Hello and welcome to the Gifted Life Podcast where we have conversations about organ tissue and ideonation and transplantation. You can always find us guys at the GiftedLife.org. I'm Laurie Steele. I'm Joey Boudreau.
And I'm Tara Alexander. Tara, at the Mike for the Gifted Life, Lobo's Mental Health Expert. How are you? I'm great.
How are you? Good. What about your background? Tell us a little bit.
Well, I'm a licensed professional counselor and I'm certified for tele-mental health and anxiety therapy. Oh, we love it. We love that you're here. We love that you said yes to being in the podcast studio, honcho.
That's right. Here's a little bit of what's coming up on the Gifted Life today. We're talking to the woman behind the groundbreaking scientific breakthrough that could possibly end the organ transplant shortage. And we will be discussing compassionate boundaries.
Ooh, I like that. Lots to get to here on the GiftedLife. Hang on to your ass. Here on the GiftedLife, we are continuing our conversation from episode 187 of the Gifted Life.
On that episode, we learned about Jim Parsons, someone who's changing the future when it comes to donation. We talked about transplanting pig kidneys into a brain dead human recipient. Now we learn about the science behind this breakthrough. Joining us on this episode, we have Dr.
Jamie Locke of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Andrew Schonk, Director of Clinical Services at the Legacy of Hope. Welcome. Thank you for having me. So guys, I'm going to start out from being a clinical guy like myself.
I'd like to keep up on some of the articles in the journals. And I guess I'll start out with you, Dr. Locke. So you guys sent, I would say, ripples through the transplant world, but more like tidal waves through the transplant world a few months ago when we all got to read about this amazing idea that was something that we had seen in the past, but it came back to kind of to fruition here in 2022.
And that's again, Xeno transplantation, specifically pig kidney transplantation. Actually, I watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy that followed you guys apparently on this. So what was it? So tell me your thoughts on something that we had seen in the 70s and 80s kind of fell out of favor and then all of a sudden you guys brought it back.
So what got you into thinking about doing this again? Well, thank you for that question. I think the field has sort of always been here in the background working diligently behind the scenes to make this a reality. And I think really recently in 2020, they ordered the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to two scientists, Dr.
Sharpen Tier and Doudna, for really the discovery and development of CRISPR CASS. And CRISPR CASS is this really elegant tool that allows you to edit the genome and allows you to do it with great precision and be able to do it very quickly. And it really has fundamentally revolutionized the field of genetic engineering and certainly xenotransplantation is a part of that because one of the goals is to be able to genetically modify the animal organ source in such a way that you humanize it enough that the human recipient does not immediately reject the organ. And so it's really been the advent and incorporation of CRISPR CASS into xenotransplantation that's really allowed for the genetic edits that have allowed us to move it to this point.
I think that's part of why you're seeing so much activity in the field right now. Yeah, so we had also heard roughly around the same time in the last year or so that there was a pig heart transplant that took place. So, we're like mind blown on the trans donation and transplants side. So as I can understand it for the late people, so in general a human body will reject something that it sees foreign and of course a pig would obviously be falling to that category as foreign.
So what this new tool is able to do is it's able to modify the pig in this situation enough so that the human body doesn't see it as foreign. Is that right? That's right. It's able to genetically modify the pig's genetic makeup enough that the human, not all humans but most do not see the pig tissue as immediately foreign so it avoids that hyper-acute rejection.
Now it's not a model of tolerance meaning it's not designed to be completely compatible with the human meaning it does require immunosuppression just like standard human to human transplantation does. So why a pig? Great question. So, well pigs as it turns out they are able to reproduce relatively quickly so they can have two to three pregnancies over the course of a year.
They tend to have relatively large litter sizes so about 12 piglets per litter. They also if you sort of think about them outside the context of the food chain they actually have a long lifespan they live about 30 years and then really importantly and interestingly the pig kidney functions very similar to the human kidneys. There's something that your audience may be very familiar with is something called the glomerular filtration rate which is one of the ways we sort of decide how good a kidney functions in the setting of living kidney donation for example a potential living donor to have a GFR of typically 90 or greater to be considered a candidate. The typical sort of adult human with two kidneys has a glomerular filtration rate of around 130 cc per minute and it turns out a pig is about 120 to 175 cc per minute so very similar and so that makes it a great potential source animal to be able to provide enough organs for everyone who needs them.
