Donation_For_Others

USA TODAY | Janice Lloyd (Photo: Jack Gruber, USA TODAY) Brendan Marrocco, 26, of Staten Island, speaks Tuesday about the double arm transplant he underwent at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Former soldier Brendan Marrocco is speaking publicly Tuesday for the first time about his long recovery from a bomb blast in Iraq and what it feels like to have two new transplanted arms. Marrocco, 26, of Staten Island, N.Y., was the first servicemember of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to survive the loss of four limbs. He has said he "doesn't regret a thing." He's already moving his new arms. "My arms have given me a lot of hope. They feel great," Marrocco said in a briefing from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore where he was the first soldier to receive a double arm transplant. "Don't have any pain anymore. Currently I don't have any feeling yet, but we'll get there. I can move my wrist a little bit." He lost both legs above the knees, ...

Donate Life Oklahoma Terri is a liver recipient who is experiencing rejection and gradual failure of the transplanted liver she received more than 21 years ago. She went back on the transplant waiting list February 17, 2012, and has been bravely sharing her journey on the transplant waiting list; what is it like, her decline in health, her fears.  She is doing so to make people understand the importance of becoming an organ donor.   Here is Terri’s latest update: Pneumonia… It took 4 trips to the emergency room last week before they figured out I had pneumonia. There was some coughing and labored breathing â€" plus I had a fever. I was surprised that they sent me home from the hospital after my previous stay â€" with a fever and no antibiotic. Now I have an antibiotic. Mom arrived on Saturday to help take care of me and run the house. We’re so lucky to have her. I’ve been using the nebulizer for my breathing, but I just can’t take the percussion vest. My appetite ha...

Famous 101 Kidney transplant involves a nephrectomy or the surgical removal of a kidney and its transference from a brain dead or heart failure donor or from a willing, living donor followed by its grafting to the recipient suffering from ESRD, the End Stage Renal Disease. In view of the possibility of rejection by the body of the recipient, the compatibility of the donor is of critical importance, and it is preferred that the donor is a biological relative of the recipient. Sometimes the kidney of a willing and genetically related donor may not be compatible with the kidney of the recipient, and in that case the donor’s kidney is utilized for a matching patient in exchange for a matching kidney for the intended recipient, and this type of donation is called the daisy chain. In 2004, the FDA had approved a drug which reduces the need for the blood type of the living donor to be the same as that of the recipient. A kidney transplant usually involves an incision of about 4-7 inches, an...

OneLegacy | Bryan Stewart Greater Los Angeles Non-Profit Helped to Save and Heal More Than 67,000 Lives Through Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation LOS ANGELES, Calif., Jan 25, 2013 â€" OneLegacy , the non-profit, federally designated organ and tissue recovery organization serving the seven-county greater Los Angeles area, announced the recovery of more than 2,000 combined organ, tissue and cornea donors in 2012, helping to save and heal more than 67,000 lives in Southern California, the state and nationwide. Last year, OneLegacy recovered organs from 391 deceased donors. Through the generosity of donations authorized by individual registrations or the donors’ families, OneLegacy facilitated 1,239 organ transplants â€" more than any other organ recovery organization in the nation. In 2012, two significant milestones where achieved within OneLegacy’s organ operations: an increase in the number of organs recovered per patient, and the increase in the African American authoriza...

The Ashland Independent | Carrie Stambaugh Loved ones of those who gave the gift of life in death gathered Saturday afternoon in Ashland’s Central Park to honor their memories with another gift of life. Six trees, including flowering dogwoods, magnolias and a vibrant Japanese maple, were planted to commemorate the more than 30 organ, tissue and eye donors whose gifts originated from King’s Daughters Medical Center. The trees, purchased by the Gift of Life Awareness Group at KDMC and the Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates and donated to the park through the city’s Plant a Tree program, were placed in a small grove between the old concession stand and the restrooms. About thirty family members, medical workers and KODA officials gathered for the ceremony, which included a prayer of dedication given by chaplain Shane Cox, of KDMC. “It was in the garden of Eden, Lord, that you planted both the tree of knowledge and of life. So may these trees today, be trees of life to all of the eart...

