Hello and welcome to the gifted life podcast where we have conversations about organ tissue and I donation I'm Laurie Steele and I work out in the community in the Baton Rouge area. And I'm Joey Boudr and Chief Clinic Officer over at the Argonne Recovery Division. And we are so excited because what has been happening lately we once again have partnered with an LSU PR Campaigns class in order to increase the donor registry here in Louisiana. So now we're at a point Joey we started asking them to help us where they ask us what can we do and as you know from interviewing some of these past students which were so sad when they graduate happy for them but sad that we lose them as a partner but they have some new ideas they know how to reach those college students and it's just amazing.
So we have that in the can and we are working toward increasing that registry which is spectacular. So they help us spread the word which while they're doing that you can help us spread the word as well. Absolutely we want you to talk about us talk about say your friends look us up on iTunes or whatever your favorite podcast app might be and just listen. And look we also post our Facebook Instagram Twitter pages where donate life Louisiana basically so check that out but when we talk about things here on the podcast you can see pictures of those who we talk about as well and we'll keep you up to date with that LSU campaign.
So we'll talk more about that but on today's podcast we will fill you in on some fun fun events that are coming up that you may want to be a part of it's easy. Absolutely and we'll be talking in our recovery segment to Louisiana's first kidney and pancreas recipient. Okay this everything about that is fascinating. Awesome.
Yeah so we're gonna talk about that also a recipient paying it forward which is pretty cool all in itself. And then we'll talk about in our technology segment how Facebook is playing a big part in donation. It is. We'll also honor a hero as we do in every podcast plus we'll take your questions and answers here on the gifted life podcast.
Alright everybody stretch it out stretch it out tomorrow's a big big big day we've been working all year towards this goal and that is our fifth annual Robleye Run For Life in Baton Rouge at the Pinnington Biomedical Research Center. Now no fear if you hadn't signed up yet you can meet us on race morning but I just I love race day because it is a celebration of life but I love that these families come together all year they work on their teams they work on their team uniforms it's just amazing and some aren't runners like I'm a supervisor some runner walker any of that strenuous stuff but so we know that the race is coming up normally it hits the first Saturday in October but we start walking and then we start jogging and then we start running to where we can participate and possibly get one of those cash prizes so it's just an amazing thing to develop over the year and so tomorrow's the big. That's it. I'm ready.
I'm excited and so grateful for our main sponsor and that's Paul Robleye with the Robleye Law Firm he's an estate planning attorney who understands the importance of organ donation and works throughout the year to help us spread the work he allows his public relations person to help us in those realms spread the word get teams together so it's just an amazing collaboration between folks in the donation world folks outside the donation world who see the importance and folks who want to help so we have runners we have families we have college students everyone getting together so we hope to see out there we have some great jambalaya so for the fifth year we have the trucks clear family kind of doing that we have some things up our sleeve because it is our fifth annual and we're trying to blow you guys out of the water you know with fun so it's gonna be good so I mean you're trying to be out there I know it's early early and early rise I'm gonna be there and I'm gonna run we've got two lopa runs this month so I've got myself into a little bit of a 5k I'm probably at about a 3 or 4k at this point I'm trying to get myself to the 5k. I'm not a 0k so but I'll definitely be there it's just a fun time especially for as a lopa employee to be able to talk with some of the families and be able to engage in that setting it's just it's a fun time for everybody and I love hearing everybody's story from their perspective so either a donor mom recipient donor sister recipient sister it's just amazing so if you want to renew yourself October 3rd at pittington biomedical research center I'm so I'm biased to that one because I'll be there I work with these folks every day but there's so many things going on in October so you can't make our race but I hope you can but if you can't make our race there are lots of other things going on and you can follow our calendar at donatelifela.org you can also check out lopa.org we just want to make sure you have all the information you can for where you are because we know some of you could be spread out across the state and we want you to get involved because it is easy you get out there you get some energy in you and you cross the finish line and then Kirsten will be there taking a picture of you with those professional picks we love it so check out our calendar get involved today we have some pretty incredible news to share I mean you and I are sitting here in awe because back in 1990 what happened in 1990 we had our first kidney and pancreas recipient or transplant take place and prior to that kidney transplants were more of the norm but pancreas transplant was more of an experimental thing and it was that time where we had our first it was done actually at oshner and we had our first kidney pancreas transplant on someone who at the time they were thinking well it might work for a few years you know we are celebrating 25 years 25 years of success and we will talk to the doctor who performed the transplant and we will talk to the recipient but first we want to take you back back to 1990 we pulled a new segment of this groundbreaking surgery take a listen right now 43 year old Charles B. Garner is in critical but stable condition at the hospital. Janet Lawton is here with more on this story Janet.
