Hello everyone and welcome to the gift of life podcast where we talk about organ tissue and I donation I'm Laurie Steele a community educator with a Louisiana organ procurement agency or LOPA and joining me is Joey Boudreau. Hey Joey Hey, Laurie. Hey, he's our chief clinical officer here at LOPA. So together we try to bring you as much information as possible But we need your help to get this information to more people we hope that you help us spread the word and it's easy to do It's absolutely easy Laura.
You can subscribe to us find us on iTunes pocket casts tune in stitch or beyond pod Miro and not only subscribe We like you to rate us and give us some feedback. Yes, we're everywhere. Let me tell you it's very easy to do on my phone It was almost automatically set up. So there was an podcast app.
I hit it. I searched for the gift of life and there we were Simple. It was amazing. Yes, and it was good.
So I gave us five stars if you can do it. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Yes, sir Yes, sir. Also, don't forget about us on Facebook Twitter Instagram Look for donate life Louisiana when it comes to Facebook because a lot of the things that we talk about you can see in pictures and a lot of these Recipient folks who come out with us we post their pictures on there tell their stories and we want that feedback from you too So please do here on the gift of life podcast today There's lots more going on and we will be talking in the new segment about essence festival Which is coming up on the July 4th weekend.
So calling all volunteers get ready absolutely and Laurie and I'll recover segment We're gonna be talking to a kidney transplant surgeon She's gonna be talking to us about a little bit of the changes that happen with our kidney allocation system Always good to know education is key We'll also be busting myths and today we tackle one of the biggest myths that we hear most often out and about in our community segment We're gonna be talking to a transplant recipient and her ties to a future major leaguer I love our athletes and our technology segment how social media is playing a role in getting the word out about donation and last Laurie Of course, we're gonna be honoring a hero as we do in every podcast I think that's one of our favorite segments here plus we'll be taking your questions and so much more here on the gifted life podcast We've reached the news segment at the gifted life podcast and Joey we have an update update on what Laurie update on Acutey Petootie his name is Briggs Ellis Sir he just earned six months old and we talked about him in a previous podcast But he was very sick He was born with a liver disease billy area Tresha and doctor said that he would need a liver transplant Well mom texted me in the middle of the night and she said guess what it's official. He's listed So he's officially listed there waiting for the call for this life-saving call, but in the meantime, you know what mom's doing What's that she's taking Briggs around to different areas and educating about donation? I just think it's so cool. I've seen pictures and it's amazing when you look at him.
He looks like he's so full of life He's so happy. He's got such a strong personality at such a young age even though he's going through all this I think he's a little flirt to because I start talking to him. I get this like crooked smile, you know, it kind of reminds me of Elvis Like hey ladies, how you doing? He's so cute.
Mom made him a shirt It's a green shirt with a blue drawing and you know the Superman logo with the S in the middle well instead of the S in the middle It's the B for Briggs and she says he's their superhero because he's going through all this stuff But he still has a smile on his face, which is pretty cool. We're talking about this You want to see this cute guy check us out on Facebook donate life, Louisiana But one of the interesting things that I've learned from hanging out with mom is that in her younger years She went to the omv and they asked do you want to be an organ donor and at first? She said yes, and then she said no and so I was curious about that and I said no why is that and she said I just I wasn't educated I didn't know enough and she said and that's why I spent all my free time when I can and Briggs is having a good day Trying to tell someone about organ donation how it can save a life And she really gets emotional about it because it's this little nugget He's just six months old but she's hoping that his story can help save other lives as well How cool is that it is and that's exactly what we're here for you know the fact that she said no, you know She had originally said yes, and just because of a lack of education, you know She said no It's the right thing to do you know But without that education out there without us able to spread the word like we are and without other spreading the word more people say No, just because well, I don't really know about it. So that's what we're here to do That's it and Briggs connects with these audiences The last audience that we were in front of were high schoolers and they wanted to know all about and pinch his cheeks We took a picture around with him which he went too happy about like he was done signing autographs by that time But just the cutest little thing so check out our Facebook page donate life Louisiana for updates Not only on Briggs but other folks that are in our LOPA family as well So Joey we have that going on plus much more and we're hoping that folks get involved absolutely Laurie just around the corner Is the essence festival it's gonna be on Fourth of July weekend as it always is yes calling all volunteers the person who knows the most about This is LOPA community educator and just all around Wonder Woman really.
