We are pleased to introduce our 2011 Tournament of Roses Donate Life float rider 

In 2006 Parker Simpson was an active teenager, ambitious academically and involved in a number of sports including football, lacrosse and wrestling. It was that year, as a high school sophomore, that a sports injury to his ankle soon landed him on the doctor’s table. Parker discovered that he had developed osteomyelitis, a staph infection of the bone, in his tibia and fibula. But he couldn’t have foreseen that this was the beginning of a trying medical journey that would test the resolve of both him and his family for years to come.

Parker was faced with possible amputation of his leg several times as a result of the infection. A successive back injury was further complicated due to the existing illness in his bones. He underwent numerous operations to combat the ankle and back afflictions, resulting in a fused ankle and foot, and yet his young body was just beginning its battle to survive.

In 2008, Parker developed pain in his shoulder that he thought was the result of too much weight lifting or lugging a heavy backpack. Doctors performed an MRI and identified a tumor that they presumed to be a result of Parker’s previous osteomyelitis.  Dr. Ross Wilkins of The Denver Clinic for Extremities at Risk told Parker and his family that the tumor required immediate operation. Following the surgery, news got worse.

The tumor was not staph related, but actually osteosarcoma. The bone cancer was Stage 4 when discovered, and had taken hold of Parker’s shoulder joint and moved into both lungs. Within a matter of days, Parker had gone from relative recovery from his previous conditions and a normal teenaged life to intense chemotherapy treatments. “It was like whiplash,” he said.

So Parker’s struggle continued, and he could not have imagined that next the generosity of a tissue donor would lead to the ultimate survival of his arm and his active life.

In order to save his arm, Dr. Wilkins had to remove the cancer-infected shoulder and a large part of his humerus, which he then replaced with an allograft bone transplant from a deceased donor. AlloSource, one of the nation’s largest non-profit providers of skin, bone and soft tissue allografts, provided the limb-saving allograft. Parker’s shoulder was reconstructed with a metal alloy ball joint.

Parker’s recovery was daunting. The osteosarcoma also infected his lungs and the intense chemotherapy required to kill the cancer was the ultimate test of patience and physical strength. But thanks to a community of support from doctors and friends, and his own determination, Parker has today been cancer free for more than 18 months, and is currently a sophomore at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

“Parker had the wisdom and spirit to conquer this,” said his mother, Alice Casey.

With the knowledge that he’ll have to be hyper diligent about monitoring his health for the rest of his life, Parker is anxious to seize each day. He is inspired by Boulder’s majestic beauty and has taken up rock climbing, much to his mother’s chagrin. His interests for the future run the gamut from aeronautics to mechanics.

“I know I have endless possibilities now.”

Donor Alliance hosted its signature event, the Donor Dash — a 5K run/walk to honor those who have given the gift of life, celebrate those who have received the gift of life and recognize those still waiting for a transplant. The Donor Dash was held at Washington Park in Denver July 18th.

The Donor Dash began in 2000 and has since evolved into one of the largest road races in the state of Colorado. More than 3,200 people and nearly 90 teams participated in this year’s event. Several hundred volunteers staffed the event. The generous support of 13 financial sponsors and 20 companies and organizations who hosted booths in the race expo, helped offset the cost of this year’s event.

There was fun for the whole family including a 5K run/walk, a 1K kid’s fun run and a diaper dash for toddlers under three. A special recognition ceremony was held after the race followed by a moment of silence and balloon release to honor donor families, recipients and transplant candidates. A Donate Life Garden honored donors and recipients with vibrant, personally decorated signs and flowers. Two hundred nine organ and tissue donors were recognized by name on the Wall of Honor.

“More than 28,000 lives are saved each year in the United States through the gift of organ donation, giving hope to the nearly 108,000 people in the U.S. and 2,000 people in Colorado and Wyoming who are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant,” said Jennifer Prinz, chief operating officer of Donor Alliance, the organ procurement organization and American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) accredited tissue bank serving Colorado and most of Wyoming. “Of those waiting in Colorado, 64 percent are in need of a kidney and one out of five current transplant candidates have been on the waiting list for five years or longer.”

