They say a picture is worth a thousand words. The same can be said of a Donate Life flag waving in the wind. This silent visual illustrates a bold yet heartfelt statement about the legacy of an organ donor and the significance of sharing the Gift of Life.

The Donate Life flag at Capital Regional Medical Center.

Raising the Donate Life flag is just one way LifeQuest recognizes our donor families for their generosity and sacrifice. The flag is prominent at private memorials, Honor Walks and public celebrations, too. It represents our continuing effort to raise awareness about organ, eye and tissue donation.

Donate Life flags serve as a symbol of unity, trust, and hope, while honoring those touched by donation and transplantation. The flag celebrates the hundreds of thousands of donors and recipients whose lives have been impacted.

Nearly 109,000 Americans — more than 5,000 of them in Florida — are on the transplant waiting list for life-saving organs. There were 40,000 organ transplants performed in the United States in 2019.

Donor families share a special reverence of the Donate Life flag and the ideals it represents. Its simple design features the national Donate Life logo. This call to action is highlighted in blue and green, representative of the sky and earth, and it includes a swirl signifying the circle of life.

Here the flag symbolizes donor education at Leon County EMS.

If you have ever driven by a local hospital and seen the Donate Life flag on their flagpole, you probably wondered what it means. Our dedicated hospital partners and their staff are essential participants in honoring those who say ‘yes’ to organ donation.

Many partnering hospitals fly a Donate Life flag each time a donation occurs at one of their centers. The flag may fly for a day, sometimes for a week, revealing to the community and hospital staff that someone has just shared life, the greatest gift of all.  After the flag has been flown, some hospitals present it to the donor family to keep. It is a meaningful reminder of the service and sacrifice needed to make the Gift of Life possible.

In addition to flying the Donate Life flag after a donation occurs, some hospitals and transplant centers, as well as recovery agencies, fly the Donate Life flag during National Donate Life Month in April. It is an easy way to start the conversation about donation and increase visibility of the life-saving power one person can have by registering with the Florida organ donor registry.

A Silent Celebration at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center.

Some hospitals partner with LifeQuest to host annual flag-raising ceremonies. Donor families, friends and members of the community are invited to attend. A hospital’s chaplain or a faith leader may share words of encouragement. Staff from the hospital and from LifeQuest, and donor family members and recipients also are invited to say a few words to honor the legacy of donors and the strength of donor families. The ceremonies offer families comfort and the opportunity to visit with healthcare teams who cared for their loved ones during the donation process.

At Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola, a folded flag is placed in the hands of the donor’s next-of-kin.

The Donate Life flag is also prominent during the Honor Walk, a reverent ritual designed to show respect for patients at the end of life who are donating organs to others. The donor’s hospital bed is sometimes blanketed with a Donate Life flag on its final journey from the intensive care unit (ICU) to the operating room (OR). The flag is folded and then placed in the hands of the donor’s next-of-kin. The cherished item can be passed down to children and grandchildren. A Donate Life flag may also be provided to drape the casket or accompany the urn of a deceased donor.

Transplants give hope to people with organ failure and improve the lives of countless patients. LifeQuest covers 36 counties in northern Florida, from Jacksonville to the east, to Ocala in the south, to Pensacola in the west.  The donation service area supports more than four million people and consists of more than 70 partner hospitals.

LifeQuest appreciates our partner hospitals for joining in our flag program, which serves as a final tribute to an individual life the family has lost. Organ donation would not be possible without their help.

September 11, 2020:

As a woman of faith, Cristy Sutton had come to appreciate the life-saving miracle of organ transplantation. Four years ago, lying flat on her back in a hospital bed, she came face-to-face with the emotional uncertainty that she may need a liver resection to survive.

The pause brought about by Sutton’s stay in an Atlanta transplant center gave her time to reflect. On each side of her were patients waiting to receive organ transplants.

Cristy moments before her hepatectomy.

“I couldn’t help but think about the fact that these people were likely going home with their families,” said Sutton, a chaplain at Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital Pensacola. “But there were others who weren’t going home with their loved ones; they were leaving empty-handed.”

It was a watershed moment for Sutton who was inspired to change how donor families experience the final moments of their loved ones’ lives. She influenced personal touches to the hospital’s traditional Honor Walk that serves as a final memorial to the donor.

Called the Walk of Love, it is a sacred ritual designed to show respect for patients at the end of life who are donating organs to others. Doctors, nurses and other hospital staff, and often friends of the donor and donor family line the hallway to silently pay their respect.

So far, Walk of Love has been embraced at three additional Ascension hospitals across the Florida Panhandle with a ripple effect, including facilities in Gulf, Bay and Walton counties.

“It is actually in the process of spreading across Florida through Ascension hospitals,” Sutton said. “All of this is for the donor; we’re here to honor them because we want them to know we care about them as a family and their loved one giving the gift of life.”

Donor families walk behind their loved ones’ hospital bed on its final journey from the intensive care unit (ICU) to the operating room (OR). It was here that Sutton observed grieving families grasping for something, an anchor of sorts, when saying their final goodbye.

“The families of the organ donors, their hands, in a sense, were empty,” she said. Why not give them something tangible and meaningful to hold onto, she thought.

The Donate Life flag was the obvious choice. The donor is blanketed with a Donate Life flag as they are escorted to their final destination. The flag is then folded, and a chaplain places it in the hands of the donor’s next-of-kin.

