family. And so for us, it is natural. And so we want to bring as many people in, you know, as possible, because we do get invited to weddings and graduations and births and all these milestones that folks wouldn't experience without the magical donation.
And you know, not only do we have all these wonderful recipients that we get to work with from organ donation, but tissue and eye donation. I mean, we have so many more and more of them are starting to reach out to us to say how their donation has really completely changed their life. Right. Because we say organ donation is life-saving and tissue is life-enhancing.
But that's not even true anymore now. We know that tissue donation is life-saving. We know that if you experience a bad enough burn, that skin donation will absolutely save your life. We know that heart-for-valve is a life-saving gift.
So it's just really open that up. And the more we bring them into our family and understand it better, the more we can educate about how important or just as important tissue is with organ. Right. And you know, just as with organ donation, tissue eye donation can still have an open casket funeral.
It doesn't change your funeral arrangements in any way. So it's in a lot of ways they have a lot of similarities, you know, they're not just life-enhancing anymore. They're both life-saving. And then again, you know, to be able to give sight to someone who was previously blind, is I know it's not technically life-saving, but I bet you a lot of times it really does.
Oh, yeah. We heard a speaker at one of the conferences that said it really did save her life because she had gotten so depressed. You know what I mean? You're in a pendant?
Yeah. Right. And that she really felt like it did save her life. Right.
And when you bring in physical health and it's mental health, and the more you can reach your mental health with being able to see, I mean, come on, that's life-saving. Yeah. And you know, guys, one of the questions I still get centers on religion. But there's a lot out in the news.
There's a lot on social media about religion. And I know I think we talked about this on the podcast before Sarah and I were talking about this gypsy. That was one group of people that were not into donation until I had a one-on-one conversation with someone who told me that they were a gypsy and that they were not into donation until it impacted their particular family. And now they're true believers and try to help spread the word.
So unless you come across it, unless you know the facts and less, we have that conversation. That's why we focus on that so much. You know, we learn every day. We live and we learn.
Right. And you know, every religion, every organized faith, it's about doing good. And that's what we're doing. That we're just trying to create those conversations so that everyone can connect the goodness of the nation with the goodness of their life, too.
Greatest act of charity. I like it. And I think that we often come across how much is this going to cost me? Right.
If we do do that. I get this quite often. Yeah. If I sign up, how's that going to impact my family financially?
And of course, there's no cost to the donor family. It's strictly a gift. So the organ itself is also no cost to the transplant recipient. It's a gift from that donor to that recipient.
Now, whatever OPO here in Louisiana, of course, Lopa, we incur the cost from the family at the time that they say yes. And then it's the same thing in each of the other states. So there's no cost for any of the, we talk about, you know, there's a lot of testing that goes on. There's no cost that go to that donor family for any of those tests because again, it is truly a gift, you know, of life, so to speak.
Right. We don't want to burden them. We want their decision to say yes to donation to be out of the goodness of their heart and not from their pocketbook. One of our presentations, they asked about like insurance policy.
Like what if I was in need? How does that work? So what do you guys say that comes across? The only thing they pay for outside of their surgery costs and hospital costs on that side are the acquisition costs, the testing and things that we did on our side just to make sure that the organ was suitable for them.
Right. And that's the recipient side. And you know, with that being said, of course, like you will not pay anything for your loved one to be an organ donor, but you also will not be compensated when in conversations with a lot of families I work with, that is, you know, something key we want to say too is that this is a gift. So you of course won't have to pay for it, but you also will not be compensated.
And that's, you know, that's for ethical reasons and for legal reasons. Yeah, we hear that a lot in the community. And I think some of that comes from other countries and I'm not sure what the laws are in other countries. It is illegal.
It's federal offense to someone organ. Right. And you hear a lot of those rumors, which places a lot of doubt and folks when they're ready to make a decision. So conversations ask those questions.