So I'm going to ask a silly question possibly so I know of course in the organ donation world you know in the OPO world we have to type you know the potential donors so that if you have you know for instance your blood type A or your blood type O or AB or B so if we have to have that compatibility aspect is there anything from a blood typing from the pig that you guys have to do as well or is it just kind of one size fits all there. Great question so the pig has been genetically modified to essentially be a universal blood donor so blood type does not matter tissue type does and that was one of the things we did in the study is we had to develop a flow cross match to test for tissue compatibility between the pig and the human recipient and so that we will have to test more just like you have to in human to human transplantation. That's amazing you know I didn't even think when you when you mentioned the universe of the donor of course we know you know that's an old blood type for you know it's the same thing as blood with the organs and so I didn't even think about that aspect I was kind of thinking you guys would have to you know type and match it exactly like genetically alter it to be an A or a B but just to make it a know that makes perfect sense so let's go a little forward here so you know you guys understood that you've got this tool that's out there that can make some genetic alterations at least enough to get you to preclinical trial cells and possibly transplant into a human so then I guess where did your research take you what were you looking at in subjects for instance. So part of the reason I think this preclinical human model where we sort of leverage brain death as an opportunity to test it was really critical for me personally and the transplant surgeon who had to talk to patients about their options and have to obtain informed concern it was really important to me to have some questions answered that I think were really critical to ensure that moving this into a living person would not be futile and one of the things that we needed was actually a flow cross match so prior to our study no such cross match existed between a pig and a human and so we needed to develop that and be able to predict ahead of time that this would be a good tissue match just like we do in human to human but the only way to validate that was to actually do the transplant and so the opportunity to be able to do this in a human being but without harming a living person was really important and that's really where our colleagues in the OPO world and specifically at the legacy of hope have been so instrumental in helping us develop and implement this model so we can really answer key safety questions that I felt at the practicing transplant surgeon and clinician were really important that we know and be able to have confidence in prior to offering this to a living person.
So I guess so this is where Drew and thank you Drew for waiting patiently with us this is such fascinating stuff here it's amazing you know of course again you kind of work on the same level and the same same thing with the clinicians so what did you think the first time you heard this from Dr. Lock and her group? Yes I came on board with legacy of hope in the summer of 2021 and I moved down here from Washington DC where I work with OPO and within the first week I would say this is one of the projects that I was read it on obviously we still maintain confidentiality with the project before releasing it to the public and I felt that this project is study was really going to transform the way we look at organ donation and one of the key things that's truly important is we still have a deficit between the number of transplants that occur in a year each year and the number of recipients listed and if there's any other way to supplement getting these recipients translated I feel like you know it's going to take something innovative and the Xenotransplantation is that innovation that's really well-brushed that gap. When you talk about that gap you know we know it very well in any industry there's over 100,000 patients who are waiting on a life saving organ almost all of those most of those not almost all but most are waiting for a life saving kidney and that doesn't include even the hundreds of thousands that are on dialysis who are not yet even eligible to be put on the waiting list so the gap is large and of course we are doing everything that we can you know on our end but you're right there has to be some other innovative supplement to be able to knock down that gap you know and I agree I have to say you are much more eloquent and I would have said are you serious doc wait what are we doing so tell me about your conversations like what did you think about to be able to select the proper patient for this research.
So internally our clinical leadership team sat down to determine what is a way that we are going to be able to track potential patients for those you know transplant study and one of the ways we looked at initially was we do get referrals from our donor service area hospitals with patient referrals for organ donor detention and if any of these referrals are automatically ruled out due to metastatic cancer or multi-system organ failure where there's not a single organ that can safely be translated into recipient it hit our leadership radar as this is a potential patient for the study while we didn't follow them for organ donation potential we did follow them for you know transplant potential and with us it was just communicating with the hospitals to get an update on these patients you know we are looking for those patients that were most likely going to herniate and progress to brain death and that had that potential to be a part of this transplant this you know transplant study and as we got closer to patients whether we are notified by the hospital that they were going to begin brain testing we would reach out to Dr. Locke and her group and we review each patients to make sure that their suitability for the study. What was different about Mr. Parsons case that you guys felt that Jen would be a great candidate for the study?