The team of chaplains at Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola

“Their faces light up when they get that flag,” Sutton said. “For them to be able to touch something that was touching their loved one and take it home with them seems to be the biggest blessing for the family.”

Jes Morgan, chaplain coordinator at Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola and a retired military chief, helped come up with a unique method of folding the Donate Life flag. The step-by-step process, while similar to American flag-folding procedures, varies widely and intentionally, and is shared with donor families.

“We didn’t want to disgrace the American flag in any way,” Sutton said. “We wanted the Donate Life green and blue to show up on the outside of the fold and to be certain the flag would not come apart while folded.”

Shy by nature, Sutton said it took months to work up the nerve to pitch her idea for Walk of Love, and she said it involves constant collaboration and communication to keep it going, not to mention compassion.

“It is most definitely a team effort,” she said. “Our chaplains have kind of pioneered it, supported me in it. I work with the best team of chaplains, I feel like, in the world.”

Despite wishing there was more she could do, Sutton said it was a blessing to work toward such a gratifying goal with her peers.

“Sadly, we can’t give them the gift of taking their loved one home,” she said.

Sutton was fortunate. In 2016, she was diagnosed with an ovarian tumor that was safely removed. Less than a year later, doctors found three tumors on her liver. She had a partial hepatectomy to remove a portion of her liver.

A note written by a donor family

At the time of her hospitalization, Sutton had seen a video of an Honor Walk but had not been a participant. Since then, she has been privileged to take part in and facilitate several Walks of Love at Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola. Each one has been as unique as the donor who was being esteemed.

On one occasion, the family wanted Sutton to hold the walk, but they didn’t want to be present.

“We got to experience it as a staff.  It went amazingly well in honoring the donor.”

Recently, a Walk of Love was held to honor a donor who had planned to join the military.

“The folded flag was very symbolic for that family because it gave them something to hold onto that was part of the donor’s dreams,” Sutton said.

…………….

Cristy was also featured in Honoring Organ Donors

August 13, 2020:

Heart recipient Tyrone Brisby and his wife, Demetris (Dee), strive to meet with his donor family each August – the month of Kyle’s birthday, but also the month he passed away and became an organ donor.

“The first time we met my donor family was very emotional,” Tyrone said. “I didn’t know what to expect. No one can prepare for the first meeting. We just had to go with it. There was a bond created at the first meeting, and they became extended family.”

Tyrone Brisby holds a picture of Kyle Rodger, who saved his life.

Tyrone was diagnosed with congestive heart failure at 49 years old. About 10 years prior, he had experienced a small heart attack and been diagnosed with high blood pressure.

After roughly eight months of testing, Tyrone was listed at Jacksonville’s Mayo Clinic to wait for a heart transplant. He received his heart five weeks later on August 19, 2014.

In Tennessee, Kyle Rodger, 14, had been involved in a car accident. Kyle’s parents, Jeff and Tina, honored his wishes to be an organ donor, and he saved five lives.

“Kyle had the conversation so many people should have stating that if something happened to him, he wanted to be a donor and save lives,” Tyrone said.

Tyrone, Dee, Jeff and Tina have met one another multiple times, alternating meeting locations each year. They have visited one another in Tennessee and Jacksonville, as well as Vermont, where Kyle was born and laid to rest. Kyle’s parents have also met his liver recipient.

Since receiving the heart transplant, Tyrone and Dee have become dedicated ambassadors for LifeQuest Organ Recovery Services, volunteering hundreds of hours of their time educating the public about the life-saving importance of organ donation. They have shared their story with high schools, colleges, churches and health fairs.

Neither Tyrone nor Dee had been registered as organ donors prior to Tyrone receiving his transplant. They had never been educated on the cause, so they hope to better inform others about the impact donation has.

Memories of Kyle Rodger.

“Once he got sick and someone saved his life, then I understood it,” Dee said. “I can do that for someone else.”

Now, Tyrone and Dee, along with their four children, are registered as organ donors, and their grandson signed up when he was 14.

“I want to keep my donor’s legacy alive and create awareness for the cause,” Tyrone said. “There’s a shortage of organ donors. If something happens, and you can save someone else’s life – why not?”

August 1, 2020:

“Life is back to normal,” Shiara Veltman said. “I get to jump in the pool with no cares. I get to swim in the river with my friends. Taking medications is an easy compromise for having a life again.”

Shiara lived a healthy childhood until seventh grade, when she fell ill following a trip to Cedar Key, Florida, with friends. She was treated for bronchitis and prescribed antibiotics, but soon she became very swollen.

Initially, it was thought she was allergic to the medicine, but after further testing and hospitalization, she was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), both substantially impacting her kidneys.

Shiara’s diet was altered. She grew up eating canned food often – one of her favorites being ravioli – but she had to switch to healthier eating habits containing less sodium. When she was younger, she hated taking pills, but she learned to adjust. She had episodes of appearing swollen.

Today Shiara is happy and healthy.

“Other kids at school didn’t understand why I was swollen, and they made fun of me a lot for it,” Shiara said.

When Shiara was 15, her doctor called on Halloween instructing her it was time to begin dialysis. She missed most of her sophomore year and half of her junior year of high school while awaiting a kidney transplant, but thanks to her teachers and her mother, she was able to keep up with her schoolwork.

“Being on dialysis is terrible,” Shiara said. “While I was waiting for my transplant, I wasn’t hopeful. I thought about statistics – that I would be waiting four or five years for a kidney since so many are needed.”