UT San Diego | Pauline Repard Photo: Shanise Hamilton received a kidney from Officer Jeremy Henwood (pictured right) after he was slain on duty in 2011. Earnie Grafton • u-t Two who received kidneys from SDPD officer, his family get together It was the meeting of a lifetime. Two women who received kidney transplants came face-to-face Friday with the family of the man who donated the organs, slain San Diego police Officer Jeremy Henwood. “It was a very proud moment,” said Dr. Beverly Henwood, the officer’s mother. She paused, choked back tears and added, “I never realized they had been ill so long and how it affected their families. I wanted to meet them to get the feeling, I guess, of Jeremy giving, of him still being alive.” Henwood traveled from San Antonio and her daughter, Emily, from Ottawa, Canada, to meet recipients Shanise Hamilton and Kimberly Redman at the Mission Valley offices of Lifesharing, a nonprofit organ and tissue recovery organization. Both women, marrie...

CBS News | Michelle Castillo CLEVELAND, Ohio We have many things to be thankful for this year, but Joe Gammalo and Clyde Conn are especially thankful for each other and the lung donor that saved both of their lives. Both men received one lung each from the same person. It created a lasting bond that has led them to call each other "lung brothers." "When I stop to think about getting a single lung transplant, you save two lives versus getting two lungs where you only save one," Conn said. For years, Conn, now 73, had an unknown lung disease that clogged up his lungs and created scar tissue, leaving him gasping for oxygen. Tests after tests didn't reveal anything specific besides the fact that Conn was dying. Meanwhile, Gammalo, also 73, had also been diagnosed with the same unknown lung disease and had the same dire prognosis. The two men had never met before. Read more Photo: Joe and Clyde: Lung transplant brothers Clyde Conn and Joe Gammalo, both 73 now, didn...

The Syracuse Post Standard | Maureen Nolan Sue Sprague received a kidney-pancreas transplant in 1997. The transplant saved her life. She is preparing to leave for the annual Rose Parade, where she will be on the Donate Life Float. She poses in her Syracuse home with her husband, Doug, and their children, Kristi and Ryan. Sprague holds her Rose Parade certificate and a photo of her donor, Terry Brown of Utica. Brown died at the age of 39 in a car crash. After his death his family authorized for his organs to be donated. Sprague says she will be thinking of Brown and his family as she prepares for and takes part in the parade.Stephen D. Cannerelli / The Post-Standard If you tune in New Year’s Day to the annual Rose Parade, watch for the blue-and-orange-clad woman waving like mad on the “Donate Life” float. She feels blessed, and crazy excited, to be there. She is Syracuse preschool teacher Sue Sprague, who received a kidney and pancreas transplant 15 years ago and is doing fine tod...

Fort Bend Southwest Star Newspaper Shown are The Austin Angels and Travis Bells. Organ, eye and tissue transplants offer patients a new chance at healthy, productive and normal lives, and return them to their families, friends and communities. You have the power to change someone’s world by being a donor. It’s about living. It’s about life. This is what was promoted during the 5th Annual Tracie Hester Walk for Life at Austin High on Saturday, November 10. Tracie Hester Life Donor Walk hoped to bring more awareness to this issue. The event started with a little history about Tracie Hester and her legacy by Mrs. Betsy Heathcock, the former director of the Austin Angels and Tracie’s teacher. The audience also got to watch an amazing performance by the Austin Angels and Travis Belles to the song, “One More Moment”. The sister of Mrs. Ashlee Williamson, the assistant director of the Austin Angels, let the audience know firsthand how a donor donation can change your life. Wi...

Naples News | Liz Freeman PHOTO BY COREY PERRINE, NAPLES DAILY NEWS Corey Perrine/Staff James Hamm, left, and son, Robert Hamm are seen in portrait Thursday, Jan. 17, 2012 at Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, Fla. The two became the first donor to have his kidney removed by laparoscopic surgery, by an incision in his abdomen to remove the organ. The donor's hospital stay is reduced to three days and most donors can get back to normal activity within two weeks. Conventional surgery involves a long incision and the partial removal of a rib and requires a five-day stay and two months of home recovery. Father and son had the surgery on Dec. 20 and are doing well. FORT MYERS â€" As Naples resident James Hamm recovers from a kidney transplant at Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, he can chuckle when his kidney donor and son, Robert, teases about taking the kidney back. "We are a very close family," Hamm, 81, said. "I think he did a wonderful thing. He is ...

