And welcome to the Get to Life podcast. We have conversations about organ, tissue, and eye donation. I'm Lori Steele. I'm Joey Boudreau.
I'm Sally Gentry. And together, you're saying thank you so much for tuning in. And today's a big day. April 15th, blue and green.
Let me see guys. Good. Good. I love it.
And we hope that you are sporting your blue and green too. We want to see it. We're going to tell you how to get that information to us. Maybe my prize too.
Where am I? We're going to have a guest today who's going to share a donor store with very special circumstances. That gives many meetings to the gift of life. Powerful.
And today on Family Services segment, we're going to speak with Michael Davidson, who's a heart recipient of 25 years. Wow. That is incredible. Yeah, he's participated in the 2014 Transplant Games.
And he's going to participate again in the 2016 Transplant Games. So he has a lot to tell us. We're going to talk to him. And we'll honor a hero all here on this episode of the Get to Life.
Man, we want people to hear it, right? That's right. He's helped. He's spreading the word about us.
I mean, it's fun. Like we said in our last episode, we've had over 20,000 downloads. Keep spreading the word. Tell everybody about us.
We're very educational. We're informative. You can find us on iTunes, Google Play, Pocketcast, or whatever. You can call us.
504, 648, 347, 7. We'd love to hear what you have to say or whatever questions you may have for us. Please call. You could be part of the podcast.
Also check out our social media sites. We're on Facebook. Donate Life, Louisiana. Also Twitter and Instagram at Donate Life, LA.
So a lot of what we talk about here, you'll find on those social media sites. So a simple share or a retweet could really help us with our life saving message. So thank you for what you already do. Help us spread the word.
Let's get going already. Yep. Yep. Yep.
This is a big day. I always look forward to this day because everybody who's anybody gets involved because it's just that easy. It's blue and green. Yep.
Yep. So I like the colors. Very bright. Very colorful.
I love it. We're all sporting it from the nails down. That's right. We like it.
The nails that we did last year. I saw some pets. You know, they were colorful. A lot of people who were in the plants.
They were doing blue and green. And those kinds of fun things. But this is a day where everybody can get involved. And the main goal, the bottom line is we're trying to increase awareness about organ donation.
And we're trying to increase registries across the country. So we're partnering with Donate Life America. We want you to do the same because, um, there are prizes. Yeah.
That's right. We don't want to make you do all this work. We're not then. We want to show it off.
Absolutely. Well, and also, you know, you can send in your best photo of blue and green. There's six different categories. Adult fashion, kids fashion, pet fashion.
I like it. Grewt photos, food and drinks, blue and green there. And places and decorations. And people have been really creative.
So we had a dog last year had the blue and green bow tie. We had a business that a recipient is tied to that business. And so they all got out there. They were there blue and green.
And then they spelled out Loba, you know, like Williams K, but like LOPA, which we love. But we're asking people to just be creative. Think outside the box, do something different. We had Mohawk that were blue and green.
I was thinking we'd do that for Joe. I think so. Yeah. You know, do that.
I'll do a full hawk. Is he having going on there? I know. What do you think?
Sorry. Yeah. You trust us Joe? Maybe not.
So here's the important thing. Donate Life America wants to see your pictures, but they can't have collages, borders, filters. I know you use filters. Your pictures when you're kidding.
When you post, but they want to see them. And so the pictures with the most likes wins a community choice award. And then all these categories that Sally talked about, there's going to be a panel of judges who goes on that. So we really want Donate Life America to see it.
We're going to share it on Donate Life Louisiana as well. But this could be a family fun project. So last year we had families. They had a dinner night.
They all were their blue and green and then they did fun things. That's what I want to see. Just involvement because that's what it's all about. And the winner of each category will be awarded $100 Amazon gift card.
We should have started with that really, right? $100. I like that. Okay.
So those winners will be announced Tuesday, April 26th, but start submitting today and then you have until the 19th at midnight. Everybody good? We're good. Plus we have lots of events going on in April because it is working donor awareness month.
So check out our calendar at lopa.org. See what's going on. If you can get involved, there's lots of fun things. Do it, right?
Don't hesitate. Jump in today. In our recovery segment here on the gifted life, a pro donation family sharing their incredible journey. What a story.
It is Laurie. We've got here with us the director of donation services at Life Gift in Houston, Jessica Roth. And she's going to tell us a little bit about a story that started on Christmas Eve this past year. It started with a pregnant mom who suffered in a tragic event and suffered a non-survivable injury.