Well I think you know number one you know he was very committed during his life when he was living to being an organ donor he also expressed his family and interest in making a difference and I think that's just really resonated with the family the ability for again to potentially do both either be a kidney only donor or be able and be able to participate in the research project or just be able to participate in the research project. So I think again like with many things in our field and we talk a lot about this in the context of this organization in general I think the fact that Mr. Parsons had these conversations with his family you know that far preceded his death I think it just made the whole conversation so much easier with them not that these are ever easy conversations but I think it gave him comfort in their decision on behalf of Mr. Parsons that they were doing what he really wanted and I think that certainly helped us in this journey we have learned so much not just from Mr.
Parsons but also from his family about what families in this scenario need how to comfort them be there for them and have them be a part of the process and I think it's really helped us further develop and refine this preclinical human model in a way that I think makes it sustainable not just for testing something like veno transplantation but you can envision other things that perhaps we don't have a great preclinical animal model for but we have these critical safety questions that we really need to answer before we do this in a living person I think the Parsons model this preclinical human model really affords that opportunity so I think you take that and then you pair it with and I'm obviously biased but I think we have a great relationship with our OPO our OPO does a wonderful job with our local hospitals and our donor families and have really wonderful rapport and our family coordinators are really extraordinary people who I think just helped us a lot with these conversations and so I really think with all of those things that made Mr. Parsons the right sort of individual to enroll in this study. So of course Mr. Jim Parsons was selected as a candidate and then as we've discussed many times you know in the get the light podcast the donation process takes some time you know there are quite a bit of things on the donor side that have to take place so that you know that the organs are suitable and then from a cross-matching standpoint and infectious disease standpoint so I'm curious so of course you know Drew mentioned that he mentioned two things one that stood out to me one was someone who's got an active cancer so they wouldn't be able to donate because of a risk of transmission of cancer to a recipient the second multi-system organ failure and for you guys the layman out there it just means that the organs had failed had gone into failure and unfortunately because of that would not be suitable for donation and so I'm assuming so Mr.
Parsons fell into that category right? So Mr. Parsons actually opened the possibility for the Xenotransplant to pair with organ donation and it was something that we immediately didn't think of in the initial rollout when we were tracking potential patient referrals but as Mr. Parsons' organ donation case elapsed we found this opportunity that we could work with Dr.
Lock and her team and procured kidneys for transplant similar to that of a living donor procurement and still allow for the Xenotransplant study to occur and in Mr. Parsons' case this is what occurred is Mr. Parsons his native kidneys were procured for the intent of organ donation and when the kidneys left the operating room then the Xenotransplant study started at that point. So Dr.
Lock, so what kind of time frame did you guys have of course you know Mr. Parsons at this time was brain dead and in general you know an organ donation case takes a couple days it's at 48 hours 72 hour process so what did you guys like what made you guys decide on a certain time frame as far as how long this particular study would take? Yeah I think just you know kind of build off of what Drew just shared you know I think first and foremost our commitment is to ensuring that we do not disrupt the allotransplant process so between the time that Mr. Parsons was declared brain dead and then ultimately was referred to our OPO it was five days that he was brain dead before we were ultimately able to procure his kidneys for the purpose of transplantation and then subsequently be able to perform the Xenotransplant study and you know that was I think really reflects our effort to exhaust all the lists to make sure that organs get placed but as a result you know Mr.
