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SECOND QUARTER 2016

CONNECTIONS

A NEWSLETTER FOR GIFT OF HOPE’S PARTNERS AND FRIENDS

THIS ISSUE John Miller’s Legacy

MOUNT SINAI RECOGNITION

Mayors for Hope

Transplant Games of America

CONNECTIONS IN THIS ISSUE

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A Donation Specialist’s Story

Gift of Hope Donation Specialist Terri Peplow shares the moving story of John Miller, a donor whose case had a particularly strong impact on her.

Mount Sinai Donor Recognition Gift of Hope honored the family of organ and tissue donor Jonathan Pulido and recognized Mount Sinai Hospital for its support of Gift of Hope’s mission.

2016 Transplant Games

Team Illinois, a group of 53 athletes who have been touched by donation, competed in the 2016 Transplant Games of America in Cleveland.

DuPage County Proclamation The DuPage County Board of Commissioners honored donor Lauren Leone and her family for offering hope and life to others through donation.

PRESIDENT/CEO J. Kevin Cmunt CHIEF POLICY OFFICER Elizabeth Lively 630/758-2609 elively@giftofhope.org MANAGER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING Therese Michels 630/758-2603 tmichels@giftofhope.org MANAGING EDITOR Tony Sullivan 630/758-2721 tsullivan@giftofhope.org CONTRIBUTORS Susan Cochran 630/758-2987 scochran@giftofhope.org Renata Krzyston 630/758-2740 rkrzyston@giftofhope.org Nesha Logan 630/758-2743 nlogan@giftofhope.org Veronica Moreno 630/758-2799 vmoreno@giftofhope.org

On the Cover

Gift of Hope carried out a fill-in-the-blank “Donation Is ...” social media campaign as part of the organization’s Spreading Hope campaign conducted during National Donate Life Month in April. Gift of Hope staff joined with its professional and community partners in sharing what organ and tissue donation means to them in a social media outreach effort that sparked a monthlong conversation about donation on Gift of Hope’s social media channels.

Connections provides the Gift of Hope public and professional communities with news and information about Gift of Hope, organ and tissue donation and the importance of being a registered organ and tissue donor. We encourage you to share this newsletter with your friends and associates and learn more about donation by visiting GiftofHope.org. We mail Connections to people who have expressed an interest in Gift of Hope or the topic of organ and tissue donation. If you would like to be removed from our mailing list, please email your request to tsullivan@giftofhope.org.

Diane Schmitz 630/758-2741 dschmitz@giftofhope.org Marion Shuck 630/758-2616 mshuck@giftofhope.org

Copyright © 2016. All Rights Reserved.

Donation Is ...

ADVOCATES EXPRESS WHAT DONATION MEANS TO THEM

As part of the organization’s Spreading Hope campaign conducted during National Donate Life Month in April, Gift of Hope carried out a fill-in-the-blank “Donation Is ... “ social media campaign.

“Our goal was to spread hope about the uplifting benefits associated with donation,” said Gift of Hope Communications and Marketing Coordinator Nesha Logan, who manages the organization’s social media channels. “We asked our staff, professional partners and community members what organ and tissue donation means to them, and the responses we received were astounding.”

They ranged from words like “inspiring” and “#awesomesauce” to more profound statements like “the single, most precious gift to bestow on another human being.”

The social media campaign garnered more than 500 new “likes” on Gift of Hope’s Facebook page in April and was viewed by more than 80,000 people.

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Family Embraces Donation as Answer to Grief

By Terri Peplow

For John Miller, a 38-year-old divorced father of two from Sidell, Ill., Feb. 27, 2015, began as an ordinary day. He had just dropped off his two children, Riley, 10, and Gavyn, 7, at school after they had spent the previous John Miller night with him and was on his way home when he began driving erratically.

A witness saw him driving all over the road and eventually hit a fire hydrant. Police were called, and an ambulance arrived. John was responsive for a few minutes before losing consciousness.

