And welcome to the gifted life podcast where we have conversations about Oregon, tissue, and eye donation. I'm Joey Boudreau. And I'm Sally Gentry. And we are so grateful that you're choosing to tune in and help us make life happen.
This is a special episode. It's National Dony Life Month still. We're hanging on to it. But there was so much that was done so many stories shared.
It's just incredible. It's a good time for us all, especially, you know, I can tell you me being a clinician. We have a lot of front line work and it's so nice to be able to go out into the community and take part in these events, you know, and see and meeting with the donor families, recipients. It's just been a great month.
And you know, talking about that, Joey. And the events of our conversations with families are over the phone. So going to these different events and actually meeting donor families face to face and getting to talk and hug and share is really a great thing. All good.
And so we're going to take some of these stories from across the state and we're going to bring them to you in this episode. And we want people to hear it. We need your help to do it. Sure.
Spread the word. Let everyone know the gifted life is out there. We're giving good information. We're very informative.
Find us on iTunes or pocketcast or whatever your favorite app might be. But definitely spread the word. You know, again, we want you to be we want to be interactive. If you've got any questions, let us know.
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We're at donate life, LA. So join us as we strive to make life happen. Let's get this podcast underway. So as we mentioned, this is a special best of addition of the gifted life.
We are all exhausted from that donate life month because there are so many great events across the state. So many. Where do I start? I mean, we had many flag raisings and butterfly releases at a lot of different hospitals throughout the state.
Just beautiful. Yeah. We had trigger challenges through different areas in the state. We had a dancing with the stars with one of our superstars who's a liver and kidney transplant recipient one year out, dancing her tail off.
And of course, we had Ryan's run in Lafayette. And then last but not least, we had Alexis Angel sale, which is a beautiful event that's been going on for some years now. And with all these events, what a fantastic way to inform people about organ tissue and eye donation. I'm going to send it better myself.
I want to go into some of these events from across the state. Let's do it. Let's listen in. Welcome, everyone to Willis-Knighton.
This is the beginning of National Donate Life Month. I'm Corey King. I'm the transplant administrator here at Willis-Knighton in the John C. McDonald Regional Transplant Center.
Along with the rest of the hospital in the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency, I would like to welcome everyone. And thank you for attending. During today's ceremony, we will be raising a donate life flag to honor those who gave the gift of life through organ tissue and eye donation. We will honor these heroes who unselfishly gave this gift of life to somebody else.
There are 122,000 men, women and children on the National Transplant waiting list. Every 12 minutes, another person is added. In Louisiana alone, over 2,000 people are waiting for organ transplants. About 80% are kidney transplant patients.
Unfortunately, about 20 people die every day because there are far too few organs. The average waiting time for deceased kidney donation is three to five years, during which the patient is often on dialysis. We hope that this awareness will help save more lives. I would like to welcome now Ashley Davis, the professional educator for the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency.
She will continue with the ceremony. Hi everyone. My name is Ashley Davis and I work for Lópa, the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency. It is a complete honor to be here today.
Thank you to the Willis-Knight Transplant Center for having us here to celebrate those who gave the gift of life through organ tissue and eye donation. There are many donor family members present today and we are honored to have you here with us. We know it's hard to say goodbye to those that we've lost, but a part of them continues on through others. Their legacy continues on.
And we hope it can bring some peace to you and your family. April is National Dontate Life Month and hospitals across the United States are doing ceremonies just like this and so much more to celebrate those who gave the gift of life. There are over 122,000 people on the National Transplant Waiting List and about 2,000 of those people are right here in our state of Louisiana, some of which are even on the Willis-Knighton waiting list. These people are in dire need at a second chance at life and donation has become their only option and their only hope.
We'd like to now spotlight one of our recent donors that was at a Willis-Knighton and I'll ask Ms. Keisha Harris to come and speak on behalf of the donor family of Jeff Carr. Good morning. On behalf of the Carr family, we would like to thank you Lópa for your amazing support during our time of grief.