Builder calling it a success and this is certainly an historic event here but like kidney transplants pancreas transplants are no longer experimental they have been performed since the 1960s but only in a few medical centers however within the past two years alone 35 more centers nationwide have started doing a procedure now that oxeners on that list doctors they are planned to transplant several more pancreas this year. The kidney transplant is performed along with the pancreas transplant to simultaneously cure renal failure and free the need for dialysis as well as the pancreas transplant to release the person from the need for insulin. While pancreas transplants can cure diabetes only a small portion of the state's estimated 3000 diabetics would qualify for this difficult six hour procedure. We reserve this for patients with known history of diabetes of the insulin dependent type usually of juvenile onset whose renal failure is due to the diabetes.
Diabetics with kidney failure once on dialysis have a life expectancy of about 10 years. Not to say this procedure today will give the patient Charles Garner considerably more time and a more quality life. He will not be restricted in his amount of glucose he can consume and amount of fluids he can drink which must be monitored very strictly when he is in renal failure and complicated by diabetes. He will be able to fill out an employment physical and answer the question are you a diabetic and say no.
This pancreas transplant costs about 40,000 dollars and while some insurance companies will cover that cost the government at this point won't based on the idea that the procedure is more life enhancing than life saving but build down the road doctors do hope that Medicare will be able to cover this. Life enhancing that seems so odd to say that. Well I think the government as the doctor said today is not quite ready to cover it. It's not a matter of whether it's worth it just not ready to pay for it yet.
Okay so now wasn't that amazing. That's awesome. That was so cool. That was 25 years ago.
So flash forward quarter of a century and now on the podcast live we have Dr. Boudreau and Dr. Boudreau I'm wondering if you still look the same from that video 25 years ago. Probably pretty much.
Exactly the same. In fact I'm changing the better. Even better. I like that.
We also have on the line Charles Garner the transplant recipient. Hey Mr. Charles. Hi how are you good.
Now I'm going to start with you Dr. Boudreau if you could kind of take us back 25 years. I mean 25 years of transplantation which is what you're continuing to do today but can you give us kind of a fast timeline for how things have gone. Sure well back then there was no pancreas transplant program in the state of Louisiana.
This was the first one which we performed in the state of Louisiana and instituted the program at the auditor clinic. Then a few years later we instituted a similar program of pancreas transplantation at LSU and also instituted the liver and kidney transplant programs at Children's Hospital and the liver transplant program at LSU as well. So it was at the early days when just a few programs were beginning there were probably a half a dozen pancreas transplant programs in the country back then and so it was in its infancy we were still working out a lot of the technical details about how to actually connect up the package and what was the best way to do it in different ways you could make all these different connections different ways to do the immunosuppression different ways to do the organ preservation all that was in evolution. And now we can probably say that pretty much recipients are enjoying somewhere between 80 to 90% success rate.
That meaning defining success if you get 100 transplants a day a year from today at least 90 of them will still be working. I'm trying to remember Charles how long will you diabetic prior to your transplant? Well I got my transplant at age 43 and I turned diabetic at age 15. And back then Doc it was kind of considered experimental actually I mean not at that not in 90 but just before that.