I mean, seek out the truth, right? So have a couple of resources for you. We're in Louisiana. We're LOPA.
So what we tell our folks here, LOPA.org, LOPA.org. If you're outside of Louisiana, you can check out unos.org, donate life. America, all the information is out there. If you have a question about cost, if you have a question about religion, like it's all out there, we just ask that you take time and then make an educated decision, right?
Yeah. And we'll put some of these links on our show notes. Great to find. Good talk, guys.
We're also passionate. Like I feel like I'm exhausted after going through all of that. But how fun here on the, are we going to make this like every four year date or when I come back? I never could have imagined some of the changes that we've seen in the last four years.
So who knows where we're going to be. That's exciting. Right. Right.
3D printing, maybe stem cell research, all the things that they're doing with, uh, vitrification or trying to extend at the time where an organ can be transplanted. And even some of the VCA graphs. Right. I mean, you know, we may start seeing more hand transplants or face transplants or right, right?
Not just organ or tissue anymore. It's just going to go further and further. And I can't wait to see what's next. Yeah, I always say, just wait and see what happens tomorrow.
Right. Just great things. But know that there's some incredible people who are working every day to help us make life happen. And so I'm encouraged of what's going to come next and who knows what changes the gifted life will take.
So I guess it's a date four years. Okay. Everybody's hands in. Ready?
1, 2, 3. You missed it, Joe. You missed it. All right.
We enjoyed your Kirsten. Thank you very much. We're going to have more of the gifted life guys coming up after this. At this point in the podcast, we're taking a moment for mental health, huh?
Yes. We've got Sarah coming in with something that I'm not sure I know a lot about. Yes. What is it?
Because I'm broke. Okay. So today we're going to talk about materialism and how it can equate to your self-identity and how that can kind of be a little dangerous. So yeah, let's talk about it.
Of course, I think we're not going to be super preachy. And I like to say, definitely money would solve a lot of my problems. But would you be happy? But would you be happy really?
It's not really about like laughing like maybe it would. Well, you know, I want to steer away from that and more so about like material goods and how those can kind of spiral. So it's not really about money. It's about tying in your identity and your value and your success to the things you have instead of how your life is.
Well, just look at social media any day because I think that tied to it. Right. Yeah. Right.
And it's again, it's going back to that comparison to other people. Like when you compare yourself to other people, the grass is over there. That's right. And so just know that.
That's expensive. So Joey's a material girl. But no, it's really just what I want to, you know, state is that, of course, like I would love to have like a beautiful purse that I love and it makes me feel good. But when it goes a step too far and when that's the only thing that's making you feel good, then you kind of bring in that self doubt and that you're not accepting yourself for who you are and what you have.
Truly. I saw an episode of Dr. Phil and her worth was tied to makeup brushes and makeup. Yeah.
And I thought, whoa, that's like the extreme, which makes you like look at yourself, right? Mm hmm. Not it's not a makeup. But I think we each have something, we probably each have something that like we want ownership over that we don't have that we think would make us feel good and it probably would for a little while, but what really makes us feel good is like our connection to people, right?
And to good people who know us and who love us and who we love. Right. So we got Christmas coming up. We referenced, let me put check mark episode 121.
We always want that movie, what, Tom Purse. What's it? Did you reach yourself there? Like everything.
Listen to this segment. Listen to what Sarah has to say. Everything in moderation. And I know this can all kind of sound very cliche, but really research shows that like passed a certain amount of money that you make, it really will not bring you happiness.
So this is really just to have for you to have moments reflect on the things that you have and whether that for you is what's bringing you happiness or what's making you kind of upset. We always want more, right? Exactly. That big yacht with all that stuff that comes with it.
The American dream. That fancy car that drops you fast and I'll get a ticket. So whenever you do have those moments of where you're self-doubting or you're maybe upset about the things you don't have, try to remember the things you do. Like the people in your life and the gifts that you've been given.