We will never forget Jeffery Carr's car. Born November 12, 1980 to Willie and Elene Carr. He was a 1998 graduate of Benton High School. He enjoyed coaching and mentoring young men and young women to become better.
He was a founding member of the Alden Bridge Showstopper Riding Club. He was a member of Street Respect Motorcycle Club and Health Ego Motorcycle Club. He was employed with Allen Electric Motor Company in Vivian, Louisiana. We will never forget.
He loved God and he loved his family. His children, Jaylen Coleman, Carley Shakar and Caitlin Carr, we will never forget. We will never forget the love of his life, Aisha Brumfield. We will never forget his only brother, Eric Carr.
We will never forget his love of others and his willingness to help in any situation. Jeff had a big brother mentality. He always thought he could tell us what to do. And for that, we will never forget.
Even in death, Jeffery's willingness to help others was evident. He was an organ donor. He was the ultimate sacrifice of a man who wanted to help. Knowing today that his organs were placed and saved people's lives is a great feeling.
We know that he lives on through the faces of others. When I was thinking about this, I thought about the heart. How important your heart is. How it could be placed in other human beings in order for that person to be able to live is remarkable.
Jeff's heart is a heart of gold, not was. That's Jeffery's heartbeat. We will never forget. Thank you, Kisha.
And thank you to the entire family of Jeff Carr for your story and sharing it with all of us today. We are truly honored. Now we would like to have a moment of silence while members of the Jeff Carr family, the children, raise the don't-night-life flag. All right, this is Lori Steele here at the Loba Donor Family Pit Nick.
I am talking to this cutie-patootie named Nova and his mom, Rosee De Pancreas from Hero Emily Simmers. What do you want to say? I don't know. Oh, you don't know.
What did Emily do? Do you remember? Emily Dei Babi Dei. Lori Steele here at the Loba Donor Family Pit Nick.
I'm visiting with Ms. Gwynette and she is the mom of Hero Will. We were talking about your sweet boy. Tell us about him.
Will was 14 years old when his accident happened, but Will loved riding bikes and playing Xbox and doing anything but homework. And he saved four lives with his organ donations. We're able to donate his two kidneys, his liver and his heart. And one thing that was really cool is that his liver was actually split between two donors.
So the smaller part of his liver went to a one-year-old and the larger part went to a 70-year-old. And you've met them. I have met them. The little boy actually lives in a hometown where I grew up.
And the 70-year-old lives in California. And we actually went to California last week and visited with her for the day with them. So that was really incredible and really special. I love how you light up when you talk about them.
This is every time we speak, you got a big smile, love this kid, cute kid. Tell us what this day means to you. This day is really special because it makes you realize how many other people are in the exact same situation as you. And you can talk to other people and share stories about us for Will and other people for their children or fathers or family members.
And so it just kind of brings everybody together and makes you realize what a large support system you have out there. This is Lori Steele. We are the Loca Donor family picnic and an incredible story unfolding right before my eyes. You have to hear it.
Lacey, I'm going to start with you. Tell us your connection to all of these folks here, your brother, hero. My brother was Dustin Meissen. He was a hero that saved Jackie Burns by donating his lungs.
Yeah. We know it's emotional. We appreciate you sharing the story and we know what this day means. I'm going to talk to Mr.
Jackie right now. Mr. And Lacey's brother, Dustin, saved my life. I was on the verge of death when I got the call to go to New Orleans.
From that point on, my life has been good. It's gotten better and better and I've been out almost 13 years now. So I've really been granted an extra life able to watch my grandchildren grow and also to meet this wonderful family of Dustin's. And we've been friends ever since we met, which has been many years ago.
So we know you had a long transplant. I'm going to talk to your wife, Olivia. Okay. Tell us about your daughter.
Kelly. Kelly died in an automobile accident from an an aneurysm. And she was able to give her heart to Laurie. Who's here?
Who's here right with me? And she saved her life and for others. So you know both sides? Yes, I'm Jackie's caregiver.
And I lost a daughter. So donation to you is what? Is it me? Everything.
Everything. All these people coming together. Okay, Miss. Olivia, you're going to make me cry here.