So I'll start with you Jessica. Thank you for coming on. It's a pleasure. Can you tell us a little bit more about the story?
Yeah. So a young girl was admitted after having an accident. She actually fell from the back of the pickup truck hitting her head and suffering a severe traumatic brain injury immediately upon arrival to the hospital. It was realized that she was not going to recover and the family was told of her poor prognosis.
She had to be pregnant at the time when she was admitted. In fact, 23 weeks pregnant. And so if you know anything about that, the baby was at that time not even considered you know viable for survival. The family wanted to continue her care to see if the baby could be cared for and delivered safely.
But also verbalized at that time that they knew that she had registered to be an organ donor and wanted to know what their donation options were as well. And so then this kind of neat story ensued and we started working closely with the care team to make the family's wishes happen. So Jessica, so tell me a little bit about what that entails. Yeah.
So it was really kind of a neat situation. They put together an entire care team for this patient. And so it was made up of many different disciplines. And considering we had not only the young girl who was injured but also another patient to think about in this instance.
And that was a little baby. And so we had an OB obstetric team, including a perinatal specialist team and then also an intensive care team. And so they had to work very closely to collaborate because what might be good for mom may not be good for baby. And then we got to be kind of part of that in the middle and help to be the experts when it came to taking care of somebody with this type of traumatic brain injury and be part of the weekly care planning.
And so from the time that she came to the hospital until she did deliver, we met weekly as a multidisciplinary care team and really just discussed her goals of care each week depending on how she was doing and how baby was doing. That's got to be quite a challenge to maintain someone who has suffered such a traumatic brain injury. It's difficult for a couple of days at a time once the brain stops functioning, you know, all the hormones get out of wax so to speak. So we have to kind of trick the body into thinking that the brain is still functioning.
And to do that for a couple of days is a challenge. And in here you guys and the healthcare team there are having to balance, like you said, the needs of the baby and the fact that the brain is not working anymore. So there's a lot of hormone therapy and different medications and things that are involved that have to be quite a chore. It was quite a balancing act.
And one of the probably biggest struggles was just keeping her, what we call electrolytes or potassium levels, magnesium levels, things like that normalized. Every day in the normal healthy body, you know, your body kind of helps take care of those things naturally. And so in this situation, we have to do it through medications and replacement and things of such. Baby was remarkably stable throughout the entire course.
They did take her to see section on March 7th. That was just shy, I believe, of 36 weeks. So they were able to maintain her, you know, over 20 weeks of her being, you know, at the hospital. It's quite amazing.
And the donor herself, you know, besides some of the imbalances remain quite stable through the whole thing. And it just kind of shows you sometimes things are not all in our control. We were kind of at the mercy of what was going to happen next and just being very prepared for any situation. What I'm thinking to obviously outside of having to maintain that balance from a medical standpoint is the emotions that must come into play on every family that we've encountered and been able to help through this initial stage of grieving.
There are different challenges, unique challenges, but to see that there's this beautiful little baby there being born, all the emotions that have to take place. First, you guys are able to celebrate the life of a newborn child and how amazing that is in itself while at the same time mourning the death of the mom. And then at all, tying in with the whole donation piece that comes into play later, can you tell me a little bit about that? Yeah, this was really interesting because not only was she giving life, but she was also renewing a life and lives of others that were somewhat in the same situation as hers, wondering if they were going to be able to make it or see another day.
For the family, it was really, really amazing to see how they went through this process and how they were able to celebrate the end result. Again, like you said, not only did they have this beautiful little baby that came from it, but they also got to see her mom live on and create a legacy in the future that the baby be able to have some connection to that as well. It was also interesting or kind of a neat twist to this story. When the patient came in, the hospital was extremely busy.
And so the only unit that had a bed available was the transplant ICU unit. And so she was actually on the transplant unit, this her entire time and maintained. And so it really helped for the transplant team to also see that other side of donation, the beginning and get to close the loop on that. So it was really kind of a neat special situation that really, I almost made it even more positive in the end.
It's very, very rare for the listeners that most of the time, that's a very separate thing. And we've talked about that in previous podcasts. A lot of people kind of get confused with, they think every hospital is a donor hospital. As far as a transplant hospital, and every hospital has transplant recipients, and we kind of explain how things are so separate from the hospital standpoint and healthcare standpoint.