It was not a Medicare approved procedure it was not an insurance approved procedure every time we wanted to do one it was a fight with the payers to try and get it approved. The other thing that we did that was really unique about this operation is that since it was a sort of a small plug there about that many people you only went to one or two places in the country to train to learn how to do this and so what would happen is by convention we all agreed that every time we did a transplant we would report our results to each other and we set up an international not a natural but a worldwide pancreas transplant registry. So any time a pancreas transplant was done anywhere in the world we knew about it and we knew the outcomes and the complications and we would meet once a year and we would talk about it and we would call each other on the phone and say hey I did this and this happened what do you think about that it was a really unevolving time out of that data from that registry we were able to prove to the payers including the government the pancreas transplantation not only improved the body of life it extends life and it prevents and emulates many of the complications of diabetes such as blindness neuropathy, part of this is scopes and heart attacks. So it was truly a life-changing operation for many people and besides being free of insulin it also allowed them to enjoy a longer and fuller life.
So ground breaking back then and then look at how we progressed over 25 years. Now Charles I want to ask you because folks always say well how long can one expect to survive and do you thrive and I think you're the best person to answer that question because we're 25 years later following your kidney pancreas transplant and you seem to be doing well. Well I still have my original transplanted organs they have stood me well through a lot of stressful times I've had in work marriage tax problems and things of that nature. Thanks to Dr.
Boudreau and the organ donor that whenever I had the most stress or distress in my life my organs worked the best I never figured that out. But anyway life has turned out to be good I had four children now I have almost seven grandchildren seven does do in February I have retired and I'm helping other people and I don't know if I'm answering your question but my head plants have stood me well to the point where I'm now 68 years old and my last blood test was excellent. I have to think that must have been a very difficult decision for you to make in 1990 because again the public kind of thought it was experimental and it was so like Dr. Boudreau had mentioned earlier such it was kind of in its infancy from a transplant standpoint and so take me back to that decision that you had to make and of course now you know hindsight being in 2020 how great a decision that was to not only have the transplant but have the transplant where you did and with Dr.
Boudreau as your surgeon. Well let me go back to the point that at the time when I went to the doctor for an annual physical and he told me that my kidneys were failing I disputed the findings I was still very active I played a lot of racquetball and jogging and things and I told him he was wrong. In a month maybe two I was on dialysis and I hated dialysis the procedure or dialysis caused me to go from my fighting weight of 170 down to 140. It wasn't really a choice a hard choice for me I actually trusted Dr.
Boudreau and it was never a question that it would fail in my mind and it's a good thing because I didn't think about that sort of thing. It was something that I needed to do for my family, for my kids and for myself and it wasn't a hard decision. Now speaking of insurance an interesting side note the day before I had my transplant I received a special delivery letter in the hospital at Ochner stating that my insurance was cancelled and here is my last 12 month of premium and they weren't going to cover my transplant. Oh my god.
So it's an understatement to say at that time insurance and Medicare didn't much think about covering that procedure. And of course you went through it and tell me about how you know your months and years after that how much medication you took then and then how that might have changed over the last 25 years. Well I actually talked about Dr. Boudreau about my medication here last week or so because I had a really had a conversation with him in almost 25 years and I told him that medications they put me on originally I have maintained those same drugs since 1990 and they're kind of the cycle four and it's kind of now an older drug for transplant patients but I didn't want to change anything and I have the philosophy that if it's not broke don't fix it and still maintain that same medication it's good me well.
That is something. Dr. Boudreau I wanted to ask you about the procedure itself we saw you kind of talking about it in that news clip but has the procedure itself changed dramatically over that 25 years? And I think that's a little bit of a evolution of the operation.
Mr. Garner was actually we were seeing him as a possible transplant candidate when we were in Galveston, Texas where we first started doing transplants after finishing our transplant training and so that when we established the first factory transplant program in Texas there and he was being considered a candidate there and we had several transplants under our belt by this time but then he found out I was moving to Louisiana and he said well I think I want to go where you go and he did and but he ended up moving back to back home to Texas and was followed by the program in Galveston where he originally started for quite some time and yes the operation has evolved considerably when we first started doing the pancreas transplant but the problem with the pancreas is that it's a double organ and it makes insulin which is why you're doing the transplant you need an insulin factory. It's not designed for pancreatic cancer. That experiment was done in the 80s and it turned out to be an abysmal failure because the annual ejection medicine is just allowed the cancer to come back to the vengeance.