All right. No, no, it's all good. Miss Laurie, you were here. You just heard this story unfolding.
You were alive today. You received precious gifts. Kelly's heart. I received Kelly Burns heart.
And I was in Chicago and waiting in the hospital. And they called and said they had a perfect match. And Kelly Burns saved my life. And life today is what?
Oh, it's good to be here. It'll be two years this summer. And I'm just truly blessed and truly blessed to meet the family of my donor. It seems these families continue to pay it forward.
Miss Lacey, I'm going to come back to you. Donation to you and your family as I look at Dustin's picture on your shirt is what? It's a true gift of God. I mean, you can save so many people's life every day.
I try to tell somebody about organ donation. And anybody that knows me will tell you I am very passionate about it. And it just, you can save somebody. So just sign up.
Learn the facts is what we said. Yeah, learn the facts inside out. Mr. Jack, I'm going to make my way back to you.
You had the transplant. Your daughter gave the gift of life. So for you, we heard your wife got us into yours here. Donation is why?
It means everything in the world. I've not been on both sides of the pants now. I'm meeting these one of the people who gave me loans and seeing what my daughter did for this family and later here. So meeting those people, the recipients and the donors family is just unbelievable.
It's more than I could have asked for. I want to make the rounds. What does this day mean? We're at the Lopa donor family picnic.
We're celebrating life, the lives that were saved are heroes. So tell us what a day like this when we can all come together means. It's a huge celebration. I mean, just to meet the new heart recipient to extend our family.
I mean, this is really the only time we get to see each other, but we do keep in touch. Daily, in face book. And it's just a miracle. I mean, we love them to death.
Like, they've always been part of our family. That's incredible. It's a great celebration with all the capital letters of love and giving. I thank Lopa.
All have done. And being with all of these people, I'm sorry. We can feel the emotion. It is just such an enormous day.
And the giving from Lopa and the giving of life. Please, please, be sure your family knows that you want to be a donor because a lot of people don't know that. They don't look at your license. Make sure your family knows that you want to be a donor because it saves so many lives.
It extends the life of your loved ones. And then as Lori, for you, recipient, two years out? It means hope. It means I can keep going.
And I have a son who's 20, same as Kelly's son. And he wanted to make sure that I thanked everyone in the Burns family for this beautiful gift. And I'm just truly blessed. We know it's emotional, guys.
Thank you for taking the time to share your story. Thanks for doing that. Thanks for spreading awareness. Thank you so much.
Hi, this is Sally. We're at the Lopa donor family picnic. And with us today is Mary, who is Emily's mom, who was a donor several years ago. How are you doing today?
I'm doing good. Great. You enjoying yourself? I am.
I'm having too much fun here. Okay. Well, tell us a little bit about Emily. Well, Emily, she was 10 years old when I lost her, but she was my little drama queen.
She loved life. She loved to dress up as a princess, but yet she was a tomboy. So was her princess dresses with her rubber boots riding the four-wheelers, getting dirty like that. And she loved to sing and dance.
And I think when she was donated, when her arguments were donated, some of her just keeps moving on into her recipients because they'll call me and tell me, this is what's happening to me. That's not me. I'm like, that's Emily. You know, so it's pretty cool.
Yeah, that's right. So one of the lives they was Monica. This is Lori Steele here. We're having a great day at the Lopa donor family picnic.
Your life was saved because of Emily. I see your cute little boy, Nova. I remember you saying he was very smart. I can see that.
All right. So tell us how life is like. Life is new and free. A lot healthier.
Definitely a lot healthier. No daily insulin shots and no checking my glucose. No worrying about going out in public and if I'm going to make it home alive. Life is definitely way better.
So Emily helped you be the mom you want to be? Yes, without this transplant. My son wouldn't get to have the fun and normal life that he has. Incredible, and incredible that you are here today.
And this is a special day for all of our families. We do want to talk to Emily's dad Scott as well, but what a day. Absolutely. Beautiful day.
How are you Scott? I'm doing wonderful. I'm just feeling very blessed. So glad to see you here.