Yeah, your family, my kids are good. I'm like winning, winning, they were nice to the new kid. Yeah. I love it.
I love it. All right. That's good. So we're going to have to just reflect.
How are you, Joe? I'm most worried about Joe. I'm actually pretty good. When you don't have money, you don't have materials.
So. No slogan. Work it in. All right.
Awesome. So. In every episode of the gift of life podcast, we honor a hero. Today's hero is Sarah Zakaro.
And we learn about Sarah from her family. My daughter, who was an organ donor, died by suicide. We were able to follow her wishes and donate her organs to those in need. Her final act of courage saved the lives of five people.
Her organ donation is what gets me through every day. Later I would become very sick with cirrhosis of a liver. I needed a liver transplant to live. Less than a month later, I received a phone call telling me that a liver had become available.
The world of emotions was almost more that I could bear. I was grateful that I was going to receive this precious gift. I was emotionally so torn apart with my feelings towards my donor and his family. I had lived their nightmare.
I had experienced the devastation that they were living. I had also experienced the sorrow and pain. I have been in touch with my daughter's recipients as well as with my donor family. Since I've been on both the giving end and the receiving end of organ donation, I have decided to reach out and meet these wonderful families that I will be forever connected to.
What a wonderful journey this will be for all of us. And now we pause and say thank you to Sarah for the gift of life. In today's question and answer segment, if I register online, do I still need to get a heart on my driver's license? Okay.
So the overall answer is no, you do not because there is the one registry, but this spurs other conversations. Right. Kind of going back to what we talked about earlier in the episode about those myths, about feeling like if the hospital knows that you're a registered, they won't save you. We understand that that can be a fear that a lot of people have.
So if you don't want to put your heart on your license, you don't need to. You can be registered at registered at registeredme.org and that puts you in the national registry. However, if you do want to register and put a heart on your license and register through the O and V, we certainly encourage that as well. Especially, you know, I know it was on a today show recently, but there's been a push, obviously with a real ID with everyone having to have a license or an ID that allows you to be able to go from state to state without needing a passport or getting to government buildings without needing other forms of identification.
So that's a big push. That'll be basically over the next year that everyone's going to have to have one. So when you're doing that, when you're going back into the O and V's, when you're getting your IDs, the real IDs, please think about organ donation and if it's something that you are interested in, certainly say yes there. And as you well know being a family advocate, being that person supporting families, the real thing is make sure you talk to your families as well, right?
Right. So step one is register. However, you want to register to be an organ donation, I don't know. And step two is go and tell your family your wishes so that if your family's ever in that moment, they know and they don't have to make the decision.
They know that that's your choice. It's not your wish. It's your choice. And we hear real life stories of that all the time.
So make an educated decision and we hope that it's a yes. Maybe you have a question. You want us to tackle here info at thegiftedlife.org. You could also give us a call.
Show do you know that number? I do. It's 504, 648, 3477. That's 504, 648, 347.
We keep talking about a jingle. Maybe one day, right? Maybe on episode one. 22.
Okay, good. So we may even use your audio on this podcast. We want you to interact with us and be a team. All right, more to come.
And that's episode 121. That was fun. That was. Walk down the lane.
Yeah. And certainly thanks to Kirsten for joining us on that little walk down memory lane. That was a ton of fun right there going back to our second first and second episode and kind of revisiting, so to speak, what we did before. And where we have come who to thunk it?
121. So we enjoyed this and with Kirsten too. Yeah. So you want more of the podcast info that we are throwing out the gift of life dot org guys and listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify or really anywhere you listen to your podcast and make sure you give us a five star rating so others can find us.
All right, social media. Who's our social media birds in here? Me. All right, thanks, book where the gift of life podcast.
You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram at gifted life pod. I love seeing pictures, things that we talk about pop up on there. I hope that you're using it to learn guys and we do hope that you go out and do something that you would normally do to help us make life happen because that's what it's all about. For a team, have a good one.