Shiara received her transplant on November 11, 2018, after a year of dialysis. She was not without complications, as FSGS is recurring, and impacted her new kidney, too.

Shiara began plasmapheresis treatments at UF Health Shands Hospital, making the nearly 1.5-hour journey from Inverness to Gainesville twice a week for a few months, before the treatment frequency was lessened to weekly, then every other week. In total, Shiara spent a year completing plasmapheresis treatments.

During her treatments, Shiara’s nurse was Jerry Lewis, an ambassador with LifeQuest Organ Recovery Services. Jerry’s wife was an organ donor when she passed away, and Jerry volunteered with LifeQuest as a guest speaker in high school classrooms, sharing the importance of donation with students. He encouraged Shiara to share her story with her classmates.

Shiara shares her story at Citrus High School.

Since then, Shiara also was trained to be a LifeQuest Ambassador, and she has presented to Citrus High School students in multiple classes.

“I’ve loved volunteering,” Shiara said. “I love sharing my story and encouraging people to be donors. Donation is beautiful.”

Shiara graduated high school on time with A’s and B’s. She hopes to begin classes at Gainesville’s Santa Fe College in the coming year, where she plans to study nursing.

“Register as organ donors so others have a chance at life,” Shiara said. “When people get transplants, they can go on to experience and accomplish amazing things.”

LifeQuest Organ Recovery Services recognizes ambassadors of the month to bring attention to those who generously give much of their time to organ donation outreach. In this blog, our second quarter nominees answer questions related to their time volunteering.

April Ambassador of the Month: Liz Kasey

1) What caused you to become an ambassador?

Diagnosed with diabetes in 2005, I had gone many years not knowing and had done damage to my kidneys. I found out that I would need to go on dialysis and would need to go on the transplant list. I received a kidney through the paired donation program.

2) Why do you find being an ambassador important?

Volunteering with LifeQuest gives me the opportunity to give something back and hopefully to make a difference in the lives of others.

3) What do you enjoy most about volunteering?

My number one goal every day is to be the reason someone smiles. I hope to spread my story to save even more lives.

4) Why would you encourage others to become LifeQuest Ambassadors?

I am not sure if there is anyone else in the world who has as much support as I have standing next to me. I am so fortunate to be surrounded by my amazing family and friends. I have the best medical teams available to help me, and it is a blessing to help support others as they walk through this same journey.

5) Why do you encourage others to register as organ donors?

I am forever grateful to my paired donor, whom I may never know. I am very grateful for my friend, Marci, who donated her kidney to someone else so that I could receive mine.

May Ambassador of the Month: Shiara Veltman

1) What caused you to become an ambassador?

I wanted to become an ambassador to share my story, educate others and show other kids who may be going through the same thing that there is hope, and you can get better.

2) Why do you find being an ambassador important?

I get to educate people about the process of an organ transplant and debunk some common myths behind it.

3) What do you enjoy most about volunteering?

I like getting to talk to students about my experiences and see them learn new things they did not know about their organs, and getting to hear others’ experiences.

4) Why would you encourage others to become LifeQuest Ambassadors?

It helps spread awareness for organ transplants and encourages people to become donors.

5) Why do you encourage others to register as organ donors?

Everyone deserves a second chance at life, and you can give that to someone through donation.

June Ambassador of the Month: Allie Biess

1) What caused you to become an ambassador?

I was an organ recipient at a young age, 18 months old. It was not until I became a registered nurse, and then later became an ICU nurse, that I knew about LifeQuest. I always wanted to find a way to give back and spread my appreciation and knowledge behind what organ donation is, and what it means to recipients. I attended an educational meeting with other recipients and realized how many community opportunities there are to promote organ donation.

2) Why do you find being an ambassador important?

As a registered nurse and even in daily life conversations, I began to realize how many people do not realize exactly what it means to be an organ donor and how much false information there is about the subject. I think being an ambassador is not just about promoting people to sign up as donors, but it is also about giving proper information so people in the community can make educated decision. It is also about encouraging families to have uncomfortable conversations so, in the event of unexpected deaths or accidents, families can have a little bit of peace and clarity. It may be they do not want their family member to be an organ donor, which is completely acceptable. However, an informed decision is always the best decision.

3) What do you enjoy most about volunteering?

I love being able to educate and represent what organ donation means. It is hard to conceptualize what a difference organ donation makes. However, being able to hear someone say, I would not be here without someone choosing to allow me to receive the gift of life, brings a whole other dimension to the meaning behind organ donation.

4) Why would you encourage others to become LifeQuest Ambassadors?

I encourage anyone and everyone to be an ambassador. Anyone involved in organ donation, donor or recipient, I encourage educating the community. It can indirectly save lives. Properly educating someone on the topic of organ donation may pass down through families and friends and, in turn, may motivate someone to donate and save another person’s life. It really has a ripple effect.

5) Why do you encourage others to register as organ donors?

I have had the privilege, and I feel blessed in life to see all spectrums of organ donation. I had the privilege at 18 months old to receive a transplant from my mother. I had the opportunity to sit with my fiancé’s father as he waited for a donor for a heart transplant and then watch as he recovers from receiving a heart. Shortly, it will be a joy to see him walk down the aisle at our wedding. As an ICU registered nurse, I have had the honor of sitting bedside and having a family member decide to make their child an organ donor as the doctors have deemed the patient medically brain dead. I have also had the privilege of taking care of this patient leading up to this decision. I have stood with coworkers in the hallway as a patient and their family participated in an honor walk, wheeling the patient down the hall as they entered the OR to begin the donation process.