According to Prinz, Coloradans are stepping up to meet the need and designating themselves as donors. In 2009, Colorado’s donor designation rate ranked as one of the highest in the nation with 64 percent of people obtaining or renewing their driver’s license saying ‘yes’ to donation.

“Each of the 542,670 Coloradans who registered to be organ donors last year at the Division of Motor Vehicles has the potential to save up to eight lives through organ donation and heal more than 100 through the gift of tissue donation,” explained Prinz.

Coloradans can register and save lives as organ donors regardless of their age or health. For example, it is possible to register as a donor even after having suffered from common diseases like diabetes or cancer.

How to register to be an organ and tissue donor:
You can save a life by registering to be an organ, eye and tissue donor. Register online at DonateLifeColorado.org; at the Division of Motor Vehicles the next time you obtain or renew your driver’s license; or by calling 1-888-256-4386 and requesting a donor registry form.

- Courtesy of Donor Alliance

-          Current issues in tissue availability

-          Scientific accomplishments including the use of stem cell products, such as AlloStem

-          Tissue recovery strategies that are garnering higher consent rates

-          The opportunities with first person consent

-          Best practices in referral response

-          Organ to tissue conversion practices

-          Increasing out of hospital donation consent

Meetings, such as this one, are essential to moving the donation industry forward.  Thanks to everyone who participated in 2010’s AlloSource Donor Collaborative on tissue. 

-Colleen Kilkenny, Marketing Communications Specialist

The theme of this year’s 27^th annual meeting of the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO) was Focus on the Future.

The Tissue Council Meeting headed up the agenda on day one. The Tissue Council membership is made up of representatives from many different OPOs and tissue banks across the country.  The highlight of the council meeting was a panel discussion held between attendees and senior representatives from the major tissue processors in the US.  The panelists discussed the changing landscape of tissue banking and what they foresee the course of tissue transplantation will be in the future, including cells/live cell grafts as the future of tissue donation. 

Several presentations and discussions were held on first person consent/donor designation and state-based donor registries.  Across the country OPOs are doing innovative things to increase public awareness of their state registries and increasing the numbers of people registered as organ, tissue and eye donors.  It was pointed out that when a donor family knows that their loved one wished to be a donor, it makes the donation process much easier.  Thus, OPOs are encouraging registered donors to share their wishes with their families.

One of the highlights of the meeting was the ceremony of the Crystal Heart Award, which is presented to a donor family dedicated to donation and transplantation.  This year the award was presented to Jill Stephenson.  Her son, Cpl. Ben Kopp, was killed in action while serving in Afghanistan.  Ben’s mother was approached about organ donation.  While facing the loss of her only child, she made the courageous decision to say yes.  Read more about this amazing story in the Washington Post here. “It helps my sorrow; it eases my pain. It really does,” Jill told the Post of knowing that Ben’s donation helped others. “I know that Ben wanted to help save lives . . . and it really prolongs Ben’s life and honors his memory so much and honors me in that we could save other lives.”

Thanks to all those who participated this year.  After attending, I am sure that the future of donation is bright. 

-          Heather Luders, Donor Field Services Representative

If passed, this law would be the first of its kind in the nation. What do you think about the opt-out bill?

Five years ago, we were fortunate to meet Chen,  an internationally recognized martial artist and Tai Chi instructor and a truly inspiring person.  Chen risked losing her career following a severe knee injury, but has experienced a remarkable recovery following a transplanted allograft from AlloSource. Chen has returned to martial arts competition with great success and has become a friendly advocate of tissue donation. (Chen represented AlloSource as a float rider aboard the 2009 Donate Life float in the Tournament of Roses Parade.)

Congrats, May!

One man in St. Rockford, Illinois recently showed the boundless limits of human generosity by giving the ultimate gift of life: he decided to donate one of his kidneys to a cashier he hardly knew. Read their heartwarming story here.