Tune in tonight at 8 p.m. EST to watch Fox's Mobbed with Howie Mandel.  An Ohio donor family and one of the recipients of their loved one's donated organs will meet for the first time.  The donor, Dee Dee, who died in a car accident in 1991, was able to help others as an organ and tissue donor. Dee Dee’s family will have a surprise meeting with the family of one of the recipients of her organs in tonight’s episode of Mobbed.  This is bound to be an emotional episode that you don't want to miss! Check your local listings for details Mobbed  Episode: "You Saved My Life" Season 1, Episode 10 Episode Synopsis: A woman honors her father, who made a living as a firefighter, and her sister, who died in a car accident.  Original Air Date: Jan 2, 2013

The Vindicator Five Floragraphs to appear on Donate Life Float in 124th Rose Parade® HOUSTON â€" (December 26, 2012) â€" Ben Breedlove was a teenager from Austin, Texas who lived his life to the fullest and found great joy in helping others. He captured his messages of hope in YouTube videos that have been viewed by thousands of people around the world. On Christmas Day 2011, at the young age of 18, Ben passed away from complications of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), an abnormal thickening of the heart’s walls. His family’s decision to donate his organs was not a difficult one, as they knew Ben would have wanted to continue helping and inspiring others. Ben Breedlove is just one of five individuals being honored by the Dignity Memorial® network of funeral, cremation and cemetery service providers for giving the greatest gift of all…the gift of life. In addition to Ben Breedlove, Danny Bost of Winston Salem, North Carolina; Dale Alan Covington of Santa Fe Springs, ...

KION TV  Central Coast News | Ricardo Navarro Photo: This is the photo that started it all. Ryan and Evie Cordell posted this on Facebook, promising their young daughters that if they got 1 million Facebook "likes," they could get a puppy. Guess what? They got over a million likes, and the puppy was theirs. (Ryan Cordell) WATSONVILLE, Calif. -- On Tuesday, while sitting under the shade in a Watsonville park, Robbie and Jazzy Carroll hold on to a picture of their father, Patrick. It's a memory of the three together, they will never let go of. "It was at the donate walk last year," said Robbie of the picture. Patrick was born with a Congenital Heart Defect and the only chance for survival was a transplant, which he got last March. But a month later, Patrick died for unknown reasons. "We knew it could happen, but we weren't hoping it would. We were hoping for the better," said 14-year old Robbie. However, that one healthy month the kids spent with t...

Zeke's Journey - Support Ezekiel Kendall Today, Zeke 's sister Amber wrote:  Good Morning! Zeke had a great night, slept well , Heart functioning very good, kidneys back on track, his last drainage tube out today off all IV'S .  We are definitely on the home stretch here! Can't wait to get back to "Home Sweet Home"! Zeke is pictured here with a few of the Awesome nursing staff that has so wonderfully and Lovingly taking care of him at UCLA.  Our family has grown as we have adopted them all into it. Words will never be enough to express our gratitude to the great Doctors , nurses and staff ! Thank You UCLA ! Remember to support Zeke at his 1st Annual Have a Heart Auction on Fe bruary 21, 2013.  To learn more please vis it Zeke's Fac ebook page Zeke's Journey - Support Ezekiel Kendall

Global Times | Liu Dong Shanghai has around 1,200 blind people seeking cornea transplants every year but only 2 percent will receive a transplant, according to the Shanghai Branch of the Red Cross Society of China. Photo: CFP It was a heartbreaking tragedy for 9-year-old Yin Jialin and her parents. The bright young girl, who had a congenital heart disease, fell seriously ill last year and died in December, just after her birthday. But while her death broke her parents' hearts, it brought a special gift to someone else in Shanghai. A year before the little girl had decided to donate her corneas and these were transplanted to two young blind children, giving them sight. Yin's mother was a doctor and knew well that her daughter had a little chance of living a full life when she was born, but she wanted her daughter to enjoy as much of life as possible. "We sent her to kindergarten and school for a month because we wanted her to have the experience of school friends and teache...