Each experience left me humbled to be alive, humbled to be present, humbled to be a nurse and even more empowered to be an ambassador.

Life is never promised nor always what we expect. These events all have sadness involved, especially when they are unexpected. For donors, many times families are hurting. Medical team members dread having to give bad news to families. Uncomfortable talks take place. However, there is another side of complete and indescribable joy for both the families of the donors and the recipients. Life is continued or maybe even restarted. For my fiancé’s father, it meant being able to stand in life for food without going into cardiac arrest in public. Donation for me meant getting to stand at the bedside in a career, I love, get married and later have children of my own.

Even in dark times life can be valued, continued and a legacy made even more and I would say this is what organ donation can provide.

Some people feel a sense of dread when they get a phone call from an unknown number. That was not the case with Paul Croft, who felt a surge of adrenaline when his phone rang at 4 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon. He knew the drill. Answer your phone at all times of the day or night, especially if it is from the hospital.

Croft is going to great lengths to find a kidney donor.

“They notified me I was on standby,” Croft said. The Tallahassee resident has been on the waiting list for an organ transplant for a year.

It is common for patients like Croft to be called about an organ offer. One patient will be the primary candidate and the others will be backups in case the primary is not available or eligible.

“Two hours later I got the call that I was the primary recipient,” he said.

It was go time. Croft, who lives with end-stage renal disease, was next in line for a life-saving kidney transplant. Finally, he would get a second lease on life.

Like many patients waiting for the call, Croft planned for this moment. His suitcase was packed. He leapt into action and telephoned family and friends who had agreed to care for his special needs son on a moment’s notice.

Then he and his wife, Debra, waited.

“It’s tough to wait,” Croft said. “You can’t let it consume you. If you do, it’ll just tear down your physical and mental health.”

Croft was not prepared for the heartbreak that lay ahead. The transplant team determined the donor organ was not suitable for him. He would not get the kidney transplant he desperately needed after all.  At least not this time.

Sometimes a patient is placed on standby or reports to a transplant center for a potential offer, but then does not receive the transplant. Dry runs can be emotionally draining but are a normal part of the donation process.

“I went from low to craziness to very high and back again,” Croft said. “It’s like the drop on a roller coaster. I was a little ‘blahed’ out and exhausted from it all.”

Croft began to research organ donation, how it works and why it takes so long for patients like him to find a suitable match for a transplant. The facts were a sobering reminder the odds are not in his favor. More than 112,000 patients in the United States are waiting for organ transplants. Each day, 10 people are added to the list. About 20 people die every day while waiting for an organ transplant.

Croft pleads for a donor on the back window of his red Ford Edge.

Because Croft needs a kidney, the mission to find a donor match is even more daunting. Nearly 85 percent of patients on the transplant list are waiting for kidneys. The average wait time for a kidney is three to five years. Nearly 5,000 people die every year waiting for a kidney transplant and another 5,000 are taken off the list because they are no longer healthy enough to receive a transplant.

“Some days are very agonizing because with social media you read how the list is growing, along with the need for kidney transplants nationwide,” Croft said. “It makes you wonder, when will it be your turn?”

The emotional letdown was a turning point for the 66-year-old grandfather of four who is beating the odds – barely.  Like many patients who are waiting for organ transplants, Croft has learned to live with a real risk of death.  Even so, it has not weakened his instinct to survive.

“I’m hoping for a living donor,” he said, optimistically.

A kidney transplant could happen sooner if a patient has a family or friend who is willing to be a living donor. A living donor must be tested to see if he or she is a match for the patient. If a person has no willing, matching, living person to donate to him or her, then they are placed on a list and must wait for a kidney from a deceased donor.

Because there are no guarantees, Croft joined a growing number of patients who have launched their own search for an organ donor while remaining on the wait list. His public pleas, visible on cars, clothes, and social media in the Tallahassee area, grow bolder with each passing day.

So far, he has put the word out to family and friends, shared his plight with members at the church where he attends, and posted appeals on Facebook. He made t-shirts with the tag line, “In need of kidney,” and displayed a sign proclaiming his need for a type-O kidney donor on the back window of his red Ford Edge.

Croft made t-shirts asking for a kidney.

If all of this is not enough – and so far it is not – Croft asked Lamar Advertising in Tallahassee to help promote his search for a kidney donor. They happily obliged.

“I told him, we’ll help you out where we can,” said Chad Oaks, Lamar Advertising real estate manager. “Then COVID-19 hit.”

Croft’s “SHARE YOUR SPARE” trailer appeared on donated billboards in and around Tallahassee for months leading up to the pandemic, when the ads were abruptly supplanted by public service announcements from the Florida Department of Health.

Croft did not find a donor, but his outdoor media messages gave another man the courage to run his own billboard campaign with Lamar Advertising, also pleading for a kidney donor.

“This is what’s it’s come to,” Croft said. “As the years progressed my kidney disease progressed, and that’s how I got to the point where I am today. I just want to be healthy for my son. He still needs me.”

To look at him, you would not know Croft is battling stage 5 chronic kidney disease. He has diabetes, but has managed to stay off dialysis. He works in his yard every day and, except for failing kidneys, his overall health is good.  A paradox faced by many patients waiting for an organ transplant.