So the problem is you need an insulin factory but the pancreas also makes digestive enzymes. Back in those days we didn't have good preservation we didn't have a spudanobotics we didn't have a lot of things and so the enzymes start digesting away at the sutulon where you hook things back up and pause leaks and abscesses and all sorts of interesting complications that everybody was struggling with trying to figure out what to do because they would connect the pancreas back into the intestine and so basically you're operating on an open sewer and it was a press person and it was a really tour de force to try and get patients through that. So a transplant came up with the idea was you hook the enzymes and the pancreas to the bladder. The enzymes go out into the bladder and they're only activated when they mix with the bile and the bacteria that turns on the enzymes and they go to work.
So if they go out into the bladder and sterile goes out with the urine and we can imagine the amount of the enzyme production in the urine as long as there's a lot there we know the pancreas is happening so when urine emulates production for all we know those pancreas might be suffering we didn't have to wait till they were diabetic again and back on insulin to try and save it. So in the late 80s the world was transitioning from looking into the intestine to hook it into the bladder and for the next 10 years that's where everybody did it. After that habit of having a complication of the problem you lose a lot of excess fluids in addition to the normal amount of urine you're making so you have to really drink for yellow water a day to keep up with the losses which is interesting change for showing you the dials that's maybe allowed to have two cups of water a day when they're on dials. So that was the thing.
So we reversed it, we now figured out a better way to hook it back into the intestine as well as hook up the blood supply a little different way so insulin is delivered into the same vascular system that it would normally be delivered by a normal pancreas in a normal position. So it allowed for more physiologic reconnection we might add we put it back into the intestine now most of the time I would say probably at least half the programs in the country now have gone away from using the bladder and gone back to using the intestine but we have such new drugs we can use a lot less immunosuppression so there's less risk of infection and leaks and all that stuff and the organ preservation has gotten so much better that we don't have to worry about preservation failure which was another thing that caused organ to fail and leak and kind of basically come apart. So that's a great answer. That's fascinating too.
And in a 25 year span if you think about it Charles had his surgery before a lot of these changes or I guess in the midst of a lot of these changes and it's amazing that his still work just as good as the ones that were transplanting last week and last year that's just quite amazing that 25 years ago his is still functioning. I was concerned for myself that maybe I've gotten this about five six years ago my transplant is pretty old how come it's still working and I actually went and saw my doctors and stuff and turns out that once you reach a certain age of transplant it seems like it continues on to help you and I kind of lost my fear of it all of a sudden going south. There's a lot of data to that and I'd like to answer a question because a lot of people want to know how long these things last. Right.
Turns out the critical time is probably the first one to two years. If you get through the first two years without major complications without a major rejection episode the likelihood of the organ surviving the life of the individual is probably very high. It's a little bit like automobile it's not the year it was made it's a mileage. If the organ had a lot of hits from either injury maybe in the donor pre-referring or post-transplant with a lot of rejection episodes that's the biggest thing we were worried about.
I am taking notes here. I'll already back into some of the things that would really be the thing that hinders long-term outcome and so the patients who get out past the first two or three or five years their lifespan is expected to be pretty much like what their lifespan would be of the population of that age group. That is amazing. I'm taking notes.
Yeah we're going to use this in our community presentations. But Charles it seems like you're you're prepared with the right doctor. I was sitting here looking at your picture with your beautiful grandbabies all thanks to Dr. Boudreau his foresight and all those people who helped to make life happen.
So I'm assuming you're a big advocate for donation where you are right. Well I am at one point prior to one of my problems in life with the business etc. I had tried to start a transplant organization down here in Texas similar to the LOPA setup that you have and the IRS subsequently decided that I didn't need to be doing that. So I was unable to pursue it.
I am very interested in even helping LOPA if time marches forward in anything that I might be able to do. We will take you up on that. I do want to ask you a question if it's not too personal but have you written the donor family I know 25 years ago that wasn't the norm but over these 25 years that aspect can you can you tell us about it? Now the answer is no because at the time when I was asking to get the information for the family that was just 20 something years ago that I was trying to do that and I think they may have changed by now but as I told you perhaps in an earlier conversation I still think of the donor and I think the good organs that I would give them.
