Donation_For_Others

FOX43 | Matt Bushey From Jason Carroll and Chris Welch, (CNN) â€" Sarah Murnaghan, the Philadelphia girl who underwent a lung transplant last week following a court battle, is out of a coma and responsive. The 10-year-old woke up Friday night, said Tracy Simon, a family spokeswoman. Although she remains on a ventilator and is unable to talk, she is nodding and shaking her head in response to questions, Simon said. Prior to her surgery, Sarah, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, was put in a medically induced coma to allow her body needed rest prior to the transplant surgery. Her family fought to allow children to compete with adults waiting for lungs based on sickness in a case that has sparked a public debate. She received new lungs on June 12 after a six-hour surgery that included resizing lungs from a grownup. “We expect it will be a long road, but we’re not going for easy, we’re going for possible. And an organ donor has made this possible for her,” the family said in a ...

Living Legacy Foundation Maryland | Mia Photo: Leave a legacy behind by saying “yes” to organ, eye and tissue donation. With all the myths and misconceptions about organ, eye and tissue donation, it can be hard to answer the question, “Would you like to be an organ donor?” Organ donation is a positive act which saves and enhances the lives of many. Currently, there are more than 117,000 people nationally waiting for a life-saving organ transplant and more than 2,300 of those live in Maryland. Knowing the facts about donation will help you make an informed decision to potentially give the gift of life. Here is a list of 20 facts you probably didn’t know about organ, eye and tissue donation: 1. No patient is ever too old or too young to give the gift of life. The decision to use a patient’s organs and tissue is based on strict medical criteria, not age. 2. One donor can save up to nine lives, enhance the lives of 50 people through tissue donation and restore sight for up to t...

The Advocate, Baton Rouge | Laura Ricks Black patients with Hepatitis C who receive liver transplants fare better if they received the organ from black donors, new research from Tulane University and the University of California at San Francisco has found. Dr. Nathan Shores, assistant professor of clinical medicine at Tulane School of Medicine, and other researchers followed 1,766 black patients with Hepatitis C who received liver transplants over a seven-year period. In a break from previous findings, the team found that transplants proved more successful if the donors were black as well. The benefits were so significant that researchers found matching race in these particular cases mitigated the affect of age, allowing doctors more leeway in using organs from older donors. Both results could have significant ramifications for black liver patients and the organ donation community. “This inverts a landmark 2006 study that said organs from African-Americans did less well in recipients...

Daily Freeman  Dear Editor: On June 3, my husband, Rev. Dr. Mark A. Frickey, passed away from a hereditary liver disease. Mark was in the excellent care of the NYU Liver Transplant Team in New York City. When he passed, he was awaiting a liver transplant that would have cured his disease. The next liver available was supposed to be for Mark, pending a match for his blood and liver types. He had been waiting for nearly three weeks, and was on the top of the transplant list, yet Mark’s organs slowly began to fail and his body became too weak to survive a liver transplant. Sadly, donor livers were simply not available during the month of May. Every other month at least 30 donor livers became available, yet during May, only seven were available to transplant patients. Mark was 44 years old when he passed away. Throughout his life, Mark supported many charitable and altruistic organizations. Mark volunteered his time and money to help others. Yet if supporting others involved ...

Los Banos Enterprise | David Witte DAVID WITTE/dwitte@losbanosenterprise.com Lindsey Miller, 23, and her boyfriend Brandon Kelley, 25, watch the Oakland A's game on Tuesday (July 9, 2013) at their home in Los Banos. Miller suffers from polycystic kidney disease, and is scheduled to receive a kidney from Kelley later this month. LOS BANOS The ticking time bomb in Lindsey Miller hit hard recently, sending her to the hospital and putting her on kidney dialysis. The 23-year-old Los Banos woman was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease at age 10. The hereditary disease took her grandfather at 52, her uncle at 34 and her aunt at 27. Lindsey's mother, Tammie Miller, has been on dialysis since 2010 and needs a kidney as well. The chances of finding a donor are slim â€" statistically speaking, one person in Los Banos is a match for Miller. In a fortunate twist of fate, that one person just happens to sit across the dinner table from her every night. Miller's boyfriend, Brand...

Kidney Buzz 275,000 people are on dialysis in the United States, but only 93,000 individuals choose to be listed on the US Kidney Transplant Waiting List. Thus, only one-third of dialysis patients are on the waiting list in the USA. But why? Many End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients believe that a kidney transplant will solve all of their issues and provide them with a completely "normal" life. This is not true. A successful kidney transplant can improve your quality of life, because you will not have to undergo hours of dialysis treatment, and it reduces your statistical risk of dying from kidney disease. However, kidney transplantation is a major surgical procedure that has risks both during and after the surgery. The risks of the surgery include infection, bleeding, and damage to the surrounding organs. Even death can occur in extreme cases. Dialysis only performs about 10% of the work a functioning kidney does. Also, dialysis is known to cause other health problems su...