Zeke's Journey - Support Ezekiel Kendall Zeke off bypass and his strong healthy heart is beating on its own and is back in his room. Amber, Zeke's sister expresses the family's their gratitude to the donor and the donor family. Here is her message: "The surgeon came in and said the surgery went well. They took Zeke off bypass and his strong healthy heart is beating on its own. He should be back in his room by midnight. We are forever grateful for the donor and the donors family. God has blessed us and we are continuing to push through this together. My heart is filled with happiness for my brother. Thank you all for your beautiful words of encouragement. You have truly helped carry us through. We will keep you updated on his recovery. A very good night to you all. - Amber" A note from the Organ & Tissue Donation Blog:  It is important that we continue our support of Zeke and his fundraising efforts.  Please attend the 1st Annual Have a Heart Auction on Februar...

Paramus Post | Mel Fabrikant The St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center Critical Care Team accepted the Circle of Life Award from the NJ Sharing Network for recognition of steadfast commitment to saving and enhancing lives through the miracle of organ and tissue donation and transplantation. “It was a great honor to be presented with the NJ Sharing Network Circle of Life Award for the partnership we have with NJ Sharing Network in our efforts to save lives and give hope,” said Mourad Ismail, MD, St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center (SJRMC), who accepted the award on behalf of Alan Sori, MD and the Critical Care Team at SJRMC. “The Sharing Network works closely with physicians at St. Joseph’s to ensure the highest of care, respect and diligence occurs in dealing with potential organ donors. They provide purpose for what can be a very grievous time for all involved.” The NJ Sharing Network, is a non-profit organization responsible for the recovery of organs and tissue for nea...

2013 Osteopathic Scrub Run Saturday, March 2 Races begin at 9 a.m. The OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine will host the annual Osteopathic Scrub Run on Saturday, March 2 at the OSU Center for Health Sciences. Proceeds from the run will go to support Lifeshare Transplant Donor Services of Oklahoma and the Sooner Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The event features a 5K and one-mile fun run, both ChampionChip timed. Racers, casual runners and walkers of all ages are invited to participate. At 11 a.m., following the awards ceremony, participants are encouraged to take advantage of a free health fair hosted by OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine and the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy. Free health screenings and information about maintaining proper health will be available. RACE INFORMATION AND SCHEDULES Both the fun run and 5K race are ChampionChip timed. The course starts and finishes at the OSU Center for Health Sciences, located at the corner of West 17th Street an...

NBC Los Angeles | Samantha Tata Photo: Prom season came early for hundreds of teens and young adults living with kidney disease. The Renal Teen Prom is the brain child of Renal Support Network founder Lori Hartwell, who missed experiencing the right of passage because of kidney disease. Janet Kwak reports from Sherman Oaks for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on Jan. 20, 2013. Hundreds of teens and young adults living with kidney disease donned evening gowns and ties, and let loose with one of Hollywood’s top stars on Sunday at the annual Renal Teen Prom, meant to give them a chance â€" sometimes their first â€" to experience the right of passage. Now in its 14th year, the Renal Teen Prom was created by Renal Support Network founder Lori Hartwell, who missed her own prom because of kidney disease. "I spent all my teenage years on dialysis and I didn’t want other teens to miss this coming-of-age event," Hartwell said. She and others helped create what has become a specia...

Zeke's Journey - Support Ezekiel Kendall Zeke's sister Amber most current update  Happy to announce Zeke came out of surgery great! He had a fantastic night and they just woke him up from sedation! He groggily lifted his hand to his chest over his heart and said "Holy Shit" ! Got to Love him, our Miracle Boy! It can only get better from here. Words can not express our gratitude to all of you for your support prayers and Love that you have continually sent our way. They were our strength . Please continue to pray with us that Zekes body will accept the new heart and he can begin to start on the road of his new Life Journey. I know God has great things planned for Zeke. My dad got to listen to Zekes heart for the first time. It brought tears to all of our eyes. I spent time with Zeke and he is remaining positive as always.  This scripture was shared with us and we wanted to share it with you, as it is almost like it was written just for him. Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart al...

