Second Quarter Feature: LifeQuest Ambassadors of the Month
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.