Macon County Times  Photo: Macon County Clerk James R. Howser and office staff members receive commemorative plaque for helping the Tennessee County Clerks Organ Donor Awareness Foundation reach 4-Million dollar mark in donations since the Foundation s inception in 1996. Lafayette, Tennessee - The Tennessee County Clerks Organ Donor Awareness Foundation is pleased to announce they have reached the 4 million-dollar mark in donations since its inception in 1996. “Thanks to the dedication of our state’s county clerks, we have been able to raise money to provide our citizens with education on the importance of organ and tissue donation,” Janice Butler, president of the Tennessee Association of County Clerks said. She and Tom McRedmond, Foundation Executive Director, recognized the continued dedication and commitment of Tennessee County Clerks at their recent spring meeting. Macon County Clerk James R. Howser and his staff received a commemorative plaque in recognition of this mil...

Standard Examiner | Dixie Madsen Editor, Starting this month, school students in my neighborhood will be gathering at the corner, waiting for their big yellow ride to school. Many parents look forward to this day and other parents dread the first day of school. Yesterday, I had lunch with a couple who had just picked their son up from his first day of preschool. He proudly wore a paper animal on a string around his neck. For this family, days like this are always bittersweet. While they enjoy the things their son is learning, watching him explore his world from an ever changing viewpoint, they think about their daughter Vittoria and wonder what she would be doing right now. Would she be excited for her first day of school? Would she still love to read and draw? Vittoria, who would be 12 this month, died four years ago, waiting for a heart transplant. Currently, there are five children between the ages of 6 and 17 on the Utah waiting list. But what will the new school year hold for thes...

Organ Donation & Transplant Alliance | By Donna Dickt Vienna, Va. â€" The Organ Donation and Transplantation Alliance (“The Alliance”) has named LeAnn N. Swanson its new Executive Director effective August 1, 2013. “The mission of healing the greatest number of lives through donation and transplantation is more important than ever, and we are pleased that LeAnn Swanson will bring strong leadership to the community of practice as the Alliance works to strengthen the collective impact all the stakeholders in transplantation can have together as we serve patients and families in need,” said Sue Dunn, Chair of the Alliance Board of Directors. “Ms. Swanson is uniquely qualified to continue the exemplary leadership that retiring executive director Helen Bottenfield has brought to the Alliance. More than ever, the Alliance is positioned to bring together diverse stakeholders to align, support and advance initiatives all focused on this life saving goal and LeAnn’s backgro...

ZME Science  Regenerative medicine has come a long way, and while important strides forward have been made, scientists are still toiling with ways to completely grow organs in labs.  There are millions of people worldwide suffering from afflictions to organs like the liver, lungs or heart â€" for many of them a transplant is they’re only chance at living a normal life again and even survive. Less than 1% of those on the waiting list actually receive a transplant, however, because of the sheer disproportion between donors and patients. Elaborating means of growing new organs in the lab ready for transplant and save lives is thus imperious. Work is though and slow, but signs are we’re getting there.  The latest breakthrough comes from researchers at University of Pittsburgh who recently report they’ve cultured a heart that can beat on its own. Unlike other cultured organs like the lungs or liver (still primitive, somewhat working, but not ready for transplant), the he...

Irish Times | Orla Tinsley  Photo: PA Photo: A transplant operation: organs donated can be found unsuitable, for a variety of reasons Opinion: donation of organs should be a natural conclusion of the life cycle When the word “transplant” is mentioned for the first time it lights a fire beneath you. After years of degenerative illness there is suddenly a new goal: it means waiting for someone to die so that you can live. It’s confusing, it’s devastating, it’s enlightening and immediately you are propelled to do everything, and then nothing. You swing like a pendulum between action and inaction until the reality sets in. Waiting. Waiting is the reality and you have no choice in the matter. You have to wait and work hard enough to be well to get on the list, then you wait and work hard enough to stay there. You get angry at people. People who smoke, people who don’t take care of their bodies, people who take things for granted. You want to scream “You have one body. One....