The Boston Globe | By Diane Speare Triant PHOTOGRAPH OF BABB PAINTING FROM THE HARVARD MEDICAL LIBRARY IN THE FRANCIS A. COUNTWAY LIBRARY OF MEDICINE “The First Successful Kidney Transplantation,” by Joel Babb EVOLUTION, BIRTH CONTROL, EMBRYONIC STEM-CELL RESEARCH, END OF LIFE: From Darwin’s time to our own, the ethical and religious questions raised by science have occupied newspaper headlines, polarized politics, and ignited family disputes. Today, American culture is as divisive as ever, and many of us have come to consider the scientific and spiritual spheres irreconcilable. But 58 years ago, a medical pioneer facing similar challenges found a way to create harmony from dissonance. On December 23, 1954, a plastic surgeon named Joseph E. Murray stepped into Operating Room 2 at Boston’s Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now Brigham and Women’s). He was about to attempt an organ transplant, a surgery never before successful in humans. As a young physician serving in World War I...

Powell Tribune | Tessa Schweigert Photo:  Carla Wensky (left) and Kelly Eckerdt are pictured with Wensky’s horses, Gracie (left) and Ringo in December. Dec. 29 marked six months since Wensky donated her kidney to Eckerdt, who has polycystic kidney disease.Tribune photo by Tessa Schweigert Six months after transplant, ‘everything is fine’ It started with a mouse. A mouse was drowning in the basin of a toilet, struggling to get his head above the water. Carla Wensky saw the small rodent and didn’t hesitate â€" she rescued him. She then realized that if she couldn’t watch this little mouse die, how could she watch her friend die? Her friend Kelly Eckerdt had a kidney disease, and without a transplant or dialysis, she eventually would die. Looking back on it, Wensky says the mouse moment was a turning point. That was when she decided to give Eckerdt her kidney. “I had prayed for a sign. I think that God gives us signs when we ask for them, and we’re open to them,” Wens...

Yahoo Sports | Carol Bengle Gilbert In virtually any sport, there's an athlete who tested boundaries, competing despite overwhelming physical odds. Here are the stories of five athletes who played professional or Olympic sports after receiving organ transplants: Snowboarding In Olympic snowboarding, it's Chris Klug who amazed fans. Klug took to the slopes only two months after a liver transplant. By the four month mark, Klug had returned to the World Cup Circuit. He won a place in the Olympic games where he earned a bronze medal. All told, Klug has represented the United States in the Olympics three times, two of them after the liver transplant. Golf Erik Compton plays professional golf despite not one, but two, heart transplants. He underwent his first transplant at age 12, the same year he learned to play golf. It was the heart surgery that propelled the budding athlete toward golf, after his doctors advised against contact sports, Golf magazine said. Compton excelled and ...

LA Daily News | By Mariecar Mendoza More than 200,000 people lined Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on what felt like a summer day for the 28th annual Kingdom Day Parade to honor the revered civil rights leader. Honoring King with the parade "started out as being focused on black liberation, but it's grown to involve everybody because until everybody is free, nobody is free," said Adrian Dove, chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality, the third oldest civil rights group in the United States and organizer of the annual parade through South Los Angeles. "This is what Dr. King preached," Dove said, "so we're trying to keep doing whatever it is we think he'd do if he was still here to ensure his dream comes to fruition." Photo: Raquel Gonzalez Among one of the inspiring mobile displays included a double-decker bus that read: "Life's most urgent and persistent question is: What are you doing for others?" The quote by King is what Do...

LifePoint Race Registration Date: Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013 Location: James Island County Park, Charleston, S.C. Start Time: 9:00 a.m. Registration fee: $25.00 (includes T-shirt, goody bag and park entry fee) Late Registration after Feb. 19: $30.00 Register now at www.active.com or download a race registration form (74 KB PDF) to mail or hand deliver. New This Year! All participants have the opportunity to fundraise. Fundraising is encouraged, but not required to participate. Start fundraising now; download the pledge form (200 KB PDF) >> About our race: In addition to our 5K, we have a non-competitive 2K (1.24 miles) Run/Walk. Runners and walkers may participate in either the 5K or the 2K. Those who plan to walk leisurely are asked to register for the 2K. Along with the usual age and gender divisions, we will again have a transplant recipient division for males and females. We have also added a Living Donor Division to our 5K. Baby strollers are allowed in our race. We request ...