Parsons by day five was you know experiencing all the things that brain dead individuals have so he required quite a bit of medicine to support blood pressure he was in DIC and so I think you know we really had to sort of run the study understanding that you know we probably weren't going to be able to keep him physiologically stable for very long and so that turned out to be about three days we also have a commitment to the families you know I don't think it's fair to ask a family to allow us to keep their loved one you know for a long period of time because certainly you know this does disrupt their bereavement process and I think making sure they understand that and are okay with that you know as part of the informed consent around the study was really crucial and so our study is not designed to extend past seven days from the moment the xenograph goes in we will end the study in seven days just do not prolong that bereavement process any longer for the family so you know you've got the study you decided seven days at the longest of course instability as you mentioned occurs with many patients who are brain dead what were you guys looking for to say that this would be a successful study I think we really had a couple of very early things that we were interested in first and foremost we wanted to be able to validate that cross match because as you know in human to human allotransplant you can't go the OR without having a cross-cross match that's actually a federal requirement and so being able to have that in the context of pig to human transplant was critically important and the only way to validate what we had to develop was to actually do a transplant so that was probably the most important thing for us and we were able to successfully do that the second is you know uebe um really invested heavily in the no transplantation and we actually started our you know transplant program back in 2016 um and we developed and implemented a pathogen-free facility where the donor source pigs are bred and raised um and it was very important for us to be able to recapitulate the entire operation from procurement of the pig kidneys at the pathogen-free facility where there is an operating room that is of the same grade as you would find in a human hospital being able to flush those kidneys package them and transport them to the hospital for transplant and really just to be able to recapitulate every step of the process that would be necessary if you were moving this into living the person we also wanted to ensure that we had no disease transmissions you know our pig was again from a pathogen-free facility so we know exactly what the pigs have and don't have and being able to confirm and demonstrate that no diseases were transmitted um to Mr. Parsons was super important and that really sort of I think confirms the robustness of the pathogen-free facility which I think is really critical when we start to think about moving this and delivering persons the third thing is we wanted to be able to demonstrate that at humans is solid blood pressure the pig vacuature could withstand that you know non-human primates have much lower so solid pressures as do pigs then the typical adult human particularly an adult human who has end stage kidney failure secondary hypertension and so we were able to demonstrate that as well and did not show any sort of bleeding complications related to vascular and astomosis so that was really critical and then I think finally we also wanted to make sure that you either genetically edited pig kidneys and we want to make sure that the genetic edits stay in that pig kidney and that sort of things don't move and go places they're not supposed to go and so we were able to demonstrate that pig cells stayed in the pig kidney and that we didn't detect pig cells in Mr. Parsons blood or other organs and that's super important when you think about trying to move this into living people so those were really our critical key early safety elements that we wanted to be able to gain I think realistically we knew and didn't expect this kidney to be able to provide a level of kidney function in the setting of multiple blood pressure medicine CIC those are not circumstances you would normally do a transplant so it was really important to us to have these other endpoints because in my mind we needed those answers before I feel comfortable as a practicing surgeon and clinician offering this therapy to a living person and that's what the Parsons model was able to help us answer and so we were really encouraged by that so the OPO actually took part in that recovery as well or was that strictly the transplant team in the recovery of the pig organ right so that was the transplant team although we followed the practices of our OPO and certainly as we look to do this on a larger scale and move this into the living and I've spoken to Drew about this I mean I would want our experts to be involved in helping us with that they were certainly involved on the the sedent side of things but at the actual pathogen-free facility that that involved our transplant team that's amazing it's it's all of the endpoints that you guys thought about here I was thinking you know being the clinician looking at certain markers for rejection or looking at the urine output and you guys pretty much thought of everything. Well thank you that's awfully kind I think there's you know there's certainly more that we have to learn but I can honestly say I think you know the data we have you know from my perspective I think it is time to move this into living persons and in the context of a limited phase one clinical trial that's we're working towards now and I think in parallel we will continue to use this preclinical human model to continue to refine things like our immunosuppression regimen and other things but we're really excited for the future I think this is going to be complementary to our current human to human allotransplant programs you know we think about half to two-thirds of humans will be compatible with these pigs but there will be a third of individuals who are not and so this is you know this is going to have to be a joint effort of continuing to optimize aloe transplantation or human to human transplantation while simultaneously looking to really further develop you know as an alternative source of organs or an additional source of organs I should say.
So you're talking about concurrent studies essentially one that would would continue with brain dead and as I'm understanding continuing with brain dead donors so that you can continue learning more but at the same time start clinical trials is yes I think so. So what type of time frame are you expecting this you know to really get started with clinical human trials? We are quite hopeful that a limited phase one trial will begin later this year. That's amazing I'm like mind blown listening to this you mentioned that both kidneys were utilized for the research so is it going to be necessary that two kidneys are utilized for a transplant to take place in the future or will a single kidney do like human to human transplants?