CBS Boston Photo: Richard Gates (Photo from Kim Tunnicliffe) BOSTON (CBS) â€" After a 900-mile trek on his bicycle, a man who received a heart transplant from Brigham and Women’s Hospital nearly 10 years ago rolled into the Longwood Area on Friday. Richard Gates rode from Pittsburgh to Boston to raise awareness for organ donation. Doctors and nurses who treated him nearly a decade ago were on hand to greet him. “One of the goals here is for people to consider being organ donors to understand that I am here talking to you today as a result of someone who had signed up to be an organ donor on their driver’s license,” Gates said. During his third “Tour de Second Chance” bike ride, Gates visited with patients waiting for heart transplants to let them know they can lead active and healthy lives after their surgeries. WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Kim Tunnicliffe reports: Click HERE f or podcast ______________________________________________________  "You have the power to SA...

Pais-La Hora Noticias de Ecuador Photo: GRATUIDAD. Los trasplantes en Ecuador son totalmente gratuitos. La transformación de la sociedad ecuatoriana en torno al delicado tema de la donación está comenzando. Ciudadanos, médicos, técnicos e instituciones públicas y privadas aúnan esfuerzos para ubicar a Ecuador en el mapa de los trasplantes de Latinoamérica. Así lo demuestra el reciente estudio publicado por el Instituto Nacional de Donación y Trasplante de Ã"rganos, Tejidos y Células (Indot). En 2011 se produjeron 443 trasplantes de diversa índole. Mientras que en 2012 la cifra aumentó hasta 563, lo que implica un aumento del 27%. Los datos se acentúan más cuando se comprueba que en 2009 fueron 180 y en 2007, los trasplantes únicamente ascendían a 98. Eso quiere decir que en cinco años, estas operaciones han crecido en un 574%. Son varios los factores que han disparado el número de trasplantes en el país: “Hasta hace un año no existía un banco propio de teji...

Beloit Daily News | Clint Wolf Staff photo by Clint Wolf Hailey Rath run: No one was too young to take part in the Hailey Rath 5K Run/Walk Saturday in Beloit. Runners made their way through Riverside Park on their way to the finish line at Wooton Park. The event raised funds and awareness for organ donation. It was a beautiful day for a run or walk along the riverfront in Beloit Saturday. And that’s just what more than 100 people did for the Hailey Rath Memorial 5K Walk/Run, which started out at Wooton Park. Much of the activities for the day were centered at the Rock Bar and Grill on Maple Avenue. That was where the runners and walkers were registering, and where crowds could bid on silent auction items donated by businesses and individuals. “We have about 47 baskets for the silent auction,” said Jeff Rath, Hailey Rath’s father and chief organizer of the event. The event is held each year in memory of Hailey Rath, who lost her life in a traffic accident in December of 2005...

Apple Valley - Rosemount Patch | Posted by Mike Schoemer Jenny Girll and her mother at her 2009 wedding. (Courtesy HCMC) One Rosemount woman's gift of organ donation will be featured with many others at Hennepin County Medical Center's "Wall of Heroes" unveiling Thursday evening. Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) unveils its “Wall of Heroes” this Thursday night to honor those who have given a part of themselves so that someone else could live a healthier life â€" or in many cases, simply live. The display consists of a specially designed mosaic created for HCMC, along with an interactive kiosk containing names, photographs, and stories of HCMC organ, tissue and eye donors submitted by both donors and their families. The kiosk will also contain informational articles about the importance of organ donation, a direct link to sign up as an organ donor, and an opportunity to support the Wall of Heroes. The mosaic artwork was funded by the Hennepin Health Foun...

Hennepin Medical Mosaic and kiosk to be unveiled at HCMC August 22 What: “Wall of Heroes” unveiling at Hennepin County Medical Center When: Thursday, August 22, 2013, 4-7 p.m. Where: 2nd Floor, HCMC’s Red Building, 717 S. 7th St. entrance On Thursday, August 22, from 4-7 p.m. Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) unveils its “Wall of Heroes” to honor those who have given a part of themselves so that someone else could live a healthier life â€" or in many cases, simply live. The display consists of a specially designed mosaic created for HCMC, along with an interactive kiosk containing names, photographs, and stories of HCMC organ, tissue and eye donors submitted by both donors and their families. The kiosk will also contain informational articles about the importance of organ donation, a direct link to sign up as an organ donor, and an opportunity to support the Wall of Heroes. The mosaic artwork was funded by the Hennepin Health Founda...