Feeling very blessed and I'm honored that Monica was able to come down with Nova and be a part of this with us today and share all this with us. So what does it mean that all the family is here today to remember Emily? We gained, we lost, but we gained a lot too. And just can't just thank God enough for everything we've been blessed with.
I'm here with Miss Benita and her son Ricardo was a donor. You said five years ago. Five years ago, Sunday, but exactly. Wow.
And can you tell us a little bit about Ricardo? Ricardo was born a twin. They were pre meets and really didn't expect him to leave his brother past after 14 hours. And I just feel like he took on the street love his brother because he didn't let anything stop him.
He had cerebral palsy. And the little basketball teams, baseball teams, even during the high school football team, which I was like, Oh my God, they're gonna kill him. They're gonna break his bones. But he was happy.
He was a happy boy, but he just didn't want to go to college. After graduation, he was like, Oh, so I told him you're going to go to school or you're going to get a job. So so he came to street forward to the diesel driving academy, got a CDL's got hired driving a saltwater truck and was happy to see could be about it. And maybe was listening to every weeks after he really started driving on his own that he had his accident.
And so had y'all ever talked about being an organ donor? Never. I found out after he passed that he registered in February and lost his life in a wow. Yes.
My goodness. So how has donation made a difference in losing Ricardo, you think? No nation has helped me to be one because knowing that he may not be here with me physically, he's out there. He's still carrying on.
He's he saves somebody's life. They're happy. They can move on with their life and do the things that they want to continue to do with their families. So I'm happy.
I mean, I couldn't be more happy. A lot of people look at me and you know, like I'm crazy when I say he died to bring me to know he gave his life for others. And that has been the most awesome feeling I could ever have it. I'm happy all the time.
And anytime I see local anywhere, I hear the word local, I'm like, Oh, I got to hang out what they're doing. I got to go where they are. I'm all about local now. Well, and we love you, you missed.
I love y'all. Y'all my fans today. And now I'm getting a big old hug. I just love hearing all that, especially the events I was able to attend.
It's just inspiring. I get rejuvenated. Yeah. And to hear people talk about what it means for them.
Most of our donor families who have attended have really enjoyed all the events that they've gone to. And it's been really inspiring uplifting. Just a great way for people to hear about organ tissue and eye donation. And of course, we talked to Melissa Devaney of Donate Life America.
And she talks a lot about how things have evolved, you know, over time from donation, you know, being kind of, you know, not very talked about to now, just being part of the culture, part of life. And those 30,000 transplants that happened last year, that were life saving transplants, wouldn't have happened without this progression, you know, of which starts with these events. Yeah, it's all of us working together, not only here in the state, but across the country. So let's listen into a special message from Donate Life America.
You'll hear that from Miss Melissa. And you will hear from other advocates from across the state. One of the other things that we have been working toward at Donate Life America is that with this growing culture where donation is accepted as sort of a fundamental human responsibility, we're working to engage not just transplant recipients and donor families, but everyone who's registered as a donor, everyone who has made that life saving and healing decision to see this as a movement or a cause that they are very much a part of. And I think that will go a long way toward continuing to build the culture of donation and the expectation that that's what will happen.
And we did some research recently with the public and learned somewhat to our dismay that when asked what was the most motivating of the facts that we usually provide about why to be a donor, that this concept that 22 people on average die every day because the organ they needed is not donated in time was a real motivator. That people really did not understand that folks are dying because of the lack of donated organs, not just having to wait longer for the transplant they need. Hi Lori, Sally and Joey, this is Wendy Lipsi calling in, I just finished listening to the episode that was aired on April Fool's Day, it was an amazing episode, I was truly touched by everyone's story and comments. I just wanted to say on April 1st which is today that I am so excited about organ donation awareness month and Blue and Green Day, I received a liver and kidney transplant one year ago, March 2015 and I'm grateful to my donor and I'm so happy to be alive and grateful.
I live each day for the fullest and I am just thankful that my donor and donor family said yes to organ donation, y'all are doing a great job with this podcast and spreading organ donation awareness. Thank you all for what you do for us and our families. Love to all, thanks, have a great day. We are here with Mr.