I'm her name is Sharon Raymond. How are you? Hey, I'm great. How are you doing today?
Good. Tell us about your coverage area and where you mainly spend most of your time I'm usually in North Louisiana Shreveport Boja area all the way down to many Mansfield so the pretty much the North West Louisiana area is my my coverage area. So you basically do everything we love it Now where will you be July 4 weekend as always I will be at the Erneston Wario Convention Center in downtown Orleans Louisiana that is where we will host our community table for a LOPA at the essence music festival and you don't want to say Awesome. Yes, so Joey now reading up on this annual music festival It's called a party with a purpose to celebrate essence really a magazine aimed primarily towards African American women So why is it so awesome that we are there in the middle of this huge music fest?
It is awesome because with our community outreach program We not only educate for organization, but we also educate the public on a preventative side and the reason why people are waiting for a Transplant as you know African Americans have a very high rate of high blood pressure and diabetes and we make most of the kidney waiting list So this is a quiet example of an opportunity that we could not miss and we have to be there to sign up as many people as we can So that we can get some of our own culture off of the list man. She's getting excited about it That's amazing, you know Not only do they do you know talk about the donation but to talk about the preventative side like they do and try to catch it before There's an issue before they need to be transplanted. That's a really wonderful thing that you guys do Sharon Yes, it is And you know what when we go into high school and middle school We instill in the children that they need to ask questions when you're talking to their family about health issues because we find out They're when they go off the college a lot of them don't even know what in what's in their family history And if you don't know you have a genetic disposition to high blood pressure or diabetes They're not going to get risk for a real failure So Joey and I were looking at the stats when it comes to the essence festival because you guys do such a great job Educating there and what we've learned is that every time this festival comes around You guys are able to sign up a lot of people to become organ donors Definitely every year gets bigger and better and we generally get about 300 new registered So that is phenomenal and that is why we need so many more people to come out and tell us because it's getting overwhelming for just Yeah, Cheryl heels has always been there from the beginning and right now We'll have two tables set up at the Morielle convention center So we're gonna need more people to come out and you're not gonna want to miss this opportunity to meet some of your biggest and brightest and your best Entertainers you will get to see them up close and personal you'll get their autograph You can walk around and meet people like Steve Harvey Tyler Perry and some of the people that you only see on screen We'll be at the conventions in or that weekend. Who can you get me on family feud?
Now let me ask you I saw a volunteer call out on our Facebook page donate life Louisiana But if someone signs up to volunteer on what essentially will they be doing? They actually first of all they need to come prepared They need to come dress in some comfortable clothing ready to be a cheerleader for Loba and organ donation And they need to wear some very comfortable shoes because when we get there everybody wants to come to our table We have the best table every year and it's so awesome that we have actually been spotlighted in the essence magazine twice Just this spring time alone just to let people know we will be there So when they get on site they need to be ready to talk to people They need to be ready to explain what organ tissue donation is and how we can affect the community just by signing up and telling your family What's your wish you are and let me tell you you can work alongside Sharon and Cheryl who will help you as well So if you're thinking this is something you want to do send us your info at info at lopa.org that I confused you Joey Alright info at lopa.org and just put in the subject line essence festival volunteer and one of these fine ladies will sign you up But I can see why we're so successful because listen the passion in this woman's voice She enjoys herself number one so it must not be like work. You're having a good time out there It is a lot fun. You don't have to have any experience.
We do on the drop training every single day So third week with my day whatever day you want to find out and before maybe an hour is even up you'll be an experience Educator awesome. We love it. Thank you so much. Miss Sharon.
You're welcome. Thank you for calling. Thank you Sharon You too and good luck at the essence festival that's July fourth weekend you're thinking about volunteering This may be the way to go. It's very informal.
You have professionals at your side and then you get to have a good time a lot of anything So I love me some Sharon. Absolutely. I'm excited about this essence festival I'm excited about the volunteers will show up, but mostly I'm excited about the potential live saved because of the work being done there Yeah big kudos to Sharon and Cheryl. It's a lot of work It's fun work, you know But to have the the impact that they have and to be able to educate like they do and have 300 people throughout the United States I mean these are people from across the US not just in Louisiana So they're signing up not only in Louisiana to save lives They're signing up from in the Texas registry or the Florida registry or you know So it's a huge impact and like we said the impact of one person is huge Basically a big deal and you want to be a part of it.