The ambulance took John to Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Ill., and hospital staff members notified John’s mother, Renate Eck, about the situation.

Renate alerted her family and Chris Zorn, John’s best friend, about the accident, and they all gathered at the hospital. No one was prepared for what the doctors told them once they arrived.

These thoughts flashed through my mind as I was on-site and learning more about John.

A doctor arrived and told me about the poor prognosis and that it would be a good time to talk to the family about donation. I thought it might be too soon. I wasn’t sure they had been given enough time to come to terms with the fact that John wasn’t going to survive.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Renate, his sister April and Chris said “yes” to donation immediately, supporting John’s wishes as a registered donor. There was no need for them to discuss anything; the support was unanimous.

Family and friends just couldn’t make sense of it. They assumed John had just passed out because of the flu or something like that and that he would be fine in a few days.

I saw the transformation of this family happening as we spoke. I’ve never seen a family grasp onto donation as the answer to their grief so swiftly and completely as this family did. I spent the next several hours listening to stories about John and some crazy things he did. How he was an avid hunter and loved fishing. How he loved his kids unconditionally and how they worshiped him. And how John cared more about others than himself. How he always put himself last and how he would give his shirt off his back to anyone in need, even if it was his last shirt.

That’s when Gift of Hope was called, and I was dispatched. This is the kind of case that weighs the heaviest on me, even more than pediatric patients. It’s the adult patients with young kids

It was appropriate that John’s last act — an act that would secure his legacy as a caring and giving person — was to be an organ and tissue donor. This was such a comfort to the family.

John had suffered a massive brain bleed, and his prognosis was very poor. In fact, the doctors said he would likely progress to brain death soon. “But, he was just fine an hour ago, laughing and talking like normal.” one of his children said.

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who are left behind, knowing the heartache those kids will endure at the thought of never being able to talk to or laugh with that parent again. The parent won’t be there to attend graduation, walk them down the aisle at their wedding or hold their grandchildren in their arms.

CONNECTIONS

A year later, the heartwarming thing for me is knowing that this family continues to be comforted knowing that John was an organ and tissue donor. John’s left lung breathed new life into someone who was waiting for a lung transplant. And the tissue gifts John offered have helped four people recover from debilitating musculoskeletal and circulatory conditions through tissue transplants.

I recently received a thank-you card (pictured) from John’s mother asking me to pass on her gratitude to everyone who worked on this case.

She said she wanted to thank all of us who took care of John in his last few days and that she knew he was in good hands during that time.

Here’s what she shared in that card and during other conversations I’ve had with her: “My son wanted to be an organ donor, and it was another way of helping people, like he did when he was alive. At his visitation and service, more than 250 people came to say good-bye to John. I talked to so many people who told me what a great friend he was to them and what a great father he was. I’m so proud of my son, even to this very day. He always gave so much of himself to his friends, to his family and to strangers.”

Donation Specialists have one of the most challenging jobs at Gift of Hope. They meet with family members and other loved ones of a potential organ and tissue donor either to offer the option of donation if the patient is not a registered donor or to inform family members of their loved one’s documented desire to be a donor. Terri Peplow is part of this highly skilled group at Gift of Hope. In this story, Terri chronicles the case of one donor, who, along with his family members, had a particularly powerful impact on her. We thank Renate Eck, John Miller’s mother, and the rest of John’s family for allowing us to share this story.

Mount Sinai, Donor Family Honored for Donation Support Leopoldina Chino de Pulido (right), the mother of organ and tissue donor Jonathan Pulido (picture), met Juana Hortensia Rodriguez for the first time at the Mount Sinai event.

Rodriguez received one of Jonathan’s kidneys.

In a moving April ceremony at Chicago’s Mount Sinai Hospital, Gift of Hope presented a Tragedy to Triumph Award to the family of organ and tissue donor Jonathan Pulido, who became a donor at Mount Sinai. Gift of Hope also took the opportunity to honor the hospital’s leadership and staff members for their tireless efforts in supporting organ and tissue donation by presenting Mount Sinai with its Supporting the Gift Award.