It's amazing and Dr. Boudreau sitting back from your seat 25 years later what does that look like to you and then moving forward? Well you know back then because things were I would say we're still on the cross-transplantation certainly was not mainstream and the big concern was protecting the donors and the enemy and protecting the donor families and the enemy and we didn't want any we didn't want any things to interfere with the donor families post donation sense of well-being and grieving and all of the things that they needed to work through and so the thinking was then by people who think about these things and tried to figure it's hard to imagine what another person is thinking so but in an effort to act and what they thought was the best interest of the donor families it was felt that there should be an absolute disconnect between the recipient and the donor family for at least for an extended period of time before the recipient would be allowed to attempt to contact the donor family or in fact that is our callback in those days it wasn't even allowed it was just said you know thank you very much right and I think now now the question is not allowed but it sometimes cases encourage depending on circumstances where what would happen is a recipient wishes to thank the donor family and so what happens they would write a letter for instance address of the donor family which is sent to the organ for carement agency the organ for carement is you will then contact the donor family said we have a letter from a recipient would you be interested in having it and sometimes it just knowing that the letter is there is enough of this and well we really are not emotionally ready to handle that much of a of a stirring up of these old feelings again but in other cases that's and that's enough of them to know that there's a great that was here you know they say oh yes we would really like to hear from them and then sometimes one thing least on other eventually they meet and usually there's a lot of hugging and crying and exchange of stories and it's a very moving experience every time it happens well you sir are a pioneer in the transplant world I'm just sitting here just fascinated listening to you and to Charles's story and we appreciate you guys taking the time to share that with us and we hope that you'll come back again and again and Charles you continue to do well and just continue to help us save more lives I appreciate you for all the good work you do thank you guys you're talking to Dr. Philip Boudreau yes Dr.
Philip Boudreau really a pioneer in the transplant world and Charles Garner kidney pancreas recipient and this being the 25th year anniversary of that double transplant done in the state of Louisiana wow my mind is blown right I know amazing thank you thank you very much thank you all okay we have a pretty cool story that we want to share with you now and Joey this is close to us we both attended some events with this guy who's super cool but mr. Doug costman is joining us now by phone hey Doug hey lory how you doing it's a pleasure to be with you all today yeah we thank you for taking the time Doug is an organ donation advocate following his kidney transplant almost two years ago yeah almost two years now I don't yes correct it'll be I believe it's the 23rd it's the last week of October 2013 so it'll be it'll be two years this this October and so far so good yeah and what I love about Doug is um no if we call hey can we come and meet you whatever yeah but I may be on the golf course if it's a pretty day all right that's what I love to do right exactly and try me with a matter of whether we were gonna do this today whether I was gonna be on the golf course today or tomorrow if we push back our game till tomorrow we could be without well we appreciate that and don't get me wrong it's not like this is a major inconvenience for me I mean this is a this is something near and dear to my heart to try to get this message out there to the public anyway possible now we know that you're doing um great now you're a great advocate for us you um help us with presentations and different things going on community to help spread the word but life always wasn't peachy for you right exactly it was um in December of 2010 I had no idea I had gone to the doctor for something totally unrelated to my kidneys and long story short I was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease which is a genetic disorder that basically destroys your kidneys and by June of 2010 I started dialysis and that was I equated that to being my other job it was three days a week four hours of session I did a Tuesday Thursday and Saturday and I did it early in the morning which we'd done around a lot but it pretty well wiped you out for the rest of the day um I considered myself lucky that I had a disease and that affected an organ where there was a machine that could allow me to continue my life but it definitely wasn't the same life that I had been used to before yeah I'm actually a nurse and I used to work with a lot of dialysis patients and and to hear them talk about it yes it enables you to extend your life but it's so difficult and taxing I can't imagine what you were going through basically on those days they were just exhale and no plans were made now on the other days no dialysis like was pretty much so normal and for normal for him I think Joe you can relate you were a huge you know like football fan really out there and yeah and and give me a like you said earlier you know if I can find some light to play with I'm gonna be on the novel just right well and I remember Doug was doing a presentation and everything like for him his timeline he was like I remember unless she was playing this and then he lost a bit