So info at lopa.org to get involved today It is now time for our recovery segment here on the gifted life podcast and Joey You know, we look over stats before we get to the podcast and right now over 80% of the wait list both nationally and in the state of Louisiana Is for a kidney. That's very important people ask lots of questions about it And that's what we kind of wanted to focus on kidney transplantation That's right and that's why we decided to bring on uh, we have a transplant surgeon that we've called online doctor emily I'm Ed She's an abdominal transplant surgeon for ashram multi organ transplant institute and she's come down recently I met her for the first time a few months ago. She came down from Wisconsin I didn't hear her say a so what's your So, how are you doing doc? I'm doing well.
How are you really really good? We appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule But we think it's so important that we help educate especially when it comes to kidney transplantation. So we appreciate you Thank you happy to take part absolutely and my first question is kind of an obvious one What got you into becoming an abdominal transplant surgeon? Oh, there's so many things It's really it's a great job And it's really an honor to do what I do to be able to interact with people who are clearly suffering from diseases be it kidney failure with a failure whatnot and are significantly impacted and Both their quality of life and their overall mortality And so to be able to interact with someone in that condition and really be able to make an impact and totally change Their life both in terms of how they feel and their quality of life and really extend their life and productivity and really see a huge change And to me that's a great honor to take part in and we get to see your work each and every day And it's just amazing what you're able to do and doc we get to see you know from our end We help the donor families out we support you know our big focus of course is supporting the donor families We don't get that opportunity like you as often to be able to see that change That's made to watch someone go through what they go through for sometimes years You know and then all of a sudden a transplant comes available and they have that second chance Can you take me through what that looks like and the difficulties that you see and then of course the rejoicing of that patient and of course their family?
Sure, but when we're talking about kidney transplant and thinking about patients and kidney failure requiring dialysis and really giving up a huge portion of their Their time and their life to dialysis Which not only takes apart takes away their the time they have available to do the things that they did before and to interact with family and friends and to work But it's also very physically taxing at times and to see people that at one time were happy and vibrant and productive and it really being on dialysis Changes a lot of that and to bring them through the transplant process and to take away that need for dialysis and to really to give them back Another chance to give them better energy their ability to interact and do the day-to-day things that they wanted to do But couldn't it's really it's it's great and it'd be surprising how quickly that transition can happen after transplant It's really great to see and to continue to follow you know six months a year five years down the road and really see how people have changed So speaking of how quickly so how quickly is it specifically like say with a kidney transplant? So someone who's gone two and three years without their kidneys functioning at all and having to be married to that dialysis machine And in the transplant takes place. So then how long does it generally take on average for them to start seeing the fruits of your labors and and add gift start functioning? Well, you know every transplant is a little bit different, but you'd be amazed at how many people even in the first day or so after surgery once that new kidney is working Say how much better they feel already, but you know every every situation is different and I will say that patients are the longer they're on dialysis Sometimes the heart of the recovery is sometimes the longer it takes for things to get back to normal And sometimes it's the heart of the surgery is but you'd be surprised at how quickly people start to notice a change Even if it's not you know a full recovery to notice little things all of them starting to get better You know the people often complain of a lot of nausea a lot of GI or discomfort a lot of fatigue and and often a lot of those things Change early on after surgery even earlier than the full kidney function is restored You mentioned that length of time that people are waiting We've recently had big changes come up in the organ donation and transplantation world and and those have been a long time coming I can remember quite a few years trying to figure out a new kidney allocation system that would be you know more beneficial to more recipients So can you tell us a little bit about the challenges with the old system and then the impacts that you've seen now with the changes that have taken place now Since December 4th, sure I think that the one of the key things to remember is that there are there's so much more demands than we have the ability to give You know along with that comes with this necessary wait time and the wait time is very as you know But can be significant you know, I mean what are of you know three to five or more years depending on the situation And so I mean with the old system there were definitely people that waited a lot longer than others You know patients that had a highly sensitized or at a high likelihood of reacting to a new kidney And have finding a match was difficult.