“To look at me you wouldn’t think, I need to donate a kidney to that guy,” Croft said. “I may look good, but my kidneys are declining.”

Time on the wait list can vary, leaving many patients and caregivers feeling powerless. Keeping appointments and staying in contact with the transplant team are ways to feel more in control during the waiting process.

Robert and Betty Morales know how it feels to wait.

Betty Morales’ husband, Robert, has been waiting for a kidney for more than year since being diagnosed with Wegener’s disease. Unable to manage his illness and unwilling to stand by and do nothing, she trained as a LifeQuest ambassador to become an advocate for organ donation in the Tallahassee community.

Morales shares candid posts about the couple’s transplant journey on her Facebook page, and she speaks in high schools and at public events. Robert, who volunteers as a coach at Leon High School, was recently featured in a story on WTXL-TV, in part because of his wife’s community involvement.

“This is a terrifying time for us,” Morales said.

Emotional ups and downs while waiting for a transplant come with the territory.  The upside is that in 2019 more than 40,000 organ transplants were performed in United States, and 7,300 of them were made possible by living donors. Donors give others a second chance at life, and many donor families are comforted in knowing their loved one helped save others.

“I believe in God and God has a hand in this,” Croft said. “I just have to be patient, even if some days are better than others.”

To view the WTXL-TV story mentioned above, please visit: https://www.wtxl.com/sports/high-school-sports/leon-high-football-coaches-family-bond-goes-beyond-the-game

Beginning in 2020, LifeQuest Organ Recovery Services began to recognize Ambassadors of the Month to bring more attention to those who generously volunteer much of their time to organ donation outreach. In this blog, we showcase our three ambassadors for the first quarter of the year and ask each of them questions related to their time volunteering.

January Ambassador of the Month: Jaye Hamblet

1) What caused you to become an ambassador?

Realizing the life-changing gift of organ donation after watching a friend’s transformation from debilitating grief following the death of a grandchild to life again upon learning that her granddaughter’s organs had saved four people – two of them children themselves.

2) Why do you find being an ambassador important?

Organ donation is not something easily discussed, and there is a lot of misinformation out there. Educating others, especially teenagers, about organ donation and providing the facts results in more lives saved. 

3) What do you enjoy about volunteering?

Giving back to the community is important to me, and this is one way I can do that. Being retired allows me more time for volunteer work. 

4) Why would you encourage others to become LifeQuest Ambassadors?

You can volunteer as much or as little as you want and choose how you want to volunteer, whether it’s public speaking, office assistance or working a table. It’s easy and rewarding. It saves lives.  

5) Why do you encourage others to register as organ donors?

In my extended family, there are three organ donors, one living donor and one recipient. I’ve seen first-hand that organ donation saves lives.

February Ambassador of the Month: Kevin Jacques 

1) What caused you to become an ambassador?

Learning I would need a life-saving liver transplant is what made me start volunteering with LifeQuest.

2) What do you enjoy about volunteering?

I love being able to share my story with everyone. It is my way of putting a “face” on organ donation. Many people don’t know think they anyone who has received a transplant, so by telling my story I am able to make a connection with them. Then, organ donation becomes more real.  

Also, my story is pretty interesting. Up until I was 21 years old, I assumed I was healthy. It was not until I had blood work done that I found out that I had a problem with my liver. After years of tests, I learned the reality that I would eventually need a liver transplant. A lot of people find it interesting that I was on the transplant list for five years before getting my transplant. 

3) What has surprised you about volunteering?

A lot of people believe the myths that they hear about becoming an organ donor. Several people have mentioned that they feel that if they are an organ donor, doctors will not try hard to save their life. However, a first responder or medical professional’s main priority is making sure that they do everything possible to make sure that people survive. 

4) Have you developed new friendships through our Donate Life community?

Yes, I have made quite a few new friends from all across Florida’s Panhandle. I have made friends with several liver transplant recipients. It has been great to connect with them and share stories. I find it interesting that everyone’s story is so different, but we are connected by the fact that we are recipients of the amazing Gift of Life. 

5) Why do you encourage people to register as organ donors?

Everyone is important to someone, and I know without my transplant my daughter, who is now nine, would have had to grow up without a father. It is a difficult thing to think about, but the reality is that you could make a decision that could greatly affect someone’s life in the greatest way possible. 

March Ambassador of the Month: Terry Rooks

1) What caused you to become an ambassador?

My brother, Timothy Gregg Rooks, was an organ donor in April of 2014. I became an ambassador to honor Tim and tell others his story.

2) Why do you find being an ambassador important?

Being a LifeQuest Ambassador has brought me healing, peace and joy as I process Tim’s death.  It has also brought me the opportunity to meet other donor families and transplant recipients. I listen to their stories and realize the impact organ donation has on others.

3) Why would you encourage others to become ambassadors?

I encourage donor families and recipients to become ambassadors because of the healing it brings to you. It honors the loved one that gave the Gift of Life.

4) Have you developed any new friendships through our Donate Life community?

I have acquired many friendships with LifeQuest members. As a member of LifeQuest’s Advisory Board, I have met the directors and some transplant doctors. Their passion for their work fills my heart with joy. I have a new “chosen” daughter in Coral Denton, the LifeQuest Senior Public Education Coordinator. Coral and Tim have the kindred spirit for the love of travel and adventure. She has honored him by writing his initials in places she has visited.  Coral has brought healing into my life. We have developed a friendship and passion for donation as we spread the word to register to become an organ donor.