Fermanagh Herald Kirsty Clarke received a heart transplant four years ago  A FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD Lisnaskea girl, who received a heart transplant three years ago, has spoken of the importance of organ donation to her, and to her family. Kirsty Clarke, a pupil at the now closed Lisnaskea High School who is preparing for her GCSEs next year received her heart transplant on March 13, 2009 at Freemans Hospital in Newcastle after a suitable heart was donated. This week is national organ donation week and this also coincides with Wales being the first country in the UK to introduce a mandatory ‘opt out’ system for organ donation â€" as opposed to the ‘opt in’ system we have here. Kirsty’s mother Sharon said she thinks everyone should go onto the donor list, and she said what Wales are doing should be copied here â€" the ‘opt out’ system. “You just don’t realise how worthwhile being an organ donor could be until you go through it yourself” she said. Sharon knows Kirs...

Chicago Muckrakers | By YanaKunichoff Jorge Mariscal has been on dialysis for the past seven years and takes a myriad of pills everyday for his condition. With only one kidney left, he undergoes dialysis which takes a toll on him making him feel fatigue and usually just stays home because he can not do any extraneous activity. Photo by Lucio Villa This is the story behind the story of how Lucio Villa, a photojournalism fellow at The Chicago Reporter, was there the night undocumented immigrant Jorge Mariscal got his long-needed kidney transplant. Mariscal's story, and others, will be featured in a photography exhibition, "Issues Visualized," opening Thursday, June 20. By Lucio Villa I met Jorge Mariscal in June 2012. I had just started my summer internship at The Chicago Reporter, and I was assigned to follow the hunger strike in Little Village. A group of mothers, including Sonia Lopez, Mariscal’s mother, were demanding organ transplants be allowed for the undocumented....

Courier Post | Kim Mulford Photo: Camden residents Orlando and Betty Gonzalez participated in a donor chain involving 20 people and 10 hospitals from coast to coast. Orlando received a new kidney from a donor in California, while Betty donated her kidney to a patient in central Pennsylvania. Their surgeries were performed at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden. / John Ziomek/Courier-Post CAMDEN â€" It took a long time for Betty Gonzalez to talk her husband into the complicated plan to get him a new kidney. After 4½ years of receiving dialysis treatments three times a week, Orlando Gonzalez was wearing out. The 50-year-old had to stop working. His skin had taken on a grayish color â€" he looked like a zombie, he joked. Still, when Betty offered to donate her own kidney to him, he balked. “I said I didn’t want her to do it, because I didn’t want anything to happen to her,” said Orlando, a former medical transport driver who also worked in the maintenance depar...

Illinois Home Page PEORIA -- Thousands of people are in need of organ transplants across the state. The wait is often even longer for minorities. This is the first day of Minority Donor Awareness Week. Eugene Daniel reports on one man whose life was hanging in the balance because of that wait. For as long as he can remember, Juventino Arteaga has battled health problems. "I got diabetes when I was like 4-years old. The doctors, at the time, said, 'he won't live to see 15.'" At 38-years old, he's proving doctors wrong, but his health has grown worse over the years. "After 34-years of diabetes, it's just my pancreas went bad." He also needed a new kidney. For two years, he waited for a match. "I wanted to give up, but, at the same time, I knew I couldn't." "The essence of organ and tissue donations in the African-American and Hispanic communities is critical." Jackie Lynch works with Gift of Hope. The agency helps people in ...

Penn Medicine Photo: Scott Halpern, MD, PhD, MBE, medical ethicist and assistant professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care at Penn Medicine. Newswise â€" PHILADELPHIA--Emergency court decisions regarding the allocation of life-saving donor lungs have recently sparked widespread debate over current wait list and allocation policies. In the June 25 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, Scott Halpern, MD, PhD, MBE, medical ethicist and assistant professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care, at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses the implications of such judicial activism and suggests several ways to improve the availability and allocation of transplantable organs. In his commentary, Dr. Halpern suggests that judicial intervention for specific cases risks providing preferential treatment for some patients, or placing a higher value on some lives over others. Such intervention, Dr. Hal...

Pacific Standards | Mission & State | Michael Fitzgerald Was Sebelius Right Not to Bump Murnaghan to the Front of the Line? Ten-year-old Sarah Murnaghan is in the end stages of a lifelong battle against cystic fibrosis. Her family says that she has only weeks to live if she doesn’t receive a partial lung transplant. If successful, the transplant could effectively cure her condition, speculated one lung doctor (not involved in Sarah’s care) that spoke to ABC News. But the medical establishment’s rules and legal and ethical standards seem to be delaying, and maybe preventing, the Pennsylvania girl from getting her transplant. Now the case has made its way to Washington, D.C., with a political dynamic reminiscent of the Terry Schiavo case. At the crux of this case: the fact that there just aren’t too many child-sized lungs available for transplants. The collaborative of non-profits and government agencies that administer organ donations dictates that anyone under the age of 1...