Um, there were patients that were on dialysis for a long time prior to entering into the the transplant Process and evaluation process and as I mentioned being on dialysis is hard on the body and the longer that john dialysis the harder things are With regards to getting through the surgery and recovery and and so I think those people were also slightly disadvantaged And those are some of the big things that have changed with the new allocation system So that the time that you're waiting on dialysis by a kidney transplant now factors and and you know, highly sensitized patients Patients that have a high likelihood of reacting to kidneys and might need to be offered multiple kidneys before they find one that matches Those are those are patients that I think benefit from this new system and overall Matching patients with the right kidney so that you can maximize the amount of benefit that each individual is going to receive from a kidney So that young patients that have you know many many years ahead of them with a good functioning kidney get the right kidney for them And I think that's all those are all the benefits of the new system that we've seen we've certainly seen that on our side as well We've seen some of those very highly sensitized patients, you know that before we're kind of like you said Disadvantaged on the list and they've been on the list for years and years and years because it's hard when you're highly sensitized It's hard for you to match up. You it's a lot of chance for rejection there So so now that a priority is placed on those and they get the first kind of the first options there And we've seen a lot of those patients come on the list that have been waiting for 10 years and sometimes longer So it's been a really good change that we've seen obviously i'm very happy to hear that it's Right, I think because a lot of those patients I think in the old system may have gone, you know another five 10 or more years Or may never have gotten transplanted. So I think that's a huge benefit that we've seen Well, doc. Thank you very much for taking that time.
How do you how are you busy schedule? Yes? I was taking notes very good come and talk to us Well, thank you so much for inviting me. It was my pleasure.
She was really good. Absolutely. We enjoyed her full knowledge Dr. Ahmed and then we were pulling just the stats just to give you an idea because folks ask us But in the state of Louisiana there's about 2,000 people waiting on a life-saving organ transplant a little more than 2,000 of that 2000 About 1,759 are waiting on a kidney.
So she talked about the demands being there the demand is there So, um across the country there's about 122,000 people who are waiting and of those 101,000 are waiting on a kidney Just to kind of put that in perspective and give you some numbers to toss around But she talked about after the transplant you can see An ability to live you can see these folks kind of popping back into it with this gift of life And we have a recipient named Doug costman. He received a kidney transplant direct donation from his friend shelby And this is in the Baton Rouge area, but he said I knew something was wrong with me because I had no energy To play my favorite sport golf. I couldn't go out. I couldn't work I couldn't do it and he said it was just taking its toll and then he says I get this gift of life And he says I'm out there every day if mother nature allows if there's no rain Um, so he is fun to talk to and you can really see the difference Uh, just like dr Ahmed was saying about the ability to recover quickly He is uh, you know on the rise and we love that also We had an event on LSU's campus and we had kind of put it out in the local media And this woman saw that this event was going on so she showed up on campus and she said hey I want to join in i'm a kidney transplant recipient I'm like fantastic and always ask tell me your story when was this and she said over 30 years ago And she said I am fine and she said so I figured I better start, you know jumping in and helping out So it's just amazing to hear these different stories Um, but dr I met was was right that a man is out there we hear about it every day and um what we can do now to help is to educate to spread the word What we're doing?
Okay, joey you ready? I am time to bust some myths here Yes, and we want to revisit Something that has been in the news lately and something that we hear an awful lot about one of the myths that Circulating and one of the ones that we battle a lot is if I agree to donate my organs The hospital staff won't work as hard to save my life A lot of the newspapers not only louisiana but across the country have been talking about organ donation awareness Which is just phenomenal. It's just great And so one of the myths that they brought up was this if I agree to donate the hospital staff won't work as hard to save my life What say you well all right? It's something we've talked about before but since it keeps coming up just wanted to kind of reiterate you'll be seen by a doctor Who specialty most closely matches your particular emergency not by someone who performs a transplant like for example If you come in with a head injury you most likely be seen by neurologists are neurosurgeon Not a transplant liver transplant surgeon or heart transplant surgeon.