5) Why do you encourage people to register as organ donors?

The Gift of Life is so important! Organ, tissue and eye donation impacts many people. You never know what life has in store for you and your loved ones. Perhaps they might need an organ for a second chance on life. It could be you! It takes more people registering to make a life-saving difference.

March 2, 2020: Whenever the examiner at the driver license office asked Erica Shields if she wanted to register to be an organ donor, she was quick to answer.

“I would always say no,” Shields said. “No, no, no, no, no.”

Then something happened that caused Shields to have a change of heart. Her son, Kaden, then 3 years old, was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, a critical condition in which blood flow is decreased, causing the heart to enlarge and weaken.

Little Kaden would need a heart transplant if he were going to survive.

“You don’t know how close something like this is until it hits home,” Shields said.

She spent eight months at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville where her son was hooked to a Berlin Heart machine, a heart pump that maintains the blood flow in small children with serious heart failure.

As Kaden clung to life, Shields could not help but wonder why she had declined to register as an organ donor all those times before.

“Prior to everything happening, being a donor just didn’t seem that important,” she said.

Kaden waited six months for a heart transplant that came on April 6, 2019.

Shields has since placed her name on the organ donor registry in the hope that she can one day save a life. She is leading by example and wants Kaden to follow in her footsteps.

It took a near-tragedy to emphasize the importance of registering as an organ donor to Shields. She is hoping it will take far less to convince others who are reluctant to share the Gift of Life.

“When the question is asked, try and think about someone else’s life,” she said.

Fear and distrust are at the root of the problem. One reason is that common myths are prevalent in some minority communities.

“There are many who subscribe to the belief that if a doctor knows you’re a registered donor, they won’t do everything they can to save your life,” Shields said.

Shields admits there was a time when she may have believed the familiar tales. For a variety of reasons, misconceptions about organ donation continue to persist, particularly among African-American and ethnic communities. The end result is a tragic reduction in the number of minority lives saved.

Still, there are glimmers of hope.

While there has been a slight increase in African-American organ donor registrations over the past two decades, it has not been enough to offset the growing number of minority patients in need of organ transplants.

In 2016, African-Americans accounted for 30 percent of the overall organ donation waiting list, and 33 percent of the kidney waiting list, despite representing only 13 percent of the U.S. population. Recent improvements in national kidney transplant policy have evened the rates at which African-American, Hispanic and Caucasian transplant candidates receive kidneys from deceased donors, according to data from United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).

Today Kaden is an active, 4-year-old who looks forward to starting kindergarten.

An African-American organ recipient does not have to have an African-American donor. But they would be more likely to have a successful match – based on certain genetic markers and antibodies – if more African-American donors were available.

Kaden, now 4 years old, is one of the lucky ones. He received his new heart on April 6, 2019.

“From transplant up until now, everything has been good,” Shields said. “Kaden has a lot more energy, of course. He’s just making up for lost time.”

While Kaden is back to being an active little boy who enjoys playing with big brother, Dylan, moving on with their lives is still a challenge for the family.

On a recent visit to the driver license office, the clerk once again asked Shields if she wanted to register to be an organ donor. As always, she was quick to answer.

“Yes, of course!” she said emphatically. “The guy looked at me like why are you saying it like that?”

She proudly told him that her son had received a heart transplant.

January 2, 2020:
When the inner core of Hurricane Michael slammed into Panama City Beach, Fla., last October, Dr. Marlene East, a licensed mental health counselor, was at her house a stone’s throw from the Gulf of Mexico. Construction inside her new home was not yet complete, but she was confident its infrastructure would withstand the deadly Category 5 storm moving ashore.

“It was traumatic for everyone here,” said East, who offered shelter to her friends and neighbors.

After the storm passed, she and her guests were dumfounded by the extent of devastation surrounding them. East lost several trees, and some rental properties she owned were damaged by the storm; however, her home was spared. Many residents in her neighborhood were not so lucky.

Thankful for her good fortune, East wanted give back by helping others. She counseled many who were affected by the hurricane and looked for opportunities to turn helplessness into hopefulness.

Across town, a similar scenario played out in the aftermath of the hurricane. Teresa Jones, manager of patient experience at Ascension Sacred Heart Bay, worried about the future of the medical facility. The hospital sustained major damage. Patients had to be evacuated. Jobs were lost. Livelihoods gone.

Heartbroken, she watched as workers from Servepro of Bay County, a fire and water restoration company, collected five-gallon buckets of debris and shattered glass from the hospital’s iconic gray tower windows, which once stood as a beacon of hope. We should do something meaningful with this, a worker suggested to Jones.

“Right away, Marleen (East) popped into my head,” Jones said. “I’ve known her forever. I said let me see what she thinks.”

A glass interpretation of Hurricane Michael

East, an accomplished artist, jumped at the chance to turn piles of rubble and glass into a meaningful display of art. The result is a stunning glass painting meant to inspire progress and optimism in the community. The piece, titled “Perseverance,” is on display in the main lobby at Bay.

“I was excited about the opportunity to take that glass and make it something symbolic,” East said. The doctor said she uses art therapy when counseling patients.

“I see it as a way for people to express themselves, especially children,” she said.

The simple art project quickly swelled into a community effort involving employees at Bay, Servepro and local organizations. Together, they brainstormed with East and settled on the idea of fusing thousands of tiny fragments of glass into one large piece that would illustrate the power and destruction of Hurricane Michael.