and I was like okay I got it Doug it's a big fan well especially especially with baseball my my wife is from Omaha I met her college world series and in in the 1960s the year of the one more home run and then we got married we got married the party before the Alabama championship name exactly and so I have posters all over the city that I can remember my my anniversary I love it and we love Miss Pam she and she gets emotional when she talks about your journey but a lot of these sports activities and things you would be with a friend right right the story goes is I said I started dialysis in June 2010 and this went until if we said October of 2013 and one Tuesday morning I was in dialysis and I got a phone call from a front of a month that a buddy of ours Shelby Holmes had been practically shot the night before walking home he had been out and was walking home and somebody came up on him and just shot and so you know this was a shock and and we were all pulling for Shelby to come through but unfortunately it didn't end up that way there's not a period in my life where I feel like that I didn't know Shelby he would he's like always been there with all of us at all the tailgates whether it was football basketball baseball whatever Shelby was just always there he had been interned and worked with the with the LSU athletic department for a number of years he had helped out of the he was a became a high alum and had kept their records for years and years whether there's statistician in all their games just you know Nastfala the Saints and LSU sports was Shelby's life you know absolutely loved those things and everybody talked about just how nice he was the big smile like yeah this is the guy that everybody has fired to be and you can't say anything bad about the guy I never saw in all the years that I knew Shelby I never saw him upset he was just like you said he had the most radiant smile and he always had a smile he loved life and it was infectious and I remember seeing that on the news I'm following the shooting and I just remember seeing that that smile but then I also remember seeing your wife crying and talking about how Shelby in death helped save your life and I was just wow you know watching this from home it was a you know it was a the circumstance around it is a storybook almost you couldn't like this once it was pretty obvious that Shelby wasn't gonna make it we were planning all of us were trying to figure out how we could help the family and what what did we do to do that and Pam very much so wanted to to get involved in health also so we decided that we were gonna open an account in regions bank to for all of us to make donations to help the family and so Pam that Shelby's mom is Dorothy at the bank to set this account up so that we could all make donations we had no idea what was going on at that time we figured that they were planning the funeral and we were all preparing for what was going to happen going forward and in conversation when Pam met Ms. Dorothy at region she was talking about how they were the hospital was taking care of Shelby and Pam didn't understand it first and then it became clear Shelby's family was gonna donate his organs well in conversation Pam is telling us Dorothy about you know that I am doing dialysis I'm on the transplant list and everything and she's going well they just asked me if I knew anybody that needed an organ she goes back to the lake and gives them my name so they saw the process I have no idea how long this is gonna last what's going on I go to bed thirty nights so Friday night about nine o'clock we get a phone call ten you being New Orleans a season so we're on our way so we load up Pam is calling everybody let them know what's going on and we had to go off well we got a picture with us of Shelby Shelby from Spanish Amorta Graw from one of the previous years so Shelby makes the picture of what Shelby makes the ride with us we put it up in the room Saturday morning they gave me the final word to take it to go we're gonna we're gonna operate on you tonight probably around eight o'clock and we're gonna so we're gonna get you ready to go from here that was the night of the Alabama football game and that was the night that they honored Shelby at halftime of the games so literally they're honoring Shelby in sider stadium when I am being rolled into the operating room and I said you all to receive his kidney and the that was a that was a Saturday the last Saturday in in October the following party with November the first and that was when they held Shelby funeral at the center pledge where he worked they it's the only room big enough to hold everybody to to honor him and you can imagine obviously I'm in New Orleans at the hospital but you know here we are two years later and you know knock all wood all all indications are that you know the kidney is functioning by and I'm functioning by and you know life is going on I love it I love it and if you search online at any time and you type in Shelby Holmes Doug Kossman you'll get to relive some of these stories but what's spurred on this and you heard him talk about Spanish town so Doug you know longtime member and they decided to honor Shelby to promote donation to get folks to sign up and to give back so you're really started paying it forward very early well you know I had made the senior when we were driving in New Orleans that you know we have this get your folder because it was acceptable that I was going to do everything in my power to make sure that number one the world didn't forget Shelby Holmes not that I thought they would but just to make sure and secondly to help increase the awareness for organ donations anything I could do to educate the public on making this possible for other