They have no affiliation with each other as I've said before There are only three transplant centers in the state of louisiana, but there are hundreds of hospitals So these transplants surgeons are only affiliated in those particular hospitals and they only do their surgeries their transplants There's no connection from one to the other and what's interesting about this for me is that when i'm out in the community I can be in a high school class I can be in a biology class or a physical education class I could be with adults. I could be at the om v. I could be with older folks And this is one that you hear across those generations And I think it's just about education and once folks understand more than likely they'll say yes because they want to help save lives They just don't understand and this is the one that we just keep hearing again and again All right, so the point of this segment is to bust those myths and we need your help So spread the word not only about this podcast but our facebook instagram twitter pages and hey Maybe you have a question as well. We want to spur those conversations at home So info at lopa.org get in on the conversation and be a lifesaver.
It only takes one person And we have reached the community segment here on the gifted life And one of my dear friends is joining us by phone to talk about something spectacular that happened It's kind of tied to the super regionals that we just had uh not too long ago here in the state Yes in all eyes were on that. Oh, you perked up. Yes. I was my alma mater against my other favorite team U.L.F yet against l s u so it was a huge it was a house divided there my wife went to l s u I went to u.L.F.
Yes, same here i'm a raging cajun fan down the middle as well But no matter what there was a Louisiana team Yes in there making making a name for itself So we love it joining us by phone is windy lipsy who is a transplant recipient and a little firecracker How are you doing windy? I am doing wonderful. How are you all? We are great.
Yeah, we're glad that you can join us Now just to catch the audience up you just celebrated quite an anniversary was it three months? Yes, it is three. I just celebrated three months I have on what the second I had a kidney and a liver transplant and oxygen in New Orleans And how are you doing? I'm doing awesome.
I feel great. I've got lots of energy and I'm still alive and I'm happy to be around She inspires me to live life to the fullest for sure But I have to share this story windy joey she has a son named luke who's just a cutie patootie when I first met him about five years ago Yes, he is he came up to me and he says um can i have your phone number and I said well sure But he did that with a lot of ladies but um so about three months ago my phone rang late at night And it said luke sure wrote up on my phone. I said okay So you know when you get a late night phone call something's going on and he said we got the call And he was so nervous but he was so filled with hope because mom was gonna get a second chance And windy i'll never forget that phone call because now you and luke are just living life, huh? You're giving me the goosebumps.
Yes, we are living the life. No, I had a liver training point six years ago And it kept me alive and going for many many years and yeah, that was an emotional phone call I'm sure that we made to you that mom was gonna make it mom was getting a liver and a kidney It's so awesome And I pulled a picture of them out at an outdoor festival because they're smiling so bright their eyes are shining It's just like we are here Thanks to a hero which is amazing and that's why windy does so much to help spread the word about organ donation If you call her phone joey, it says if you're not an organ donor sign up like the message is everywhere But recently she was running elbows with one of your favorite players who is it for us you Alex breggman absolute one of my favorite players of all time actually Let me show you here they good kind hearted young man. That's great to hear He was recently selected as the second overall player in the major league draft So he's gonna be a future major leaguer. Yeah, we were there at that party when he was selected and drafted I mean you should have seen them jump off with excitement off of that count when he was pick his name was chosen It was an amazing evening.
It was so cool. That night He was wearing the organ donation local bracelet, which was pretty cool that he had put it on for a game Which we'll talk about in a few minutes, but he didn't take it off This was days later. So wearing that bracelet I saw the bracelet as he hugged his dad after he got that message that he was selected second overall Which was pretty cool So just to give you a little background on this all around good guy He did some interning with jeffrey marks if you want to know about jeffrey and his tied to donation jeffrey marks.org But he had a sister named windy marks who had a liver disease she had hepatitis B She struggled they shared their story with mini and it captured a lot of attention from a lot of different folks One of them being olympic champion carl lewis Right and so jeffrey calls me up on a sunday afternoon and says hey We have this amazing opportunity to spread the word about donation. Can you help?
Well, of course we say yes What do you need and he says this amazing star player wants to wear this bracelet? So I know that he called you as well windy We were all in connection that afternoon, but what did that mean that this little boy that had all these eyes on him I say little boy, but he's a grown a grown man with so much talent But that he would decide to do that to help save more lives. I mean that's amazing He's such a good kind-hearted young man. I mean, you know, he I don't know if y'all know that he had shaved his head Absolutely before one of the games It's a fourth announcement that he did it to get his mojo back But in fact, Alex is one of his best friends mother was just diagnosed with pamper And uh, he shaved his head in honor of her and the night that for his draft pick I ran up to him and got a picture with him and gave him a big hug And he showed me a bracelet.