So even though they work in transplant, seeing the donor side is really a rare event. And then to have her for that time frame and then be involved emotionally like they've been, that's got to add some growth to them professionally, I would assume. Absolutely. And another thing that was very special in this case is typically our donors suffer an injury and a guy quickly and then the process moves pretty rapidly from the time they're injured to everything being over in general happening.
In this situation, the family got to spend an extended amount of time with their daughter's sister, niece, friend, while baby was being taken care of and brought to viability and the donor was being maintained. So I think it served to be a very special time for them as well and helped them to get through different stages of their grieving process that normally we wouldn't be able to see. And so just a learning process all around for the care team, for our team. And also I think for a lot of people who would normally not be able to be involved in the donation process.
Wow. And so I think that's the best way to get into this story of this story. I'm thinking how strong this family had to be and then they want people to know this story, the coordination efforts, the emotions of those first responders, that's just something. But you know, my mom, Jessica, I have to ask you, tell me about this baby.
Is the baby okay? Do they name the baby? Give me some detail. Yes.
Baby was healthy. Actually did not require any oxygen or any help with breathing when she was born. So her lungs were fully developed. She was a little over five pounds.
They named her NIMSA, NINFA, and she's still in the hospital learning to eat. And so when she takes a whole bottle, all of her cells will get to go home. And so they foresee that in the next week or so and she'll be living with grandma. Wow.
Jessica, that was an incredible story. We appreciate you taking the time to share that with us. Thank you so much. Yeah, definitely.
And I just wanted to add one more thing. You know, the donor was able to help five individuals with her lungs, liver, pancreas, and both her kidneys. So create a quite a legacy. All right, Jessica.
Thank you so much for sharing that story. That's incredible. Healthy baby, more life saved. This family continuing to spread awareness.
And these first responders who continue to go the extra mile. We love it. All right. We'll be back with more.
We have reached our family support segment and I feel like we're going from one wow story to another. Yes. And we hear this one. Hi, yes.
I'm pleased to introduce our guest, Michael Davidson. He's a heart recipient. So Michael, Sally was telling me before we got on the line with you that you've been having your heart for 25 years. I said, that's amazing.
Yeah, it'll be towards June. So back then, heart transplant transplant in general, it was such a, there was a newness to it. Can you remember back, you know, how you felt and what brought on your heart condition? Everything was kind of new to me and everything about the transplant.
The ICD implanted into my chest. And that's, and that's for the listeners. That's a, that's a defibrillator. So he had, so he was in a position where, you know, he had a defibrillator where his heart can stop at any moment, you know, and then it kind of jump started.
Very far child to head. Wow. And I'm a mom of a, of an eight year old. So I'm thinking, you know, she's very active, runs around.
So what was your life like? Well, we all care most of my life and I do much of anything because of the metal detectors of water or whatever. Really can do much of that stuff. I can do much of the normal activity to do pretty much like the basics, like getting up in the morning, that's a lot of getting dressed somewhere to come downstairs and everything on my part to.
Tell me a little bit about when you heard the doctors say you're going to need a heart transplant. How did that make you feel? Were you scared? Were you excited?
Maybe that you were going to start feeling better. So tell me about the emotions there. I was going to be having the transplant and everything. I'm a child.
So he's my pain and my family's been with me the whole way. You've been very fortunate to have a family there to support you and help you through all this. Sounds like you're surrounded by a lot of, a lot of medical professionals, which is great. And so what is life like for you now?
Just normal, normal guy? Life now is pretty much normal and everything. I mean, I'm shizing things. I do that stuff, cooking and cleaning something.
So I like that did before the transplant. It's just normal. So Michael, I understand when we talked a while back that you participated in the 2014 transplant games and that you're going to participate again this year, right? Yes, I am.
I'm planning on going to please your games and everything. And it's 25 year anniversary too. Oh, yeah. So what are your events?
What do you like to do? What are you going to do? I'm going to do a volleyball, if I can't have a team. Corn holes, which is a team back off.
And poker. Yes. Everything. And there's a trivia team.
The events I'll be doing at the game. Oh, great. Good. Well, I think you're a good representative.
We appreciate you sharing your story. It is a wow story. 25 years. That's amazing.
So thank you. And we know that you continue to help spread organ donor awareness. So we can't thank you enough to pay it forward. Yeah.
I just have lots of fun and things with people who come to the, you also wanted to know. Wow. Well, you are just a great representative. We can't thank you enough.