Yeah no they won't need to be done in pairs we've worked out the size of you know the pig that corresponds with a kidney that's roughly the same size as an adult kidney. I think we'll be able to do single use in this case we did both because it was second opportunity to test the and validate the cross match if you will a second opportunity to demonstrate that there was no hypericute rejection so that's why we did it in this case but in general the pig kidney is our large enough that they can be sewn in singly. So what percentage of the population would be compatible to receive this type of transplant and my second question to that is would this eliminate the need for human to human yellow transplantation? Yeah it's about 50 percent to two-thirds and we think are going to have a negative cross match so that leaves us about a third or so of patients who are going to have a positive cross match with the pig and so that's why this is really you know an adjunct to aloe and we need to sort of I think one of the things I want to make sure of is exciting as it says I don't want people to think somehow this is going to replace aloe it's going to simply add to it and I want to make sure that doesn't get lost because we still need people to be donors both the sea stoners and living donors.
So we're always looking for ways to narrow the gap in health care disparities especially in those in minority populations do you see this as another step toward narrowing that gap? I think you bring up a really good point and certainly as we are looking at trying to do a phase one clinical trial it's going to be really important I think to have broad representation in terms of patients background you know there's a long history in this country of kind of a one-size-fits-all approach to research where you know many studies have come out when you look at the study population it was primarily Caucasian or primarily male I think it's going to be really important that as we studies you know transplantation that we include people from diverse backgrounds and we cross gender I think that's going to be really important. The other encouraging thing is in preliminary data patients with high PRAs often have negative cross-matches with these pigs because there does not seem to be cross-reactivity between SLA and HLA which is great news for some of our highly sensitized patients and of course you know I think it's super important you know some of them it doesn't get talked about as much I think as racial disparities is gender-based disparities and there are gender disparities in access to kidney transplantation and in fact it affects and impacts ethnic minorities the most and that's because what is unique to the female sex is pregnancy and that is a way in which people are sensitized and this is particularly true for ethnic minorities as they are more likely to have had more than one pregnancy and with each pregnancy your likelihood of being sensitized increases so I think this really has the opportunity to help us overcome both racial and gender disparities in access to transplantation. I just really enjoyed learning from you and learning more about Jim Parsons what else would you like people to know about this breakthrough?
You know from my perspective you know certainly my surgical colleagues as well as my opioid colleagues I think drew would agree with this you know it's really important to us that this be known as the Parsons model I think what Mr. Parsons was able to communicate to his family prior to his death and the ultimate decision that his family made on his behalf has really changed the field of medicine and science and I think the potential to help so many people and you know we just wouldn't be here without them and so I just think honoring them is the most important thing. We've had so many episodes of the gift of life that that is so interesting and this is definitely up there at the top of that list. It is a lot to take in especially if science isn't your background so I was trying to find just information that was out there and I thought maybe it'd be too far over my head because I'm out in the community and we're doing education and those types of things but UAB.edu did a really great job of not only honoring Jim Parsons and his legacy and the hope he's providing but also explaining this complicated transplant in this process that everyone's working on and I know we spoke with Allen at Legacy of Hope on our last episode and he said you know the family when approached had a lot of the same questions that folks out in the community had like well these kidneys fit what they'd be virus transmitted and you guys kind of covered all of that and brought it down to a level we can all understand so UAB.edu is where you can go to find more information to continue to follow what these guys are doing we can't thank you guys enough for joining us Dr.
Locke drew certainly appreciate it. Thank you so much and thank you to all the OPOs for all your efforts to help us help our patients we really appreciate it. Thank you and I would like to reiterate from an OPO point of view I think that this experience truly showed that organ donation and research can coincide and create synergistic solutions to saving lives to the transplants you know when organ lists are exhausted there's not often much we can offer the family at that point you know but being able to offer this research opportunity especially in the case of Mr. Carson's it was able to honor his wish to be a donor and also give the family some hope out of such a terrible situation.
Here on the Get to Life podcast we are taking a moment for mental health. We are and with our new guest host Tara Alexander. Hey what do we have on tap today? Oh today guys we're going to be talking about setting compassionate boundaries.
I could use some tips. Well first I want to remind everyone listening that it is okay give yourself permission to set compassionate boundaries. So of course you may be wondering what do I mean? Yes I think I know but tell me.
Well I'm actually going to share something that I want to quote from one of my favorite authors and speakers Bernay Brown. She says that compassionate people ask for what they need. They say no when they need to and when they say yes they actually mean it. They're compassionate because their boundaries keep them out of resentment.