OC Weekly | LP Hastings Photo: Zeke testing out the "Freedom Driver" backpack. When will sweet Zeke Kendall catch a break? The 19-year-old Costa Mesa resident was rushed to the UCLA ICU back in November because his heart was suddenly failing. The Weekly has been in touch with Kendall's sister, Amber Weiser ever since and reported on the developments. But this week we received some more devastating news. Last weekend, Kendall suffered a stroke due to a blood clot that had traveled to his brain. The stroke left him with partial blindness in one eye, and without the ability to read. Until that point, Kendall was still in the ICU recovering from his artificial heart transplant. His was growing stronger and continued to have a nice, healthy, sarcastic attitude about the whole thing. Even after the stroke, it appears that not much has changed. "I went to see him and he is already reading sentences," Weiser commented only a few days after the occurrence. "It was a...

Yahoo Finance | Carroll Shelby Foundation Press Release From left to right: Neil Cummings, Joe Conway, Aaron Shelby, Ben Sornsin and Jenni Shreeves. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson Auction Company) GARDENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- In honor of the late Carroll Shelby’s birthday on Friday, Jan. 11, the Carroll Shelby Foundation announced a $25,000 donation to a charity close to the philanthropist’s heart, the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA). Established in 1991, the Carroll Shelby Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit that provides medical support for children at home and around the world, as well as educational opportunities for young adults who want to advance their automotive trade skills. “We wanted to do something special for what would have been Carroll’s 90th birthday this year,” said Jenni Shreeves, executive director of the Carroll Shelby Foundation. “What better present to give than the gift of life. The Children’s Organ Transplant Association is a wonde...

The Almanac | Terri Johnson Photo: Sisters Geri Whalen, Jennifer LaBella, Dana Christner, Sondra Hathaway, with their mom, Susan Rump. Sisters Geri Whalen, Jennifer LaBella, Dana Christner, Sondra Hathaway, with their mom, Susan Rump. Growing up, the four Lewis sisters were always close, but it wasn’t until the youngest, Geri Whalen, now 33, of Venetia, developed kidney disease, did the four woman form a bond so tight that included one sister, Dana Christner, seven years older than Whalen, donating one of her kidneys to Whalen. Whalen has battled diabetes since she was 9 years old, and following the birth of her third child in 2007, she developed kidney disease. “When her kidneys began to fail, I told her, whenever you’re ready, let me know. I believe God gave us two kidneys and we only need one and the other is to share with somebody,” Christner said. Oldest sister Sondra Hathaway, 41, of McMurray, said she was unable to donate a kidney and called Christner’s match a “Chri...

KaLeo O Hawai'i News | Caitlin Kelly KANIELA ING This former ASUH President has gone from representing the undergraduate students of UH Mānoa to the residents of South Maui in a few years. Kaniela Ing, who received a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in political science, served as ASUH President from 2009-10. During his time in office, he was responsible for leading a 32-person senate and managing a $6 million portfolio. He likened his experience in student government to that in the legislature. “ASUH is an exact microcosm of the legislature,” he said. “And the two weeks that I campaigned for ASUH might have been even more stressful than my actual state campaign, and I was up against an incumbent.” Upon graduation, Ing was in the same situation as many young adults who struggle to find jobs. He worked as a copy machine salesman, where he learned a lesson that he still holds close today: Nothing is irrelevant. “I thought ‘This is the most irrelevant job. W...

PR Newswire Thousands were transplanted in 2012 because of the generosity of donors and their families PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Gift of Life Donor Programâ€"the region's non-profit, federally designated organ procurement organization (OPO) serving the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delawareâ€"announced that the organization coordinated the recovery of 1,062 life-saving organs from 417 generous individuals in 2012â€"making this region the most generous in the U.S. for organ and tissue donors. Gift of Life is the only OPO in the country to have coordinated more than 400 organ donors in 2012, and for the past seven years, the organization has averaged more than 400 donors per year. Serving nearly 10.3 million people in the region, Gift of Life's coordination of nearly 40 donors-per-million-population ranks among the highest in the world, and speaks to the compassionate and giving spirit of the region. One organ do...