Gift of Hope Director of Community Affairs Jack Lynch presented the Tragedy to Triumph Award to Jonathan’s mother, Leopoldina Chino de Pulido, his three siblings, his girlfriend and his daughter.

“Jonathan represents the many trauma patients cared for by Mount Sinai staff members each year,” Lynch said. “Six lives were saved when Jonathan’s family made the decision to help others by donating his organs and tissue.”

In accepting the award on the family’s behalf, Pulido said she made the decision to donate based on her Christian principles.

“My son’s death was a tragedy, but it was also an opportunity to help save the lives of others,” she said.

Two people who received organ transplants thanks to Jonathan’s lifesaving gifts also attended the event. Chicago resident Carlos Madrigal, 31, a single father who received one of Jonathan’s kidneys, had suffered from kidney disease since age 19 and had been on dialysis for 10 years before receiving a transplant. He thanked the Pulido family and said his life has been transformed since his kidney transplant. “I have the strength to keep working, and the most important thing is that I am healthy enough to raise my son,” he said.

Madrigal made a point to thank the Illinois Transplant Fund for its role in his kidney transplant. The ITF provides financial assistance in the form of insurance premium support to qualified patients in need. Without this assistance, many people like Madrigal would not qualify to receive an organ transplant.

Juana Hortensia Rodriguez of Chicago also received a kidney from Jonathan. Three years of kidney dialysis had been taking its toll on the 41-year-old wife and mother of four before she received a transplant. Rodriguez expressed her heartfelt thanks to the Pulidos and said she sees life differently now. “It is only when we are in situations like this that we understand and value things that we have taken for granted,” she said. “I never thought I would need a transplant. Now my husband and I are registered as donors, and we talk about it to all of our friends and family.”

Gift of Hope President/CEO Kevin Cmunt presented Gift of Hope’s Supporting the Gift Award to Loren Chandler, President of Mount Sinai Hospital and Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Sinai Health System, Michele Mazurek, RN, Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer at the hospital, and Gary Merlotti, MD, Chairman of Mount Sinai’s Surgery Department.

Cmunt cited Mount Sinai for helping Gift of Hope rewrite stories of tragedy into stories of triumph. “Thank you to the staff at Mount Sinai for your hard work and for partnering with Gift of Hope so that more lives can be saved through the selfless gift of organ and tissue donation,” he said.

“The award illustrates the good work that Mount Sinai and Gift of Hope do together to help people make difficult decisions in the face of a tragedy,” Chandler said. “Hearing the stories of the Pulidos and the two people who received Jonathan’s lifesaving gifts was very touching, and it underscored the sacrifice families make to save the lives of others when they choose donation.”

Dr. Merlotti said his team members receive deep satisfaction from their involvement in donation cases. “Nothing is more gratifying than saving a patient with critical injuries, but when lethal injuries are involved it helps make some sense of the loss when lives are saved through organ and tissue donation.”

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DONATION BRIEFS

Donation Advocates “Spread Hope” During National Donate Life Month Spreading

Hope AARON Donor Family Member

DANIELLE Heart Transplant Recipient

LAURA Transplant Waitlist Candidate

Find out more about Aaron, Danielle, Laura, Nikki and Spreading Hope at

NIKKI Organ Donor

April is National Donate Life Month

Each April, Gift of Hope unites with Donate Life Illinois member organizations, donor hospital partners, Advocates for Hope volunteers and many communities throughout its Illinois and northwest Indiana service area to observe and celebrate National Donate Life Month. The theme for Gift of Hope’s 2016 activities was Spreading Hope.

GIFTOFHOPE.ORG/APRIL

“Each year, the month of April is set aside as National Donate Life Month to recognize and celebrate those who make organ and tissue transplants possible,” said Gift of Hope President/CEO Kevin Cmunt. “They include donors, donor families, hospitals, transplant coordinators, transplant surgeons and our committed staff at Gift of Hope. We also recognize

and celebrate the beneficiaries of their lifesaving work — organ and tissue transplant recipients. It’s a special time to celebrate, educate and advocate for the life-enriching benefits that organ and tissue donation brings to people touched by donation.”