He goes. I'm wearing this in honor of you So just a good guy. We were so happy that things were working out for him I love to see those emotional this happened for me and it's happening to a good guy And the cool part was you know, you had to wait for the news and everything to kind of come out to see what happened And windy was in the room so she was texting the video and the pictures and all that stuff happening Right, right So that's amazing But windy you and I always try to brainstorm and think outside of the box when it comes to reaching new people to help save lives And we always say we just need you know that one person who can really make a difference Well, all eyes right wrong Alex and look at what he was able to do exactly so it's amazing that you had that connection Well, I'm hoping we have more to come with some um neat stuff for a local museum or get a big Agency with Alec Redmond. We're not gonna tell it's a big secret Well, we'll have more to come with Alec right That's our hope that's our goal and such a good guy We're so happy that you're doing well and we love that you want to pay it forward and save more lives and not only windy But Luke as well, just a cool family Well, it's near and dear to my heart and there's no other organization that brings me more happiness Do you just spread organization awareness and you know somebody saved my life and I hope through um Awareness and public speaking that we can spread awareness and save many more lives Well, you are a little firecracker and we appreciate you lending your talents to us and we look forward to what's to come Thanks, windy.
Well, I'm excited. Thank y'all for having me. I appreciate it. Thank you windy.
Don't they like we love it Joey, we have reached the technology segment of the gifted life podcast and we're excited And we just learned a little bit about windy lip see the windy mark foundation Alex breggman And one of the ways that we were able to reach an audience that we weren't able to reach before Is because of that young man and the role that social media plays in today's society is amazing. What happened? It's amazing, especially when you have someone who's so visible on such a large scale, you know On a stage that allows millions of people to be able to see him and see that green bracelet on his hand I was just so touched that this man was so much promise and so much talent chose number one to wear the bracelet But during the game when we had all of a kdn all of the Baton Rouge area watching to see what was going to happen between the lshu And the rage and cages right because everybody's cheering for one or the other but we're knowing that one Louisiana team will make it You know all the way, but we had so many shares on facebook twitter instagram We had so many likes it was just we were able to reach people that we weren't able to reach because of this one Athlete who took the time to learn a little bit about donation and then believed in it. He saw the testimonials.
He saw what works Yeah, so it was so cool So when we talk here about things that are happening you can actually see those things on our facebook donate life, Louisiana at donate life la Or our twitter is that right? Yes, we have instagram as well But we try to be out there and want you to be involved and we want you to help share these stories But we had so many shares of Alex's story on social media that it was amazing Spread like wildfire and that's you doing your part to spread the message. Yep, so we love it It's amazing what it can do we always talk about that one person You know it only takes one person make a big difference and and Alex Bergman was that one person it allowed it allowed so many people to At least start asking the question. What is that green bracelet?
What was he have that and to be able to see that on our facebook You know on our donate life page and be more educated become more educated and that was interesting to watch like is that Is that a green bracelet? What is that on there? And so I saw that on some of the other feeds and so when we posted that picture. This is why he's wearing it Oh, I knew it and so they started spreading the message as well So it was just amazing and amazing thing that social media can do to help us in the world of donation and you can do your part It's just a simple click.
Yep, and while you're on the computer or your phone or things like that I want you to check out our youtube channel as well It's very simple We put some very moving emotional videos on there that you can share you can you just have to type in donate life Louisiana and you'll see tons of information tons of stories out there to inspire you and to educate you about donation and about the heroes that We see every day and look we just try to make it as easy as possible So when we say facebook a simple share or a retweet on twitter or youtube you share those videos That makes a difference. You never know who you're going to reach and you can do your part to save lives We have come to the point in this get-to-life podcast where we pause and we like to thank those heroes who have saved lives and today We are talking about a hero named Justin Harrison and Joey I'm not sure if you know about this or not but Justin Harrison's story and Justin's family That's the reason I signed up to be an organ donor number one That was my first introduction to the Louisiana organ procurement agency And basically one of the reasons that I'm here today and it just goes to show you how one story Can make a big difference and a powerful story it is And you know you mentioned his family his mom Libby is a very special person to both of us She was actually one of the first people that I met in lopa went on my first day on the job 13 years ago and ever since then she's been very inspirational on a daily basis keeps us grounded But the story started actually about a year earlier. So in 1996 Justin's grandfather Libby's dad was diagnosed with a cardiomyopathy And he had he had a major heart disease where the only cure was a heart transplant And he was frustrated Justin was and he you know began talking to his family talking to Libby and Kelly his dad and his siblings About that's a shame. You know there's a cure And why don't more people say yes mama?
