Posts Tagged ‘Tissue Donation’

Active teenager defies the medical odds thanks to tissue donor

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

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. Read more

Donor Alliance Hosts 11th Annual Donor Dash 5K Run/Walk for Organ and Tissue Donation

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

Run for Life Honors, Celebrates and Recognizes those waiting for Lifesaving Transplant

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. Read more

2010 Donor Authorization Summit

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

I recently participated in the 2010 Donor Authorization Summit – a great event bringing together Organ and Tissue Procurement Organizations throughout the country to share best practices and identify solutions to industry challenges.  The annual meeting, organized by the AlloSource Tissue Improvement Collaborative Members, focused on tissue and celebrated each participant’s commitment to honoring the gift of donation. This year’s day long event highlighted the:

-          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

Donor Dash in Denver

Friday, July 16th, 2010

This Sunday, July 18th, the Donor Dash will be taking place in Denver, Colo. and we encourage you to join to show support for all of the organ and tissue donors and recipients in our area. In its 11th year, the Donor Dash is a 5K race and event that has become a well-known and treasured Denver event, bringing together and honoring those who have been affected by organ and tissue donation. Click here for more information on the race, or to sign-up to join the cause.

Association of Organ Procurement Organizations Annual Meeting: First-person account from AlloSource Rep

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

AOPO Logo

The theme of this year’s 27th 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. 

Read more

Transplant Speakers International highlights tissue transplantation, AlloSource allograft recipient

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

Frank Bodino, President of Transplant Speakers International, called attention to the importance of tissue donation this week in the company’s newsletter.  The newsletter also features the moving story of Manuel Salazar, a quadruple amputee who received life-saving allografts from AlloSource. To read more about tissue donation and Manuel’s story, check out the newsletter here.

Donate Life Illinois

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

AlloSource was featured today on the Donate Life Illinois Blog. Check out the site to see some of the great things Donate Life Illinois and the Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donation Network are doing to improve the lives of donors, donor families and recipients.

New York Bill Proposes Change to Organ Donation

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

A recent bill sponsored by New York State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky proposes that all New Yorkers be automatically registered as organ donors. Under the new bill, residents would have to actively opt-out of being an organ donor, with the hope that bill will increase the number of registered donors. Read more about the proposed bill here.

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

Allograft recipient named Tai Chi master of the Year

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

We are pleased to congratulate tissue recipient May Chen on being named Tai Chi master of the Year 2010 by the 12th World Congress on Qigong and Traditional Chinese Medicine.

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!

Giving the Gift of Life – A Story from Illinois

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

National Donate Life Month is the perfect time to stop and think about the gift of organ and tissue donation and peruse the real-life stories of the people it touches every day. 

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.

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