people to change their lives I wanted to do so when we came to this time last year and we were starting the year up for the Spanish town for 2015 we were throwing up any about names of what we were going to name as the King Queen Grand Marshal and I had a friend of mine that had called me and said hey if you consider making Shelby the King and I had and we had and I threw it threw it out at the meeting and you know everybody was just that's a wonderful idea let's do it it's wonderful so I proceeded to get in touch with Shelby's mom to make sure that the family yeah to make sure that the family didn't have any problem with this somewhere along this line one of the first things that we do after the first year right before the ball is the what they call the royalty bunch brunch that the the women's auxiliary puts on and somebody in the woman's I really knew somebody or somebody with the hospital or somebody with Lopa and this is how this circle has been you know brought together of me getting in touch with them it was one of our hospital lifesavers they knew Lopa they knew Shelby's story they knew you and it just all came together at the right time we're in the right place at the right time and you talk about Miss Dorothy whenever I chat with her and I said you know we're gonna use Shelby's picture if that's okay with you to promote donation and she says you wear the one of him in that white hat where he's smiling because that's much charmer and I love it and she loves that you talk about him as well but not only the brunch which is fun by the way I enjoy the Spanish town antics but Joey you got to experience a little bit about the Spanish town ball thousands of people have gone and then we were lucky enough to get a glimpse inside and you guys party for calls it's really good it's amazing Doug what you guys put on my wife and I were both fortunate enough to attend and I attended many many balls you know a lot of different Mardi Gras balls and we both talked about how this was the most amazing most fun just let loose everybody it was such a fun event but then at the same time are you allowing us and you guys allowing Lopa to be part of the party and having everything in honor of Shelby it was just a very powerful it was fun but it was a powerful event I just it was such an enjoyable thing and it was a very nice meeting you I remember you know very vividly us meeting and hanging out at the table so I really wanted to thank you guys for putting on such a wonderful thing you know especially with Lopa in mind. We're seeing a snowball way beyond anything we can even imagine when we make Shelby King so you know we always laugh at the parade and the balls go on in spite of us and this one is definitely in spite of us this is snowballing become a great thing and I'm happy to be able to tell the story anytime any place pretty much so.
We know and we appreciate you and we appreciate you continuing to celebrate Shelby's life thanks Doug. Hey it was my pleasure anytime and I can put one more thing in there like I always tell everybody I get a chance to do this if you're not an organ donor please sign up please make a difference trust me you'll change somebody's life I've set every day that I get dialysis and I learned with 20 other people and you know each each and every one of them could be have their life changed by by somebody being able to donate an organ and that's just the ones that can continue on the other people that need other organs that don't have machines that can save them you know they don't get that second chance that I got so if you can bring it within your heart to sign up when you know we know you like them check the box but come in an organ donor let your family know you wish you trust me you will make a difference in somebody's life donate life la.org if you want to sign up today we appreciate Doug and we also want to let you know that Shelby and Doug and their story they are on our donor wall of heroes over at our Lady of the Lake Hospital on the first floor just past the chapel so if you want to check in to that donate life la.org today our technology segment Joey let's talk about using technology to register to be a donor and then sharing your wishes with your friends and your family so you may have seen this in the news when you go to the omv to renew your driver's license change your name that kind of thing we used to do it every four years when you renew your driver's license whether this new law has changed that to six years in the state of Louisiana well we know which is good because I don't like the eye test because I'm just saying but we don't want you to wait six years to take action when it comes to organ donation right we want you to do it now so we've been trying to come up with ideas to make it fast efficient for you so that hey let's do it and let's share it with everyone so if you turn to Facebook there's like a sign up now I'm gonna call it a tab so when you sign up it takes you directly to our registry where you put in your name boop boop boop boop boop boop boop boop boop boop boop some little information and bam you're in there so won't put it hard on your license but it'll put you as part of the registry saying that hey if I can help save lives I want to do that so that's awesome in itself also if you go to donate life la.org which we visit there frequently but there's these huge buttons can't miss them not even you all right so one of them in this huge bubble will say registry and then another one will say learn and another one will say promote and if you click on promote for example it'll give you ideas on how to spread your wishes or let folks know hey I'm a donor you should sign up too and so you can add it into your signature so if you send a lot of emails