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Every year thousands of sick patients wait for “the call” that says a donor organ is available for them. Are you a registered donor?

By Cynthia McFarland

Tim Rooks knew what it meant to live life to the max.

An athletic, adventurous, fun-loving man, Tim poured his zest for life into everything he did. It was this passion for living that fueled his decision to register as an organ donor.

When hypertension caused some of his arteries to dissect, emergency open-heart surgery was necessary. In April 2014, Tim was flown from Seven Rivers Hospital in Citrus County to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, where successful surgery was performed. Although doctors gave Tim, who was just 51, a good prognosis for recovery, he suffered a major stroke in the hospital. Both his sisters, Terry and Deena, were at his side when this happened.

“I couldn’t remember ever having a discussion with Tim about him being a donor, but at the hospital, they told us he was registered,” says Terry Rooks, who lives near Homossassa. “We read his living will, and he had even specified no pain medication if it would affect his organs for donation. He had specified that his organs, his corneas, tissues and even bone, anything that could be used would be donated.”

Terry and Deena wrote a declaration in recognition of their brother.

“The doctors read this over Tim in the operating room when they took his organs,” Terry notes. “It was special for us that they did this.”

Because of the condition of some arteries, not all of Tim’s organs were able to be donated, but his liver and one kidney were transplanted.

“One of the things my brother always said—one of his ‘Tim-isms’—was that you only get one chance at life and you need to live it to the fullest,” says Terry. “He did that, but he also thought of others. This gift of life through donation was him thinking of others. He made such a difference in their lives, and it brought peace and comfort to us knowing that part of him lives on.”

A long-time teacher in Citrus County, Terry retired shortly after her brother’s death. She frequently visits high schools in Citrus and surrounding counties to speak about organ donation.

“Tim has a legacy that goes on,” says Terry. “By giving this gift of life through organ donation, people can make an impact even after their death. We later learned that both of the recipients are grandfathers with kids and grandchildren. My brother never had any children, so in a way, now he does.”

On the Receiving End

When Ashley Kennen went on the national transplant list in June

2010, her prognosis was so poor doctors didn’t think she would make it to Christmas without a life-saving double lung transplant. Not that they told Ashley this at the time, of course.

Born with cystic fibrosis, which damages the lungs and digestive system, Ashley, who was raised in Gainesville, still managed to live a fairly normal life, albeit one filled with daily medications and frequent hospitalizations. She was working as a cardiac sonographer when she got pneumonia in October 2009. Ashley was so sick, her weight become a possibility until brain death is confirmed and doctors have noted time of death.

It’s the hospital’s responsibility to notify the local organ procurement organization (OPO) when a patient dies or is close to dying. In the case of Tim Rooks, the OPO was LifeQuest, an organ procurement organization that serves Florida’s donation and transplantation community.

Should a patient be a potential candidate for donation, a representative from the OPO goes to the hospital. If the patient was a registered organ donor, this is accepted as legal consent. If the patient wasn’t registered, the OPO representative can ask next-of-kin for authorization to donate. Once donation is authorized, a medical evaluation is performed, including taking a complete medical and social history from the family. (Because all incisions are closed, organ donation will not interfere with an opencasket funeral.)

If evaluation/history confirm that donation is possible, then it’s all about matching organs/tissue with appropriate recipients.

Matching Donors And Recipients

There is a national database of every U.S. patient awaiting a transplant. Every 10 minutes another name is added to the list.

This computerized database is operated by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). In order to get on the list, a patient must be referred by their doctor and evaluated by a transplant program to see if he or she is a candidate. If determined to be a suitable candidate, his or her name is added to the OPTN waiting list.

When an OPO representative searches the database, a list is created of patients who match the donor by organ. The matching process includes multiple aspects, which are crucial to successful transplantation. These include:

› Blood type

› Body size

› Severity of patient’s medical condition

› Distance between donor’s hospital and recipient’s hospital

› How long patient has been waiting

› Patient’s availability

During this search process, the organs of the deceased donor are maintained via life support. (The medical team that cared for the patient is replaced by the transplant surgical team.)

You’ve probably seen a movie or television show in which an organ is whisked off for transplant via plane or racing ambulance. There is definitely truth to such dramatic scenes. Certain organs can survive outside the body longer than others, but time is of the essence and can become a determining factor in which patient on the waiting list receives an available organ.

Life-Giving Transplants

The recipient is typically already in the operating room when the transport team arrives at the hospital with the organ.

Depending on the organ in question, surgery can take anywhere from 90 minutes for a kidney