Corvallis Gazette Times Like Matt Fehrenbacher, I read the Christmas story of Kurt Robinson’s lung transplant with joy and pain. I am happy for Mr. Robinson and his family, and know they treasure this gift. I also send my condolences to the Fehrenbachers on their terrible loss. I urge all who read this to become an organ donor. (See http://www.donatelifenw.org for information.) Only one of every 200 hospital deaths is a “brain death,” and only half of those are suitable for donation. Otherwise healthy individuals who are declared brain dead are victims of sudden, catastrophic events. At such times, confused and grieving relatives sometimes refuse organ donation. If you want to help, make your wishes known! My youngest sister was a cancer survivor who needed a double lung transplant due to a radiation accident early in her treatment. Her name was on the waiting list for 14 months.During that time, her lungs continued to deteriorate. Becky got her transplant, but her rib cage had ...

Daily News | Lindsay Ord Photo: Aimee Nicholson loved life, bodyboarding in the surf, playing soccer and musical instruments. Aimee s heart was barely functioning in the weeks before her death. A 14th birthday is a fun time for most teenagers and their families, but the Nicholson and Du Toit families will not be celebrating. Their daughter, Aimee, would have turned 14 this coming Sunday, but she died while waiting for a heart transplant. Had a suitable heart donor been found, the fun-loving teenager might still be alive. Aimee was one of many children who are waiting for the gift of life â€" a life-saving organ or organs, as well as corneas and tissue. Samantha Volschenk, executive director of the Organ Donor Foundation, says there is an urgent need for organs for children and consenting to the removal of organs in a dead child is, understandably, a difficult decision for parents. When a child dies, sometimes parents are approached to consider organ donation and signed consent is ...

Unyts Blog | Amy Nash I planned to have this blog begin, “Greetings from Pasadena!” but throughout our Rose Parade journey our days, brains, and hearts were filled to overflowing so that I could not properly express myself. To say our California vacation was once-in-a-lifetime is an understatement. My husband, Jerry, son, Nicholas, and I could return another year and see 50 glorious flower-covered floats, but the privilege of riding in that parade will never happen again. First the logistics of building this year’s “Journeys of the Heart” Donate Life float. It was 55’ long, 30’ high with 30,000 flowers and 32 ridersâ€"by far the largest riding contingency in the 2013 parade. It had more than 40 individual floral items from poppy seeds to thousands of traditional “pink” roses which Jerry & I helped separate into five distinct shades of pink. Over 18,000 of the flowers on our float were in individual water vials. All others were glued on the float one-by-one. N...

Yahoo News Canada | Dr. Heather Ross Diego Delgado, Michel White, Dale Shippam and Heather Ross After a two week journey, the Test Your Limits team reaches their goal. We made it! At 4:30 p.m. EST, the TYL team achieved the South Pole! The Day We woke up to the best day yet; blue sky, not one cloud to be seen. We set off early. As we walked, we could see the South Pole start to emerge on the horizon. We had to go east and east and east while the station went by on our right. It was like having a fine plate of Soma chocolate and not being allowed to reach out and take some. We desperately wanted to go in a straight line to get to the actual South Pole, but weren’t allowed. The reason is that we would have crossed into a Neutrino field…. Really (?!?!) Part way through the day, Dale’s poop bag unceremoniously “dumped” his wag bag on the trail. OMG. The entire team was in hysterics. The diversion to enter into the station according to the American rules added a period of extra di...

Daily Dose Photo: The 2013 Donate Life float, fronted by former Angels infielder David Eckstein and his brother, Washington Nationals hitting coach Rick Eckstein. Four members of the Eckstein family have kidney disease; Rick donated one of his kidneys to brother Ken and David plans to donate a kidney to sister Susan. Photo Courtesy of Donate Life Donate Lifeâ€"a non-profit alliance of organizations committed to increasing organ, eye and tissue donationâ€"rang in the New Year by celebrating its 10th appearance in the Rose Parade in Pasadena. “What the float has allowed us to do is normalize the conversation about donation,” said Elena de la Cruz, spokesperson for the Donate Life float. “It’s not a comfortable conversation, talking about our mortality, but this has allowed us to enter millions of households through television.” An estimated 1 million spectators watched the Rose Parade in person. Those who tuned in to the parade saw Donate Life’s “Journeys of the H...