Gift of Life Stories

10 years ago our family was faced with tragedy when my husband lost his life suddenly to a brain hemorrhage. While we were in the hospital, a representative from KODA explained to us that my husband had years ago had sent to KODA to have his organs donated. While we were heart broken about his passing, it gave us comfort to know his death gave several other people life. Also, because he had this set up already, we did not . . .

Alex was born with damaged kidneys, ureters, and bladder due to Posterior Urethral Valve (PUV). We were told from birth that he would need a kidney transplant. They said if he could get past 2 years old with his kidneys he would probably be able to wait until pre-puberty/puberty for a transplant. Alex turned 14 in July 2021.  At that time we were told that he had 19% kidney function and it was time to begin the search for a . . .

Heather’s Story: In May of 2021, I saw a Facebook plea posted about a man named Joey who was seeking a living kidney donor. I worked with Joey at one time when he was a court security officer in the Mason County Justice Building when I was a secretary to the Circuit Judge. I also knew Joey’s wife, Melissa for many years through both school and work. Joey had Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) and his kidney function had decreased to . . .

My life began with unforeseen circumstances. Shortly after birth, I was diagnosed with biliary atresia, which causes cirrhosis of the liver. I had my first surgery at 6 weeks old, which only proved successful for a short time before ultimately failing. My family was told I would need a liver transplant. By the time I was 7 months old, I was in end stage liver failure. My whole family packed up and went to Nebraska for the operation, where my . . .

It is very hard to put my husband’s transplant journey into words. We were so very fortunate to be surprised with the “Gift of Life” from one of my husband’s former baseball coaches, Jake Yonkers, on February 28th 2020. The surprise was shared very publicly on the news (WHAS11) and picked up by GMA and Chase and Jake were interviewed on ESPN, the story even went viral on social media. Sadly, the world was shut down two weeks before my . . .

I was diagnosed at age 6 with a form of nephritis that damaged my kidneys with severe damage to the left kidney. On my 60th birthday I learned I would soon need to be on dialysis.  Luckily, I was able to delay for a year but I have now been on dialysis almost 2 years. I’ve gotten the call three times for a kidney but it hasn’t worked out for me to get the transplant. Sadly, the kidneys were defective. . . .

My family and I are thankful for the gift of life! My husband is a two-time transplant recipient. He received his first kidney is 2015 and second in 2017. This has allowed him to continue working, enjoying his hobby of baseball cards, and most importantly being a dad to our 12-year-old daughter!

I’ve always felt compelled to support organ and blood donation. I couldn’t tell you exactly why, but it started at my first blood drive in high school. To know that I could quite literally save lives by donating a pint of blood was an absolutely amazing feeling for me. I started donating blood every 8 weeks, religiously, after that. Feeling like I could and should do more, I also joined Be The Match in hopes of matching with someone in . . .

  Organ donation is something I am very passionate about. I have been a registered donor for as long as I was able to be. My story doesn’t stop there…. I had a friend that was severely sick and was in need of a kidney. So I agreed to test…I was almost a perfect match. That gave me the opportunity to become a loving donor and remains one of the most proud moments of my life. Fast forward some years…. . . .

David: Another chance at life, another 25 years that I wasn’t guaranteed to have. I was 34 years old when I was diagnosed with a genetic disease, passed to me from my mother; Polycystic Kidney Disease. This disease took so much of my life away.  I tried to carry on with a normal life by continuing to work, staying active, and trying my best to be the old me, but I was sick. My kidneys were failing at stage 3-4 . . .