So you don't overextend your compassion. So it sounds like a great theory but how do you do it effectively? Okay well we're going to talk about that. Compassionate boundary setting involves deciding what you will and will not accept for your personal well-being and it's a skill that you can get better at over time and just like any skill that you want to improve at you continue to practice it.
So there's actually two forms of compassionate boundary setting I'm going to touch on today when it's mental and when it's physical. So let's start with how to step back mentally when you recognize you're being triggered. When you notice that you're constantly thinking about the situations that are upsetting you and you just become so swept away by those challenging emotions stop and observe what you're experiencing and assess how you can best take care of yourself. Sometimes I'm thinking there's nothing I can do about that so why am I like obsessing over like step back?
You're right. Yes yes I think we all have a part of that in us that's why it's I wanted to emphasize a skill that you practice on daily and it's just like when I taking baby steps and you think of a baby walking in in a den and walking from a couch to a coffee take two steps. What is your response to that? Yay exactly you're winning right so then tomorrow they don't take any steps.
Do you look at them and say oh you should be running by now you should be walking why aren't you doing better? No you say well let's try again and do three steps. Exactly but why don't we do that for ourselves? Yes we are so hard on ourselves and so I have three suggestions on how to mentally step back.
The first one is cognitive distraction. So we notice your mood is being deeply affected by another person suffering. It's okay to reduce its impact on you by using cognitive distraction techniques. Don't get this confused by me saying pretend like it didn't happen don't think about it.
You're just distracting yourself for a moment to be able to compose yourself as in like Joey's Paul's that sometimes we take a breath because we need to give ourselves a minute so mention your Paul's. Yes yes I quote Joey's Paul's all the time because because people talk to me on the phone you know and of course Terna used to talk all the time and and you know she knew that if there was nothing on the other end for a moment it wasn't because I hung up because I had to take a moment digest and then be able to respond. More people should should follow that. No look I appreciate Joey not adding how I would go Joey did you hear me?
Did you hear me? And then I finally realized and it's a very useful tale. So notice that the cognitive distraction that I mentioned isn't about avoiding your emotions around the situation. It's a way to allow your emotions to diffuse naturally so they don't immediately spiral out of control.
So daydream about something that makes you happy. Talk to someone. Listen to music. Watch a funny tick-tock.
Yeah but then you end up getting watching like 22 points. Yeah I was gonna say I kind of get that one too. Yes yes yes you do that was a very good point. And another tip I have is cognitive restructuring.
This means reframing your thoughts and situations in the most helpful way possible for you. So whenever something happens thinking okay how how can I reframe this to where it's a positive for me or where I can see it as maybe not a setback but just a challenge for me to grow. I always try to look at the different angles like let me see where I'm gonna travel today. Yes I like that.
And also coping statements. Experiment with different coping statements that can help you feel better. For example I've been in a situation like this before but I made it through it. I can do this.
I like that. Looking at it like it's a challenge just it's another challenge presented. Life happened. I've been here.
I've done it before. I can do it again. That's right. I'm gonna try to tell that to my kids too.
Things are gonna happen that don't always go your way. How are you gonna be after that? How are you gonna land on your feet? It's not always easy.
Nope. You know even this many years into life. It's not how many times we fall it's how we get up. Yeah that's right.
So we talked about mentally so now I have two tips to share with you about how to step back physically when you're stressing and you need to set those compassionate boundaries. One is ask for help. That's hard. It is hard but hey what better way to practice your reframing skills right now and see it as a challenge.
I'm not used to asking for help but now I can. Be vulnerable. Yeah my trouble with that is I always feel like now I'm adding extra burden onto this person. Someone else.
Yeah. You know so that's where I have to get myself to say that it's okay. Yeah. You know because I struggle with that.
I know I'm like all right I know this person has this this and this going on two. Maybe steps. Maybe steps. Right.
Maybe steps. Take three steps. That's right. Because you know whenever you do talk to that person it may be in turn helping them as well.
Or he picked me to help with that. Exactly. Exactly. And this is a big one saying no.