Kathy, President CEO of the North Oaks Health System, beautiful flag raising today, tell us why you guys do it. Well it is something that we do with LOPA, it's to recognize, to celebrate life, it is to honor the donors and their families and then to just talk about the many, many lives that are saved through a donation, through a donor program that we have in our country, our state and we're just honored to be a part of such a recognition that we can have for all the very special heroes in our area. And it's just incredible these numbers over the last 10 years, 27 organ donors from North Oaks, 103 organ transplanted and 90 lives saved. Amazing.
That is, I mean, one would be a big number, but when you have 90 it is very special, yeah, we're just very proud to be a part of something like that. And you know, I would just encourage everyone to consider organ donation, you know, we never want to think about being in that position, but sometimes great tragic things happen. But again, we honor our donors and we're very excited for our recipients. And we appreciate the continued partnership and the education to the public.
We have a great responsibility than just providing care inside our walls. Part of our goal and our mission is to educate the public on all healthcare subjects that can affect them in their lives, beginning of life and then at the end of life. Hi, this is Sally. I'm here with Rhonda Porter and she's having the Alexis Angel cell today that she's had now for how many years?
13 years. 13 years. And a wonderful turnout. Tell us a little bit more about it.
After Alexis first two birthdays that she was going on, we decided that we would have a celebration of her life and we wanted to do something positive. Since she was an organ donor, we decided that that would be a wonderful way to celebrate her life by promoting organ donation. And yes, so that we could help others. And so we have a Demalaya and we have plants and we have crafts and we have a little bit of garage sale stuff.
And we also have the blood mobile here so that anybody that wants to be a donor on the spot can do that today. So great. Yes. That's wonderful.
This is a fantastic way to celebrate Alexis life and your remembrance of her. It's a wonderful day, a beautiful day today. And thank you so much. We thank you all for coming out.
I'm here with Heather Moore and she is a recipient. She joined us today at St. Francis Hospital in Monroe for our donor, Walzermoni. And by raising and Heather, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Okay. Well, when I turned seven years old, I got diabetes and struggled with that for a month to two years like most people do. But then when I turned 28, my blood pressure just went through the roof and that's when my kidney went out. So I started dialysis when I was 28 and I got on the list at the same time.
So when I got on the list, it was exactly two years I had to wait for my transplant, which is not long at all. I feel blessed to have waited so little. But I had my transplant, no rejection to brain for 13 years. Then I got pancreatitis in the transplant kidney and that kind of started the roller coaster of everything.
It'll be three years in October that I got on the list again and I waited exactly 12 days on the transplant list and they called me with an identical perfect match from a guy out of Colorado. So if you're a perfect match, you get that kidney. So I have been beyond blessed. It really is amazing.
And I try to do things in my community, try to pay it forward because there's a reason I'm here and there's a reason I keep going. I'm just amazed and so thankful about the families that do, that do organ donation and they really are saving the lives of others. And I'm so thankful for the company. Yeah.
So ceremonies like this mean the world to you. Oh, these ceremonies, they do. They do. And I want them to know that I am paying for it.
I do appreciate this gift of life. I've been given it's not, it's not just to keep me living every day. It's to keep me living to spread the word about organ donation and helping others. Perfect.
Thank you so much. Thank you. This is Sally Gentry. We're at the Loput donor family picnic and with me today is Cheryl Wheeler.
Her son Kermit was a donor and Cheryl tell us a little bit about Kermit. Kermit was the first one of identical twins. His other twin is Kerry and Kermit was a very outgoing, friendly person, always willing to help people. I didn't even know that he was an organ donor until his time of death.
When Loput approached me about him donating to organs and I wasn't aware that he was an organ donor and he saved four lives. Both kidneys deliver in pancreas and I did contact Loput to reach out to the recipients and I did hear back from two recipients, both kidney recipients and one of which I'm here today at the picnic with her three girls and we stay in constant communication and she's always there with me. Her name is Michelle Parker and she's here now. And last year I had the opportunity to meet the doctor that did the transplant surgery for Michelle.