I can hear Libby telling the story and him saying to her if more people knew about organ donation He would still be alive. We got to tell people. That's exactly that's exactly right It became a big part of his mission to try to save more lives through organ donation Tell everybody about donation all his friends the rest of the family and and unfortunately his his grandpa He passed away, you know waiting for a heart transplant and the following year on august 20th 1997 he was leaving for school. It was just a typical typical day.
I told mom. I love you by you know that morning He told mom by you know that he loved her like he did every morning and and it had been just a typical day But on on his ride back from from school He was in the back of a truck and they were at a bus stop and for some unforeseen reason He tripped over a book sack of school bag and fell onto the pavement and hit his head And the truck wasn't moving nothing was going on. It wasn't you know, it wasn't this big car crash or anything So Libby a Kelly and siblings and the rest of the course his friends went to the emergency room in one of the local hospitals there in Lafayette and They were expecting to see you know or talk to the physician about well He's got a broken arm a broken wrist and and um Unfortunately, you know sometime after they were waiting the doctor and then there pulled him into what Libby describes is that that little room And she she was like that, you know, something must be wrong, but she didn't really understand what it was And it was there where she found out, you know that Justin had passed And she went to see him and of course he he didn't really have a whole bunch of bruises scrapes or anything It was just a simple bump on the head, you know, and she's described this to me many times She said Joey he was looking like he was in a coma. He was just look like he was sleeping.
He was peaceful She says he was beautiful. He was beautiful. He was perfect And she could not understand why is he warm to the touch, you know, I grabbed his hand, you know, he felt warm He felt like he was sleeping and She it took her a little while to understand but she says looking back on it. She knew she was fighting the thought but she knew That he was no longer with us and it was a difficult decision, of course But thinking back about what Justin had told them before that question arose Would Justin become an organ donor And they talked about it and Libby and Kelly spoke about it And they had gone back to the words that Justin had told him before, you know, if everyone would say yes grandpa would still be alive So they did yes, you know, yes was an obvious answer for them And Justin went on to save five lives And he gave sight to two different people and since then most of the recipients have become Just an extended part of their family.
Yes. Yes. So we see them regularly. You know, at all the events Maryland the heart recipient is still she's very visible in part of our as being part of our local family And it's gonna be 18 years this coming summer.
Yeah, 18 years. It's amazing She told me talk to me, you know about that very thing, you know, it's it's now more time that he's gone Then he was with me, but she says it just seems like it was just yesterday And I will never forget. I was not signed up to be an organ donor Again, this was 18 some years ago And I was a reporter at a news station You're not supposed to get emotionally involved But I went out to cover this story on the weekend and it was a celebration of life for this kid called Justin Harrison When I get there, I recognize his sister Heather. He used to play ball with her recognize Miss Libby They release these balloons.
She's crying. I'm crying. She says, are you an organ donor? I said I'm not and here She's you just find out.
I said, okay I remember my tears falling on that paper But I was so proud of the decision that I made that day because of him We're still telling his story today What's funny as I went from reporter to anchor? I did a morning show in Lafayette and Libby would come in And it was a three-hour morning show and she would just come in and she would say I brought y'all some donuts I'm gonna sit here if you have a minute to talk about organ donation. I'll just I'll just be right over here So we look forward to seeing her every day some days we could fit her in some days we couldn't but we always enjoyed the visit We really enjoyed the food, you know us here in Louisiana But we learned so much just from visiting with this donor mom who was going through the healing process herself So we're still telling Justin's story He's one of our heroes and the reason that I signed up and he is a hero Momscreens it from the rooftops and along those same lines, Laura There's so many people that I have come to talk to that have said yes You know that I've spoken to personally and have said yes And their reasoning is because that lady on the TV who lost her son and he became a hero And so many lives were touched because it's not just those five lives that Justin saved There are so many hundreds of other lives because of him and because Libby has spread the word You know that's that was his mission and it became Libby's mission and every day till this day You know it still is so there's so many lives that are touched because of this hero And then just one more connection that's funny for me to tell you about because I always call Libby when something like that happens But I was at Dutchtown High School It's an allied health program and they said we know about donation for four donation and we want to give a hundred volunteers To the cause and we had a run that was coming up So I mean that just worked out perfectly and so when I asked that the lead teacher How do you know so much about organ donation to throw this much at it plus they raised money for us? She said there was this donor mom and she's talked about Justin and I said yes Why wouldn't you support this?