Fredericksburg | Cathy Dyson Tori Gregory has big plans for her 12th birthday: food, toys, clothes, rental of a community center. While there will be some sort of celebration noting the day she came into the world, most of the items brought to her “party” will be for other people. Tori, who lives in the Partlow area of Spotsylvania County, is planning an event called HOPE, or “Helping Out People Every way.” Her mother has rented the Berkeley Community Center on Sunday, Aug. 18, and Tori hopes to spend the whole dayâ€"before her 12th birthdayâ€"collecting items for needy people. She’s trying to get the word out early to encourage others to help. “I realized I do have a lot, and some kids don’t have as much,” said Tori, who just finished sixth grade at Post Oak Middle School. Tori has celebrated each of the last five birthdays doing something to help others. She’s also put out collection jars for groups such as the Wounded Warriors or the Children’s Miracle ...

Alex O'Loughlin Fans for Donate Life | Claire Eyles Our creative colleagues at Alex O'Loughlin are celebrating Alex's upcoming birthday in a very special way. August 24th is Alex O'Loughlin's 37th birthday, and to help him celebrate over the coming weeks they are calling on all fans to 'Paint It Blue' in support of Taylor's Gift Foundation .  How To Participate From now until August 24th 12 am Los Angeles time. Make a Donation  Follow this link to Alex O'Loughlin Fans dedicated Taylor's Gift Fundraising Page  www.stayclassy.org/happybirthdayalex  Are you an Alex O'Loughlin Fan who's looking for that perfect gift for his upcoming birthday in August? Help the Alex O'Loughlin Fans for Donate Life 'Paint it Blue for Alex's Birthday' by supporting Taylor's Gift Foundation and making a donation. The process is fast, easy, and secure. And best of all you'll be giving a gift with meaning - to help the Taylor's Gift Fou...

Sea Coast OnLine | Suzanne Laurent Andy Blacksmith, co-host of "The Morning Buzz" on WHEB in Portsmouth and several other affiliates in the state, is waiting for a heart transpant after losing function on the left side of his heart, possibly from a viral infection four years ago. Suzanne Laurent photo WHEB's Blacksmith knows firsthand the importance of organ donations PORTSMOUTH â€" Local morning radio personality Andy Blacksmith needs a new heart. He has just returned to the airwaves after his eighth hospital admission for heart failure. Blacksmith is the co-host of "The Morning Buzz," that airs on WHEB in Portsmouth, WGIR (Rock 101) in Dover, and several other affiliates in the state. Because he needs a donor heart, Blacksmith is very vocal about people who wish to be organ donors. "They need to realize, it's not just checking the box on your license," he said. "They need to tell the person who will be responsible when they die â€"...

Huffington Post | Peter A. Georgescu Parwiz Abrahimi is a brilliant, good-humored grad student at Yale who hopes to break new ground in science and medicine. It can be surprising to learn that when he was a toddler, his family was struggling simply to stay alive in Afghanistan. That was in the late '80s, when Afghan rebels were successfully repelling the Soviet presence. It was also back when it was risky to be a native Afghan who wasn't Sunni or looked different from a typical citizen. Abrahimi is Hazara: an Asian-looking minority with a Shiite faith. The Hazara were among the first to settle in Afghanistan, possibly a descendant of the Mongols who invaded centuries ago. How Abrahimi was able to escape the brutality of that culture and find his way into one of the most exclusive educational programs in the world is a story of what America still means as a land of opportunity. It's also a story of how valuable immigration can be to our society. As a member of a religious an...

The Gazette  Photo: Misty Troester, 44, and Crystal Ellis, 29, embrace after Ellis' skydive in Vinton on Saturday, July 13, 2013. Ellis received the cornea of Troester's 5-year-old son, Jarren Moser, after his death in 2005. Troester surprised Ellis on Saturday for their first time meeting in person. (The Gazette/Emily Busse) VINTON, Iowa â€" One of Crystal Ellis’ long-held dreams was to skydive. After years of eye troubles that left her without vision in one eye, she finally received a donated cornea in 2005. Once the lengthy healing process finally ended, she arranged to make the jump Saturday, the day after her 29th birthday. And when she finally touched down in the landing zone at Paradise Skydives, Inc., there was a big surprise waiting in the landing zone: Misty Troester, the mother of her cornea donor. The two had been in contact via letters and Facebook over the years, but had never talked on the phone or met in person. Ellis invited Troester to her skydive, but ...