it could be jelly budro lopa clinical and then I'm an organ donor or you like you could add that to your signature and then one of our volunteers has taken it one step further and on her voicemail if you have to leave a message it says I'm an organ donor are you if not sign up you know just really quick it's always just getting the word out there reminding folks but we want you to take action today don't wait until tomorrow be part of our team help us save more lives and it's as easy as joining us on facebook or visiting donate life la.org do it today okay guys at this point in the podcast we'd like to take a moment and we'd like to honor a hero someone who has given the ultimate gift the gift of life and lori in this podcast we're gonna honor Jeremy Cole he was a young man and I read his story from what his mom said and it was so so touching let us her mom yes so she said no matter how old he is he's still my precious little boy he was a very outgoing level person and always has been he never met a stranger he had blonde hair so blonde it was almost white and the bluest of blue eyes with just a hint of mischief in him he was also always doing things for people it didn't matter what it was she talked about how they live next door to a older lady and as a ten year old boy he would go and help her with her groceries and and help her more grass and and he always asked his mom or a to-do list just so he can help out around the house he became a soldier he joined the army and he was stationed at Fort Benning and she says he was a handsome soldier following his years in the army he he worked offshore and then he said he wanted a trade so he became an electrician and then on his 36th birthday it was july 11th 2012 she spoke to him that morning and wished him happy birthday as she had done many times before she asked him what his plans were and he said that he was gonna go have dinner with his best friend they were gonna be grilling stakes and and they were going for a motorcycle ride and later on she felt like she needed to call him and in that in that call she said that his last words were to her i love you mom and i'll see you soon he had an accident and then through his death he went on to save many lives with his precious gifts of life and i'm just looking at his picture and you can see jeremy's picture at lopa.org and if you click on faces of donation you can not only see jeremy but you can see other heroes from our area you can read their story so um take the time to check that out but at this point the podcast let's pause and say thank you to jeremy col for the gift of life. Joey Jo question and answer time here on the gift of life podcast and this one actually came to me face to face i was out shopping and one of my friends came up to me and said okay we just started this venture with a driver's ed school and we need help with organ donation education what do i do and i said oh that's right up yalley right there this is some good stuff we want to have a new partner so i'm excited about that but we have the tools that they need to be successful in the classroom whether we show up or not but we always love to be a part well or you can find that information of course on our lopa.org page on the our professional section yeah there's a professional tab at the top of the page and then you'll see these tabs and there's a driver's ed page so information that you need links to videos that you can show that have the donors meeting the recipients the conversations that they have just amazing plus you have access to the facts that you can bring up have a discussion in your class also you can request a speaker so lopa.org slash speaker while you're there the closest community educator to you we go in and we help you educate we can bring a recipient or donor family if they're available at that time as well if you have any specific questions send them our way info at lopa.org we are here to help we have reached the end of yet another gifted life podcast and we are so grateful that we are able to have these healthy conversations about organ audience issue donation and we hope that you take some of what you learned here today and take it home share it with your friends do your part to help make life happen and it can be as easy as sharing something you saw on facebook or talking about something we shared with you today but we do want to thank our guests who helped us learn today absolutely we first want to thank dr. bujro and charles goner not only thank charles but congratulate him on 25 years being the first kidney pancreas transplant here in Louisiana amazing and just going strong amazing 25 years later and thanking them for telling us their story and kind of you know how things began here in the transplant world in Louisiana and then lastly i definitely want to thank Doug costman not only for coming you know and sharing his story and the story of shelby on the podcast but also thanking him in allowing us lopa to be part of his life and in doing everything that he's done with us especially through the uh spanish town baw and parried yeah and i'm just proud to be a part of it all as well you see all these people coming together to make life happen that is what it is all about so if you want to join with us you can info at lopa.org we can walk you through no pressure we'd try to tell you what's going on in your area if you can make it we'd love to see out there like tomorrow we have the robly run for life we have these other events as well get in there talk to other folks about what's going on what they do whatever you're comfortable with we want to use your your strongest talents to help us make life happen so let's team up today we hope you have a good one thanks for listening here on the gifted life