So you just never know the impact that you'll have so we're still telling Justin story If you go to loba.org in our faces of donations page you click on hero stories You read about Justin and you read about all those other heroes here in the state of Louisiana that we love to talk about We love to honor because of their gifts of life at this point in the gifted life podcast We do want to pause and we want to say thank you to Justin Harrison for the gift of life I love this segment the question and answer segment because this is when other people get a chance to get involved in the podcast And we want more of that so if there's something that's on your mind you heard something you need more clarification Info at loba.org please send that our way But the question today is something that I just recently received in one of our classes and it came from a high school class They're all medically minded and when I ask what are you studying to become doctors nurses physicians assistants pediatric cancer specialists A lot of smart folks who have some big plans for the future But the question that came up most often in that class was okay So I'm not this recipient or I heard this story about this recipient if you've already had a transplant Can I still be a donor? Well, I've actually gotten that question quite often myself and the answer is yes You can still be a donor so say if you've gotten a kidney transplant in the past Which is like I said before most of the transplants most of the need is for kidneys But if you've gotten a kidney transplant in the past and then you die in a certain way that you can become a donor You can still donate the rest of your organs Now that kidney that you've received is not able to be retransplanted and the reason is more a technical thing when they went in and kind of sewed everything together It's difficult to then take it out and in what we call a nasty most but but so back in or transplant into someone else because oftentimes complications will occur So that organ can't be transplanted but the rest of the organs will still evaluate will still do certain tests And then and of course hopefully transplant the rest of the organs and save maybe four or five or six other lives And you know what's pretty cool for me is that recipients are so proud that that can happen I will talk to Wendy lips the earlier in podcast when she went to renew her license She said hey y'all better ask me i'm gonna videotape me getting this heart on my license because I want to help save other lives because my life was safe I got a second chance right and so donny trucks clair as well when we're out about he says you know He had diabetes growing up and there were so many things that he couldn't do but he could be a donor Which was pretty cool for him then he needed a transplant and he says I want to help save lives if I can it's just part of who they are They want to inspire they want to save lives and they can right that's the science behind it Absolutely. Thank you. We need a like a doctor joey or something like that, right?
Questions for Dr. Boudreaux. We love it and again info at loba.org something you want us to talk about info at loba.org send it our way We want to start those conversations here joe joe. What do you know?
It's the end of episode seven It's it's in already I started rhyming and then just kind of fell flat after that but we'll get it together But we do want to thank all those folks who joined us here on the gifted life today Yes, a special thanks certainly in order for dr I'm at it's we're taking some time you know out of our busy day to be able to enlighten us about kidney allocation and kidney transplant Education is key. Absolutely and of course for windy for telling us her story And then for the connections that she's made with Alex and putting it on the big stage for others to be able to see miss windy Let's see and we're hoping that you choose to get involved as well and to help us save more lives One of the ways that you can do that is coming up the july 4th weekend essence festival We are calling all volunteers. Um, if you have a good heart you want to help save lives We're looking for you so info at loba.org send us your information will be in contact to let you know when we need you What you'll be doing etc, but we want you to get involved and like we said it could be a simple share a simple retweet something Do something between now and the next time that we talk to you guys to help save lives spread education and make life happen Where blue and green where blue and green that's it So, um, it's very easy We try to make it as easy as possible. We provide you with the tools check out loba.org and we hope that you choose to share this gifted life podcast We appreciate you listening if you've been listening from the beginning to now We really thank you and if there's something that you want us to tackle we want to hear from you as well We want you to be part of this podcast and we hope that it spurs those conversations Thank you so much for listening.
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