But like I said Kermit was a very outgoing, loving person and we miss him dearly but I'm so blessed to know that he was unselfish to share his organs with others. And as a result of that I became an organ donor. His twin brother became a donor and other family members became a donor. So I'm always advocating for people to donate the organs because it's such a blessing to be with Michelle to know that Kermit still lives on through others and I didn't have I don't have grandkids but she has three daughters so they have become my granddaughters.
Oh that's a great story. Yes, it's such a blessing. Absolutely. And we're just so grateful that both families were able to meet because of the tragedy of death became a blessing to someone else.
So now they are part of our family forever. Good, well you're enjoying your day then. Thank you, yes I am. Good wonderful.
So nice to have you all here. Thank you. Thank you. Michelle what's it been like for you since you've had the transplant?
It's actually been wonderful because being on dialysis was very draining. So once I got the transplant the first time I actually got a call before then but the kidney wasn't good then I they called me back again and they told me to come right away the kidney was good came up there. I wasn't nervous. I think I think my mind was one nervous then I was went in the surgery was successful even though it took longer than they said and everything's been great ever since all blood work has always come back good.
I never had a problem with the kidney since I got it. I was on 21 pills after I had my kidney after I got the kidney now I'm only on six. That's the question. That's wonderful.
Well and so now you have time to spend with your family. You're now an extended family. Yes. Wonderful.
Actually my family actually came down to New Orleans and made her whole family so it was actually wonderful. That was wonderful. You just heard from one of our donor families who attended the LOPA family picnic. This is a picnic that's very uplifting.
We celebrate people's lives and it has evolved over time. There was once upon a time when we did not do quite as much to celebrate someone's life and now we found that this is a way that individuals and their families and everyone that's involved can make a difference and they do make a difference and we love hearing from each and every one of them. It's a good time. I love hearing the stories of their loved ones and I love some of their recipients who come out to help us as well.
They're volunteering but it's just a good day. A good day in the books. And Laurie this is of course one of my favorite events of the year. It gives me an opportunity to be able to interact with so many donor families throughout the day.
So I don't think I've missed one in the last few years and I certainly don't plan on missing it in the future because again this is one of my favorite events of the year. And thank you to everybody the LOPA staff, volunteers, people who just lend a hand to make all of these events possible and successful. So this is a special episode of The Gifted Life but we do want to take time to honor our hero as we do in every podcast. Certainly Laurie.
The latest hero that we'll be honoring is Heidi King Johnson. Yeah I want to tell you a little bit about Heidi's story and this is coming from mom. My daughter Heidi was 28 years old when she left us. She was a vivacious young lady and her electrifying blue eyes and her big smile would light up her room.
Her nicknames were blue eyes and Heidi Pearl. Her warm heart and big smile served her well in her livelihood of customer service and property management. Commendations were frequently passed on to her superiors. Many were surprised when she took her life.
Outward appearance was deceiving. She had a lot of turmoil with her soul. Her generous spirit was validated and came as no surprise when she chose to be an organ donor because of this. Her spirit will stay alive and benefit someone a chance at life.
Again that comes from mom and there's more to Heidi's story you can find it at loba.org click on faces of donations so you can read the story and then you can see this great picture that goes with it. At this time let's pause and say thank you to Heidi for the gift of life. This special episode of The Gifted Life is now it's in. Yeah so we had a great National Gownate Life month.
We had so many people who came together with a sole purpose of spreading awareness of organ eye and tissue donation increasing our donor registry not only here in the state but during April across the country. A special thanks to all those who attended our events who volunteered and all those who shared their stories with us here on the gift of life. Yeah and don't forget if you guys have any questions for us or any comments don't forget to email us info at loba.org. And remember you can also give us a call at 5046483477.
It's that easy and we may use your audio on this podcast. We wanted to be interactive. Get involved today. Thanks for listening everybody.
Thanks for all you do to help us make life happen. Go out and do something you don't normally do to drive that point home. Have a good one. Have a good one.
Bye.