COLBY FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER
OUR MISSION IN ACTION: RAISING AWARENESS THROUGH THE COLBY CASSANI ENDOWED LECTURESHIP SERIES
Nope, you are not seeing things; somehow the spring quarter blew past us and so we are a bit late with this newsletter. Sorry about that and wait no longer!
It is summer again, and that means students everywhere are having the opportunity to rest a little and build their resumes in a variety of ways. At the Colby Foundation, it is our hope that the students who were part of our Colby Cassani Endowed Lectureship Series at:
- Oklahoma State University College of Health Sciences - College of Osteopathic Medicine (Tulsa, OK);
- Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences - College of Osteopathic Medicine (Yakima, WA);
- LMU– DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine(Harrogate, TN);
- and all three of Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine campuses (Bradenton, FL; Erie, PA and Greensburg, PA)
have the opportunity to reflect on the amazing speakers and stories that were shared with them over the past academic year. We had experts in the field talk about the breakthroughs and work being done in the field of organ and tissue transplantation. We hosted Organ Procurement Organizations to talk about the role that they play in the organ and tissue donation process and how important it is for people to make the decision and sign up to be organ donors. We also were personally invited by family members and organ donation recipients as they told their very personal journeys of both hope and gratitude! Donor families reminded us that with organ and tissue donation comes an overwhelming sense of hope that their loved ones have left their greatest legacy. Gratitude from recipients that they have another day to do the things that they could not do because of poor or declining health.
We have received thank you letters from students immediately following these lectureships about the impact of all of our speakers. However, we want to challenge everyone involved in these lectureships and those that read our newsletter to remember the importance of organ and tissue donation. As you will see in our newest Story of Hope in this newsletter (Nate) life can change in the blink of an eye. Illness can come out of nowhere or it can slowly build and it can happen to anybody. We hope that in these warm months of summer, you will continue to make organ and tissue donation a point of discussion with your family and friends. If you keep meaning to but have not signed up to be an organ donor, wait no longer!
As we write this newsletter, United Network for Organ Sharing’s (UNOS) website hosts the following information:
- Waiting list candidates as of July 10th - 111, 812
- Transplants January to April 2011—9,055
Thank you for all that you do in educating others about organ and tissue donation. Keep spreading the word and have a great summer!
DIRECTORS’ NOTES
The Colby Foundation welcomes contributions that make the Colby Cassani Endowed Lectureship Series possible! - 100% of your contributions go to educating individuals about organ eye and tissue donation. Click here to contribute now online.
Did you know that we are on Facebook? Click the icon. Become a facebook fan! "Like" us. Stay informed. And spread the word!
STORY OF HOPE: INTRODUCING NATE - OUT OF THE BLUE COMES THE NEED FOR A HEART
“I was a healthy person all my life. I have been a runner for a long time and have had no problems with my heart.” This was the opening statement of our interview with Nate, a 31 year old who just celebrated his 2nd “heart” birthday.
“It was on my daughter Mikaela’s first birthday when the problems started. I did not feel well and was sure that I had the flu. I just did not get any better,” says Nate. In fact, Nate started to go “downhill”. The doctor diagnosed him with endocarditis. According to Nate, “I had a staph infection in my heart and the infection had created a hole in my aortic valve.”
The doctors decided it was best to try to do a valve replacement on Nate and ended up doing not one but two of them. Neither of the valve replacements worked. The bacteria continued to wreak havoc, tearing a hole in his heart and basically ripping the muscle apart. Nate was flown immediately to another hospital and placed in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. “At this point my wife and I had learned that I needed a heart transplant and that my situation was pretty dire” says Nate, “I did not learn until later that the doctors were not sure if I would live week to week in my wait for a heart donation.”
"Although both my wife and I were stunned at what was happening, she was a trouper. My wife Genevieve really stepped up. She did not let the shock do anything to her. She held our family together and continued to work remotely from the hospital. She slept right there at the hospital every day.” Nate was relatively lucky. He was only on the transplant list for 60 days, which is a fairly short period of time.
On July 4, 2009 Nate was notified that they had a donor and on July 5th he woke up with a new heart! Celebrating “Independence day” has a whole new meaning for Nate and his family.
Nate has had no problems with his new heart and there have been no rejection issues! He recently was part of a relay team and ran a half-marathon. Nate is so grateful for this gift of life. “Not only was my life saved, but Mikaela still has her Dad and we also have a seven month-old daughter Sienna. She would not be here if I had not gotten this transplant.”
Nate continued, “we have not had an opportunity to meet our donor family but we have exchanged letters with them. I am so thankful not only to the donor family but to our doctors. We named Sienna after one of our doctors. Her middle name is in honor of him! Obviously organ donation has had a huge impact on my life and many of my friends have seen what it’s done for me. A number of my friends have signed up to be organ donors just based on my experience!”
Click here for more Stories of Hope
A REMINDER ABOUT GOOD SEARCH: ANOTHER WAY TO CONTRIBUTE. SEARCHING THE NET SUPPORTS THE COLBY FOUNDATION...IT REALLY DOES!
We know that not everyone can send in a contribution but here is another way to contribute! To those of you who have already begun using GoodSearch as your search engine...we THANK YOU for your support! For those who have not yet made the switch, we hope you will consider it because the Colby Foundation earns a penny every time you use GoodSearch to search the internet.
How does that work? GoodSearch.com is a Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations to the Colby Foundation add up!
To learn more, just use the GoodSearch icon (top right of this page) or go to www.goodsearch.com and please spread the word. We appreciate it!