When that didn’t work, a brighter idea emerged using butterflies as a symbol of recovery and resurrection. It was meant to be.

“The hurricane was going to dominate the piece,” East said. “We don’t want to be reminding patients about the worst time in our community’s history. We want renewal to be dominant.”

Bay gave the go-ahead, and Servepro provided funding needed to cover expenses. East threw herself into the project while simultaneously rebuilding her own life.

Makeshift sifter made from a window screen and fire pit.

She began by washing the tiny slivers of glass on a makeshift sifter by placing a window screen over a fire pit in her back yard. She painstakingly sifted through the debris separating tiny pebbles and pine straw from glass. Anything considered salvageable was placed on a sheet and left to dry in the sun.

“It was all in my head as to where it would go,” East said. She built a four-foot by six-foot backdrop to display her inspirational mosaic.

“I started dreaming about the painting,” she said. “With art pieces, I’ll see it in my head.”

It took a week to paint the background, or underpainting, using a heavy body acrylic similar to a modeling compound applied with palette knives. In a few areas, it was squirted on like cake icing.

Next she glued down the glass. The final step was applying the resin, a two-part epoxy, which was torched to remove air bubbles. The finished piece was set aside and allowed to cure for three weeks.

The result is more recovery and happiness than darkness of hurricane. A very different outcome than where the piece began.

“I added a lot more color with flowers,” East said.

A butterfly takes flight.

Little by little, darkness gave way to light, hope and healing. Pine straw became butterfly antennae, pebbles morphed into a garden pathway, and the largest pieces of glass turned into shimmering butterfly wings. Soft blue and gray tones were added to reflect the colors of the hospital. In the top right corner, a lone butterfly appears to be on the verge of taking flight.

“It’s very powerful,” Jones said. “It’s a very tactile piece.”

Perseverance will eventually be front and center on the wall overlooking the receptionist area in the main lobby at Bay. For now, it’s prominently displayed on a table near the front door for visitors to enjoy.

The glass painting recently served as a backdrop at a Tree of Life celebration held in honor of donor families and organ recipients and co-hosted by LifeQuest.

“Perseverance” is on display at Ascension Sacred Heart Bay.

“The process of losing a loved one and dealing with trauma can be similar,” East said.

Typically a person goes through seven stages of grief after an ordeal: shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, testing and acceptance. While every stage is difficult to navigate, at least one study revealed people get really upset when they are told to work toward the final stage of acceptance.

“We focus on reintegration as opposed to acceptance,” East said. “You’re always going to feel a sadness about the loss of a loved one. You have their memories in you. You move forward. Life will never be the same. That just seems to really help people, rather than acceptance.”

Verse James 1:12 touts perseverance

The holidays can be especially trying for those who go through tough times or lose a loved one. For one thing, grief is like a window that opens and closes of its own accord, East said.

“You don’t know when it’s going to open or close,” she said. “You can be totally fine one day, then the window opens, and you break down and cry.
Just know that’s going to happen.”

Perseverance was created to offer solace to anyone who is suffering, not just victims of Hurricane Michael. Its imagery can just as easily be applied to the grief donor families experience during the holidays. Glass fragments parallel the shattered lives of those left behind after a loved one dies. Butterflies symbolize families who are picking up the pieces of their lives after doing something meaningful — sharing the Gift of Life.

Every patient and visitor to Bay Medical may get the chance to experience the infectious sanguinity of East’s artwork. Hospital administrators are considering whether to carry the butterfly theme throughout the compound. They’re also batting about the idea of selling limited edition greeting cards or other items in the gift shop featuring glass and debris blown in by Hurricane Michael.

“It’s just a beautiful painting,” Jones said.

To view a video of the Tree of Life event at Ascension Sacred Heart Bay, please click on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZhiZa1NV48.

November 1, 2019:

Every life has equal value. Every creature deserves the chance to live a healthy and productive life. These principles have guided Sarah Podobinski for as long as she can remember.

“I don’t see anybody’s life being of lesser value than anyone else,” Podobinski said, the casualness in her voice a sharp contrast to her deliberate good deeds. “If you can help someone, I feel like you should.”

And so she does. Podobinski’s generosity knows no boundaries. Family. Friends. Strangers. Even animals. It’s all the same to her. Every life is precious.

So when she came across Demarcus Graham’s online Facebook post pleading for a kidney, Podobinski jumped at the chance to donate one of her own to the Columbia County deputy sheriff. She was screened in August 2018, and four months later she underwent surgery at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville to save a man she never met.

“She’s truly an angel,” said Graham. A man of strong faith, he is keenly aware of the sacrifice made on his behalf.

Podobinski and Graham share their story with a local TV station.

“It’s like it never happened,” Podobinski said.

She was released from the hospital the next day.

Prior to the transplant surgery, she had never been hospitalized or even suffered a broken a bone. All of which begs the question, why in the world did she do it?

“I get asked “why” constantly,” she said pensively. “My response is, why not?”

Podobinski is not being flippant. Having worked as a surgical coordinator, she witnessed first-hand the fear and misery of patients who were waiting for kidney transplants while on dialysis. She wanted to help. It’s that simple.

In doing so, she joined a select group of loved ones, friends and even individuals who donated their organs to spare a patient an uncertain future. In 2018, nearly 7,000 transplants were made possible by living donors.