Think of the lives that you have helped to save as well. And we'll see you at the games in 2016. Yeah. Great.
Thank you so much, Michael. We really enjoyed talking with you. It is now time to honor a hero. Yes, sorry.
Today our special hero is Kelly Thrash. The story comes from mom. My son, Kelly, became an organ donor April 25th, 2004. That was the day that his life and mine ended.
But through this gift, others had the chance to live again. Kelly was my heart. I used to tell him that. And in 18, he was full of life and quick with a big smile.
I've been signed up to be an organ donor for years and as a nurse. I had explained to him how important it was to the many others that were waiting for that chance at life. I'll never forget him getting his new driver's license on his 18th birthday. He was so proud of that little red heart.
He said he had a license to save lives. We never dreamed it would only be two and a half months before his license would be used. Let me tell you a little about my Kelly. He married very close.
He worried over me a lot, but it had always been just him and I since he was just a baby. And I had divorced. He grew up just fine with the help of my parents and brothers. He was a big, tall, blonde kid with an infectious laugh, a smile that could light up a room and a love for animals and life in general.
He wasn't a saint nor perfect, but he tried hard. He didn't want to disappoint me. He was working and going to school in the evening to get his GED. When the accident happened and after I learned that Kelly would not live, the call to Loba was the first thing that was done.
It gave me a great sense of peace and comfort to know that although my Kelly was gone, he would still live on in others. And again, that's for Mom. You can read more about Kelly's story on our website, Loba.org. Click on Faces of Donation to learn more about Kelly.
At this time, let's say thank you to Kelly Thresh for the gift of life. We love when you correspond with us. So if you have a question, we want to answer it. If you call into our hotline, we want to share that with folks and we want this to be interactive.
So continue that. Sally got a question that came in and this is for you. This is your purview. I have written a letter to my son's donor family.
I'm wondering where I need to send it and how it should be addressed. When you're writing to the donor family, you can address it in your donor family. And then you can send it to us at Loba. 3545 North I-10 service road, sweet 300 in Metery, 7-002.
Or you can email your letter to familyservices at Loba.org and we'll make sure it gets to your donor's family. If by chance your donor did not come through Loba, we will certainly find out that information for you. And if you will, please make sure you include your return mailing address, your full name, and the best way for us to contact you. So that way we can let you know exactly what is going on with your correspondence.
And the great thing is we have tabs that help you construct that letter. Our address is on there as well. So basically a one-stop-shop that this is what you're looking for. So check that out, Loba.org.
I think it's under the Family Services tab. So you want to check that out. And our hotline number 5046483477, you want us to talk more about something relevant to a certain category, that's the place to do it. Keep them coming.
Another episode has come to a close. And you know guys, we've been talking to professionals from across the country and we learn from them. But guess what? We can learn from kids too, because they do say the darnest things.
We love them, right? So we got some audio sent in and we want you to take a listen. This is adorable. Mom, you know what I want to be with a grown-up?
Know what's that? A hero. Really? What kind of hero?
A organ donor. Like a adjuster. He saved five lives. Wow, that's awesome.
You know what else, Mom? What's that? A adjuster's heart is still beating in his mirror. And later, I know.
Isn't that the coolest thing ever? Oh, now that was so cute. I mean, he sounded just like me. I love it.
I love it. I said that he's got it. And the story was powerful. And it was just a short little story, but people are going to remember that.
And of course, that's Justin Harrison's family. You guys have heard Libby Harrison, who's our family services coordinator. No, I do know Libby. Libby's my coworker.
We ask for you guys to send us a little clips and we'll play it. We want to hear from you. We want to hear from kids. We want to hear from everyone.
So please call us 5048-348-3477. You heard the power behind that? We want you to call in. We want you to use that audio.
We love it. So thanks to Justin's family for continuing to honor that hero and to help spread awareness. It's a team effort. We've got to thank those other folks who are on the podcast today too.
Certainly we want to thank Jessica Roth out of Life Give the Houston for sharing that special story about how they've been part of helping one family through such a tragedy. And we thank Michael Davidson for sharing his story of how he's been living for the last 25 years and having a wonderful life. Yeah, just incredible. And Transplant Games, you'll hear more about that here on the podcast and our other forms of communication, just all good.
I'm smiling. I'm smiling. It's all good information. I love it.
Thanks for spreading the word about what we do and for helping us to do that. So go out today and do something you don't normally do to help make life happen. Where are you blue and green? Yes!