http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=11569461Part 1: The Gift Of LifePosted: Nov 24, 2009 06:07 PM
Over the next three nights, we'll meet people from communities across Northcentral Montana whose lives have been forever changed by organ donation. We begin our "Gift Of Life" series tonight with the story of two women who've experienced the need for a transplant within their own families.
More than 100,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for an organ transplant in America, and that includes nearly 2,000 people here in Montana.
Long before her days as a nurse at Benefis Health System in Great Falls, Amy Johnson was used to spending long days inside the hospital. She explained, "When I was 18 months old I was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, so I was in and out of the hospital throughout my mid to teenage years and throughout adulthood."
By her late 20s, Amy's health had decreased to the point that she needed a life-saving lung transplant. She recounted, "It was a very difficult decision but I'd gotten to the point where I couldn't do everything I wanted to do... my lung function decreased so significantly that I couldn't work."
While Amy's path to the need for a transplant took many years, it came much more suddenly for Nina Herrera and her 14-year old son, Riley.
It was during a regular check-up when they discovered that Riley's heart was not functioning as normal, and in just two months, he was in the intensive care unit. Nina said, "They told us that he had probably two to three days to live if he did not get a heart."
Riley Herrera and Amy Johnson would both wait for transplants in the spring of 2007, but fortunately, neither one of them would have to wait too long.
And for both families, life would never be the same.
Nina said of Riley, "Today he's 17 years old...he's a junior at Capital High.. last year he got his driver's license...we didn't know if we'd ever see that."
And Amy said, "I was so excited when I could run for the first time. I hadn't run since I was nine or ten years old and even then it was a struggle...being able to walk up stairs without having to find an elevator. You know, just the little things that I've learned to appreciate."
As they now take in the joys of everyday life, they make it a point to share the small step that can make the ultimate difference.
Amy said, "If I can just change one person's view of organ donation and say 'Oh hey, I'm going to be an organ donor now', I think that's part of why I'm here, to do that, to help bring this gift to others."
And Nina said, "Just the simple gesture of checking the 'yes' box on a donor application saved our son."
Despite the joy of these families, not every person who waits for an organ transplant has the success we've heard about today.
In our next segment, we'll take a look at the great need for donors, and hear a personal story of what it's like to wait years in hopes of a new organ.
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Part 2: The Gift Of Life
Posted: Nov 25, 2009 12:01 PM
Reporting for KRTV
We've been talking with people from communities across Northcentral Montana whose lives have been forever changed by organ donation. Our "Gift Of Life" series continues with a story of loss - and life.
Every 13 minutes, a new name is added to the list of people who need an organ transplant, according to the organization Donate Life Today.
The group also says the number of people registering to be donors isn't keeping up with the ever-increasing need for donors - a reality that hits all too close to home for many families.
John Kurtz was barely 40 when he learned that he had liver disease; his ailing health put an end to the activities that he's enjoyed for years. His wife Leanne remembered, "My husband was a very, very active guy...he loved to hunt and fish and horseback ride."
She continued, "He stopped wanting to go elk hunting and he always said he didn't have the time but in reality he just wasn't feeling well."
John went on the transplant list in 2005, and Leanne recalled, "We were very, very optimistic. John was in good spirits and relatively good health for a very long period of time."
But Leanne said, "It just...it consumes your life...and you wait...you wait for that call and you wait for that organ."
The long-awaited sigh of relief came in 2007, but the joy would be short-lived.
She recalled the phone call they received: "'I'm sorry to tell you that your transplant has been canceled and that the organs are not viable'. So there we were in Seattle; they call it a dry run. Most people who are on the waiting list get one dry run, sometimes two."
It took nearly a year to get the second call, and Leanne remembered, "The phone rings and it's the transplant surgeon and he says 'Leanne you have to get back here right away; we have a liver and it's a great liver and I've seen it and it's a go, so get him over here'."
That night, John was prepped to receive a new liver at the University of Washington Medical Center - but he never made it to the surgery.
Leanne explained, "His heart went into severe atrial fibrillation and they decided right now surgery is too risky."
In his three years of waiting, John's health decreased to the point that he now needed a new heart, kidney, and liver.
Leanne said, "There just came a point where he was overwhelmed by the thought of a heart transplant, in addition to a liver and kidney...that the odds of surviving such a transplant were slim, and I remember John being in the bed and saying, 'I don't think it's worth the risk for them to try to give me a heart, a liver, and a kidney that I could die from or die shortly after transplant when three other people's lives to be saved by those same organs', and so he made the decision that he wanted all medical support to be withdrawn, and even before he did that he said 'If there's anything else I have that anybody else can use, make sure and take it', and so until the very end he was selfless and giving."
John died in August of 2008.
Leanne continued, "I've decided that the only thing I can really do in his honor and in his memory to is to talk to people about the importance of being an organ donor, and when you check that box on your driver's license, you have the ability...your organs have the ability to save four or five different people and eyes, and tissues, and bones can give new leases on life to more than 50 other people."
She added, "It's one of the most selfless things you can do; when you make that decision on your own, you also take the burden away from your family or people who care about you to make that decision for you in a time when they are overcome by grief."
"It really is one of the most loving and selfless things you can do," Leanne concluded.
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Part 3: The Gift Of LifePosted: Nov 26, 2009 03:01 PM
We've been talking with people from communities across Northcentral Montana whose lives have been forever changed by organ donation. Our "Gift Of Life" series concludes with the story of a donor family, and how just one decision has impacted countless people across the country.
Everyday, Kathy and Bob Doney give thanks for the days they shared with their youngest son Chad, who they describe as ambitious and active up until his last days.
Kathy recalled,"We had raked leaves. He played with the kids across the street. He just was like a pied-piper. The kids really liked him and he was just a fun guy to be around."
But in October of 1998, Chad chose to take his own life.
His mother said, "They told us he had shot himself...that he was still not, you know, he was not still with us."
While the tragedy sunk in for their own family, Bob saw a chance of hope for others.
He said, "I talked to the doctor on the phone and it didn't take me too long to make the decision to see what was available if we could donate his organs."
And nearly a thousand miles away, a 56-year old man would get a second chance.
Kathy said, "He was on his death bed and had already said goodbye to his daughter Elizabeth when they got the news that he was going to get a heart."
And so Chad's heart would save the life of a complete stranger.
Two years later, Bob and Kathy met meet their son's heart recipient.
Kathy remembered, "The first question he asked when we drove up was, I got out of the car, he said 'I suppose you want to hear Chad's heart'. So he let us put our ear to his chest and listen to Chad's heart. It was very emotional."
Bob said, "That was something you totally can't describe, you know?"
But it wasn't only Chad's heart that had turned a life around.
Kathy said, "His corneas both went to boys in Montana, his heart went to Doug in Blaine, Washington, his liver went to a mother of four in Washington state, his kidneys went to a man and a woman in the Chicago area."
The list goes on and on - a total of 56 people directly impacted by the donation of Chad's organs and tissue.
Kathy remarked, "56 people. It's amazing."
It's a gift that wish they'd never had to give, with Kathy noting, "God only knows that we would certainly want him to be with us today, but that wasn't God's plan."
But both Kathy and Bob say just knowing they gave others a second chance still helps in the healing process.
Bob said, "It was a closure that you had to kind of let him go." And Kathy said, "He knows what's transpired and I think he'd be happy."
The Doney family remains close with their son's heart recipient; he visits them in Havre every year.
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