Podobinski, however, is an outspoken advocate for the less fortunate. She participates in an informal online group that connects living donors with patients who need organ transplants. Group discussions are candid, and members are encouraged to publicly ask for the organs they need as Graham did.

“You’d be surprised how many random people want to do this sort of thing and donate,” she said, pointing out there is a large community of altruistic people out there just waiting to do good deeds.

All you have to do is ask.

“The altruistic brain works a little different,” said Podobinski, an avid blood donor and registered bone marrow donor. “I know it’s not normal for someone to up and give away their organ, not even to a family member.

“I’ve always been kind of a giving person.”

Her big-heartedness extends beyond the human race. She also runs a dog rescue, Rapscallion to the Rescue, that provides free spay and neutering for pets of families who are struggling financially. The shelter is home to 10 dogs who are paralyzed, amputees, or terminally ill.

Manny takes it easy after donating blood at the UF Small Animal Hospital.

“We try to help the paycheck-to-paycheck people,” she said.

Her own five-year-old pit bulls also donate blood regularly at the University of Florida Small Animal Hospital. Victor and Manny are enrolled in the canine donor program. Just like people, dogs have diseases or injuries that require blood transfusions. Pit bulls have the necessary antigens in their blood to be canine donors.

Podobinski learned of the program from a friend who worked at the hospital.

Victor is enrolled in the canine donor program that provides blood transfusions for sick or injured dogs.

“It made total sense to me,” she said.

The way Graham sees it, Podobinski’s unbridled culture of giving is more than common sense. It was divine intervention. Without a kidney donation, he was destined to end up like his sister. She died while waiting for a heart transplant.

Today Graham is happy, healthy and shares the story of his miracle donor through testimony every chance he gets.

“I was meant to cross her path,” he said. “She may seem like a normal person to you, but in my eyes she wears a cape. She’s my hero.”

##

Share this story by visiting LifeQuest’s Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/LifeQuestFla.

September 11, 2019: For Vincent Alderson, promoting organ donation was about more than just doing his job. It was about creating a lasting movement of goodwill.

Mission accomplished.

A memorial stands in the main hallway of Orange Park Medical Center due in large part to the efforts of our friend and co-worker who served as a hospital services coordinator at LifeQuest for six years. His name appears not once, but twice on The Vince Alderson
Donor Memorial Wall created in his namesake. Vince was also a tissue donor.

The Vincent Alderson Donor Memorial Wall at Orange Park Medical Center

“He was always a pleasure to work with because you knew that advocating for our patients and their families was his top priority,” said Sarah Miller, injury prevention coordinator at Orange Park Medical Center near Jacksonville. “I never met him in the hospital without a positive greeting and a smile.”

Miller worked closely with Vince on the hospital’s annual National Donate Life Month celebration to honor organ donors and raise awareness among staff and in the community. It was during this time that Vince told Miller he wanted donors honored in a more permanent way through a memorial at the hospital. They were researching design options when Vince passed away last June.

“He felt that families would be able to connect and keep the memory of their loved one alive through a memorial,” Miller said. “We felt very strongly about continuing with the construction and dedicating the wall in memory of Vince.”

Vince’s life and legacy are featured on the donor memorial wall.

Family, friends, and hospital staff gathered for an unveiling ceremony at the Vince Alderson Donor Memorial Wall in July. Brightly-lit and colorful, it features an interactive touch screen where visitors can learn more about the lives of these unsung heroes. Large panels on either side of the display list the names of donors who chose to share the gift of life.

Among those honored is Deputy Ben Zirbel, the Clay County deputy who died in a crash last August. According to information listed by the memorial, Zirbel’s gift helped at least five people, including a 70-year-old man who received his heart.

Vince and his megawatt smile are featured prominently on the display, making it difficult for visitors to walk by without notice. An unassuming family man and fitness buff, he never intended to be front and center. He chose instead to work behind-the-scenes at hospitals in Tallahassee and Jacksonville with the goal of securing an organ transplant for every patient in need. Vince was passionate about ensuring the memory of organ donors.

“What I will remember and treasure most about Vince is his great attitude and gratitude for what he did for a living,” said Kathleen Giery, director of donor program development for LifeQuest. “He loved this field and had unwavering respect for our donors and their families. Each time he talked about a case, rather than say “donor,” he would say “soul,” often predicated by “precious” or “young” or some other term of endearment.”

Most people want to know their life matters. Vince’s did. He made a difference by contributing to the lives of others. His deeds and his actions all made a difference. He simply did his job and inspired others. Nothing grandiose.

“Vince loved to be as involved in the process as possible and to the greatest extent that his job would allow,” said Danielle Balbis, executive director of LifeQuest. “He was so good at trouble-shooting when we were having issues in a hospital. If complications arose during a case, Vince was the one we wanted onsite.”

Hospital staff from Orange Park Medical Center at the dedication ceremony.

Vince’s life is proof that a remarkable legacy can be unintended. His passion and purpose were evident, and while his seat may be filled, his shoes never will.

“His calming effect was a welcome attribute for anxious families in our units burdened with heavy decisions,” Miller said. “Many staff and families have been excited to see Vince’s name on our wall above the new memorial along with his photos and story. He is missed but definitely not forgotten.”

“To our friend and colleague, who left us too young and too soon, rest in peace, Vince,” Giery said. “You are missed.”

Here’s to a life and a job well done.

This link will take you to a short video of the unveiling ceremony: https://www.facebook.com/LifeQuestFla/videos/428759977848621/

(By Kim Gilmore)