Today we are pleased to offer this story as a part of Donate Life America’s “I Am Hope” initiative, in which a new story about donation or transplantation is shared each day of 2012. This story shows how donated tissue can truly change and enhance someone’s life. It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving when Kathryn [...]
A large part of who Cameron had become was likely over. Competing as a student athlete on the lacrosse field was what he loved most. As team captain, he had every intention of leading his team throughout his senior year. Additionally, he was planning to continue playing the sport he loved in college. “When I [...]
A large part of the United States’ foundation is religious freedom. As a result, there are many and various religions throughout the nation. Nearly all of these religions have addressed the issue of donation. Where do you think your church stands? Check out this comprehensive list of religions and what they say about donation here.
After losing his son in a robbery gone wrong, Reg Green and his wife made the decision to donate their son’s tissue and organs. In the years to come, Green would find peace in knowing just how many lives his son impacted. Read this story of hope when facing loss here.
The National Kidney Foundation printed these 25 great facts about organ and tissue donation. Take a look and have your donation questions answered here.
As a cheerleading coach and life-long athlete, Barbara Richards was accustomed to falls and strains. Over the years however, those falls and strains caused serious damage to Richards’ knees. “In the fall of 2009, I began having pain and swelling in my right knee,” said Richards. “By January 2010, I was unable to ski or [...]
Go Michigan! In February alone Michigan had nearly 41,000 residents sign up to be donors. Michigan is already 77 percent ahead of last year at this time, and it’s only March. See how they’ve expanded their outreach efforts here.
After losing her 17-year-old brother in a car accident, Caitlyn Persinger threw herself into sports. Her brother had always encouraged and pushed her to be the best. She was a gifted athlete and, as a freshman, made the varsity soccer team. Four years after her brother’s death, Caitlyn continued to be active in sports. While playing soccer [...]
After losing his step father in a tragic fall, Brandon Witt and his mom made the split-second decision to donate his tissue. That decision, made in the midst of tragedy, led to a life-long friendship between Brandon and the young ballplayer who received his step father’s tissue. Hear their stories and watch their first in-person [...]
Arizona tissue donors number in the thousands as the state reports record donation highs. The Donor Network of Arizona says 477 lives were saved in 2011 through organ donation while tissue donations restored mobility and sight to thousands. Arizona stands as a great example of the lives that can be saved and enhanced through active and informed [...]
Just weeks after competing in a mini-triathlon with his three sons, Kurt Person lost the ability to use his right shoulder. Prior to the injury-causing accident, Person could often be found competing in triathlons, barefoot-water skiing, test riding motor cycles, All Terrain Vehicles and snow mobiles, or taking part in his favorite activity: playing ball [...]
Congratulations to Donor Alliance, the federally-designated organ procurement organization serving Colorado and Wyoming, which this week reported that it increased driver’s license office donor registration in 2011. This maintains Colorado’s position as one of the highest donor designation rates in the country. (At the close of 2011, 67 percent of Colorado’s licensed drivers and ID card holders [...]
“Participating in the Donate Life Rose Parade Float as a float rider was an amazing time. It was awesome decorating the float with all the other participants. After spending time with the donor families who participated, I decided to pen a thank-you letter to my own donor family. At first I was intimidated but they [...]
The following story about Rose Parade float rider and tissue recipient Susan Cossabone has been published more than 600 times by newspapers and regional television networks’ websites throughout the country. Additionally, NBC40 in New Jersey produced this segment on her story. Great media visibility promoting the possibilities of tissue donation! How a woman’s leg was saved [...]
At 77 years old, Jane Przedpelski describes herself as “happily active.” A Colorado resident, she finds pleasure in camping, snowshoeing and walking in the mountains and the desert with her husband. However, a fall from a ladder and subsequent broken leg threatened her active lifestyle. The fall resulted in a broken tibia, or shin bone. [...]
As Thanksgiving approaches, please pause with us to give thanks for the selfless tissue donors and their brave families who make the choice to give the gift of life. Each year, life-saving and life-enhancing tissue is provided by approximately 30,000 tissue donors. Just one tissue donor can enhance the lives of more than 50 people. [...]
Connie Hilger eagerly anticipated her adult son’s visit home for Christmas in 2009. During his visit, he teamed up with his former classic rock band for a reunion show at a local pub. Connie’s family, as well as the family of another band member, were excited to be together for the holidays and were enjoying [...]
The answer is a resounding NO! A reader recently wrote into the San Antonio Express-News to ask this question. She had “heard of families losing a loved one, being pressured to donate the deceased’s organs, then being charged for organ removal.” In the newspaper’s response, they quote the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance: “It does not cost anything [...]
Via Columbus 10TV: A Columbus Crew rookie said on Friday that a tissue donation saved his dream of playing soccer in the professional league. Several years ago Bernardo Anor suffered from a torn anterior cruciate ligament, 10TV’s Tracy Townsend reported on Friday. “I received the ball I was going to turn with the ball when [...]
From Channel 3000: Families from south central Wisconsin gathered to light candles over the weekend to remember some departed loved ones who brought hope and life to others. The “Reflections of Life, Reflections of Love” ceremony was a chance for families to honor loved ones who helped save someone’s life through tissue donation. “When you [...]
Following 9/11, Zach felt like many other Americans, “I was tired of watching everything that was happening on TV and thought there had to be a way I could do more to help.” This inspired him to take his EMT experience and passion for medicine and become a combat medic in the army. After all [...]
Susan Cossabone always had a gift with horses and a passion for riding. To fulfill that passion, she owned a 10-acre ranch, Hidden View Farm, with 26 horses. Not only did she ride for hours a day, Susan also rode competitively, helped retrain difficult horses, and set up an equine summer camp for at-risk and [...]
Concerning a “new type of stem cell therapy where live cells, harvested from a tissue donor, are added to an allograph, which then would act like or mimic how the patient’s bone would act.” Incredible to watch how modern medicine continues to find new uses for donated tissue!
When Devin Katacinski was just 12 years old he sustained second-degree burns after spilling a cup of scalding coffee on his arm. The coffee immediately took the skin off from the bottom of his thumb to the middle of his forearm. Here Devin discusses his injury, and recovery, which was thanks in part to a [...]
Rachel Frank was a typical college athlete: focused, intense, and determined. When a knee injury threatened her ability to complete her final soccer season, she simply played through the pain. It wasn’t long before Rachel discovered she could no longer “grin and bear” her meniscus injury. She had to have the injured tissue replaced with [...]
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