I have a hard time. Yes and sometimes you may need to say no and it's going to feel tough at first but you have to take care of yourself. But even when I do that I think about it like I probably could have done that or could have fit it in here or how to make them feel because I said no even though it helped my life out a lot and be stressed it's hard. It is.
There's a quote I saw one time and it said give others the best of you not what's left of you. Yeah. Yeah. And if you aren't protecting your well being by saying no then you're stretching yourself then and you're not being that person that you wanted to be.
Anyway you're not being that authentic person. So call her after I say no. I'll talk to you that one more time one more time. Well just remember that it is honoring your needs and your well being.
Right. So of course you can call me anytime. I like it. Okay we will.
Speed dial. All right great topic. Maybe you have a topic you'd like us to cover here on the gifted life. Simple email is all it takes.
Info at the gifted life. In our question and answer segment I noticed information about HIV and the ability to register as a donor. Is it true that I can register even if I'm HIV positive. Great question.
It is a great question and the quick answer is yes because it historically I think it was around 1988 it was you know when people didn't know enough about HIV it was actually it became illegal. It was a law that passed that made it illegal to transplant someone's organs but President Obama reversed that law with the whole pact and and it since we've got so many people right now who are living with HIV who need a life saving organ because HIV is it's not it's a comorbidity now like it's not it's more along the lines of a of a diabetes than it is before. Pretty much. So far so so now you have people that need a life saving organ but if they can't get it because not enough people are registering then they may pass away because of that so we don't want that to happen.
So we are encouraging as many people as possible who are living with HIV to sign up and be a registered and not only so so the list initially was more focused on patients with kidney disease and liver disease but now we've actually transplanted our first heart. Wow. HIV positive to HIV positive and those of course they are HIV positive to HIV positive recipients. So great what about the community and we're having these conversations with high schoolers or college students and I say this is where we are today but who knows what happens tomorrow.
So many great things happening from this brain trust of folks who just want to better where we are. Love it. Oh and I've even heard that you guys have done a podcast on this. Thank you Tara.
We like that. We actually did we covered it we had some amazing people who just shared their stories about this episode 54 of the Get to Life podcast and episode 113 so if you go to the gift at life dot or you can search at the top of what you're looking for and that'll pull right up but if you want to learn from the best that's a great resource tool for you. All right great question guys. Thanks if you have a question you can always give us a call 5046483477.
In every episode of the gift of life we honor a hero today's hero is Elizabeth and Gilmore. And we learn about Elizabeth from her family. Elizabeth and Gilmore was one of a kind. She had many loves in her life.
Her loved ones were the top of the list. Three children, six grandchildren, two great grandchildren, siblings, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. A few other things that brought happiness to her life included classic country music, astronomy, hunting, fishing, the beach, owls, winking owl wine, and twisted tea. She was definitely loved by many and was unexpectedly taken from this earth way too soon.
We had so many trips planned, cooking lessons to perfect, and uncontrollable laughing moments that will never take place. In true and giving fashion, she planned and looked forward to giving even after she was gone. Soon after she gained her angel wings. Her wish to help someone else was granted.
Within a few short days her generous spirit helped give sight to two individuals. She was a true example of putting others first. Mother, mama, mama, sugar, granny, sister, aunt, and friend. We love and miss you so much.
We are so proud and thankful for the gifts you gave us and the gifts you gave after you left us. You will forever be our hero. And now we pause and say thank you to Elizabeth for the gift of life. All right guys, episode 188 of the gift of life in the books.
Thanks for listening, spending time with us. Remember you can register as an organ tissue and eye donor anytime at registerme.org. What an amazing episode. How wild is it to think of where we were just a few years ago.
And now who knows like 600,000 people waiting on a life saving kidney that don't even on the list many of these people but to be able to get them off a dialysis it's amazing. It's hope. I love it. And we'll be learning more here on the gift of life.
We'll invite them back on any advancements. You know we just love to learn more about it together. The best place to find us guys at our website, thegiftedlife.org. Tell your friends.
Listen there and find links to listen on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to podcast. If you listen on Apple Podcast please give us a five-star rating. It really helps others find our podcast. On social media you can like our page on Facebook, the Gifted Life podcast.
You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram at GiftedLifePod. That's going to do it for episode 188. Our Ask Guys is that you go out and do something you would normally do to help us make life happen. We're 1-15.
Until next time.