Four of those people — Aaron Ho, Danielle Bockman, Laura Barajas and Nikki Smith — were the focus of Gift of Hope’s Spreading Hope campaign during National Donate Life Month.

Aaron is a donor family member, Danielle is a heart transplant recipient, Laura is waiting for a kidney transplant and Nikki was an organ donor. “The true story of donation and its positive impact is best told through the stories of people like Aaron, Danielle, Laura and Nikki,” Cmunt said. “We encourage people in our Illinois and northwest Indiana service area to share the stories of people like these four as we work together to spread hope by sharing the message about the importance of organ and tissue donation.”

Throughout April, Gift of Hope and its donation partners conducted more than 170 community outreach programs to raise public awareness of organ and tissue donation, educate the public about Gift of Hope’s role in the donation process and encourage people to register as donors.

Donor Family Council Member, Gift of Hope Volunteer Pat Perry Dies Longtime Gift of Hope Donor Family Advisory Council member and Advocates for Hope volunteer Pat Perry died peacefully on May 25. She was 73. Pat had been a strong champion of donation as a donor family wife since the passing of her husband, Donald “Bud” Perry, in 1995.

A resident of Beecher, Ill., Pat joined Gift of Hope’s Donor Family Advisory Council to guide Gift of Hope on how best to respond to and interact with donor families based on her experience as a donor family member. Pat never hesitated to get involved.

“It seemed the right thing to do,” Pat said in a past story about her. “I convinced Gift of Hope’s leaders that families could make an impact on the organization’s mission. My involvement gives me a feeling of satisfaction

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CONNECTIONS

in knowing that other families have benefitted from my experience and input.”

Pat was instrumental in enhancing the way Gift of Hope supports and acknowledges donor families, according to Diane Schmitz, who worked closely with Pat as Gift of Hope’s Volunteer Coordinator. “She was steadfast in her values and spoke to many audiences — in both the community and clinical settings — about the importance of donation,” Schmitz said. “In sharing her story as a donor family member, she helped us move the dial on the level and quality of aftercare services we provide to donor families. We will truly miss her spirit, energy and keen sense of humor.”

Burial took place June 1 at Skyline Memorial Cemetery in Monee, Ill.

Mayors for Hope Campaign Launched in Rockford Area Strengthening the list of community leaders committed to supporting organ and tissue donation, four Rockford, Ill.-area mayors proclaimed their participation in Gift of Hope’s Mayors for Hope campaign, a community outreach initiative to raise awareness of organ and tissue donation.

A wide disparity exists between the number of African-Americans and Hispanics who have registered as organ and tissue donors and the number of people from those two demographic groups currently waiting for organ transplants. About 40 percent of people waiting for organs in Illinois are African-American, and 18 percent are Latino. The Mayors for Hope campaign is designed to help educate African-American and Hispanic communities about the importance of registering as organ and tissue donors.

Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey and Belvidere Mayor Mike Chamberlain joined Gift of Hope at Crusader Community Health Center in Rockford for a March news conference to announce their participation. Loves Park Mayor Darryl Lindberg and Machesney Park Mayor Jerry Bolin could not attend the event, but they pledged their commitment to make organ and tissue donor information and registration forms available at their city halls.

During the news conference, the mayors, Fiduccia and staff from Crusader Community Health had the opportunity to see the life-saving benefits of donation firsthand by meeting heart transplant recipient Kelvin Martin. Martin, who lives in the Rockford area, received a heart transplant in 2014 after struggling with congestive heart failure for years. He now volunteers his time for Gift of Hope as an advocate, spreading the word about the importance of organ and tissue donation throughout the Rock River Region.

Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia also attended the news conference and spoke to the crowd. She emphasized that through her long relationship with Gift of Hope she has come to recognize the good that can come from documenting the donation decision in Illinois’ first-person registry. “Everybody knows somebody who needs an organ,” Fiduccia said.

Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia said she has come to recognize the good that can come from donation as a result of her relationship with Gift of Hope.

At the March news conference, Morrissey shared that he remembers becoming a registered donor in the 1990s and that he is enthused to help build awareness of donation. “It’s going to help us get the word out and help save lives in the community,” Morrissey said. Earlier in the week, he had proclaimed March 11 as “Gift of Hope Day” in Rockford.

Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey shows that he is a registered organ and tissue donor in Illinois. He is one of several Rockford-area civic leaders to pledge their support for the Mayors for Hope campaign.

Hospital Staff Learn How to “Rewrite the Story” at Donation Seminars More than 300 hospital professionals from Gift of Hope’s Illinois and northwest Indiana service area learned how donation transforms tragedy into hope and the role they play in making that transformation happen at a pair of donation education seminars for hospital professionals.

The seminars, From Tragedy to Hope: Rewriting the Story, were held April 14 at Gift of Hope’s headquarters in Itasca, Ill., and April 28 at Gift of Hope’s Springfield office.

“These seminars told the start-to-finish story of the organ and tissue donation and transplantation processes and underscored the critical roles that hospital professionals play in writing — and sometimes rewriting — the donation story to help honor the donation decision and transform tragedy into hope,” said

Kathleen Abhalter, Regional Manager of Hospital Development at Gift of Hope.

A group of donation and transplantation experts led seminar participants through the organ and tissue donation and transplantation processes chapter by chapter, from how people get on the transplant waiting list to how donor authorization is obtained to how medical and clinical professionals recover and place organs with waiting recipients. A donor family representative and a transplant recipient put a human face on donation by sharing their stories about how donation has affected their lives.

Visit the Hospital Professionals section of GiftofHope.org to download speaker presentations from the events.

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Celebration and Commemoration:

Team Illinois Competes at 2016 Transplant Games

The spirit of competition was alive and well in Cleveland June 10 – 15 as talented athletes from across the country — and right here in Illinois — vied for a spot on the medal stand at the 2016 Donate Life Transplant Games of America.

Hundreds of organ and tissue transplant recipients and living donors of all ages competed in events like track and field, swimming, bowling, bocce, cycling, ballroom dancing, poker, volleyball and more to the cheers of nearly 6,000 spectators. For many, it was their first appearance at the games; others returned to defend their existing titles.

A perennial favorite among transplant recipients and donor families, the TGA began more than two decades ago as a way to get the word out about organ and tissue donation. Over the years, it has evolved into an uplifting event that brings transplant and donor families together.

Most importantly, the TGA show the world that transplantation gives hope and life to people.

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CONNECTIONS

Team Illinois REPRESENTS

Legendary baseball great Babe Ruth once said, “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.”

The fierce competitors of the TGA have proven time and again that they have what it takes to keep going.

One very special team — Team Illinois — featured 53 talented athletes, including 11 living donors, 34 organ transplant recipients, one tissue transplant recipient and two cornea transplant recipients.

Also part of the group were 11 transplant recipients from Australia, who joined team Illinois because international teams do not participate in the TGA. Through its work as the organ procurement organization serving most of Illinois, Gift of Hope has touched the lives of many of these people.

Team Illinois athletes hailed from Aurora, Bartlett, Batavia, Berwyn, Byron, Champaign, Chicago, Darien, Elmhurst, Evanston, Havana, Hoffman Estates, LaGrange Highlands, Lake in the Hills, Lakewood, Lindenhurst, Lisle, Mokena, Naperville, Orland Park, Schaumburg, Skokie, Willowbrook and Zion. Here are the stories of just a few of these inspiring athletes:

Anthony Diaz, Cornea Transplant Recipient: One of the youngest members of Team Illinois, Anthony Diaz of LaGrange Highlands, Ill., was born with a scar on his left cornea. As a toddler, he endured many procedures to help his eye give him the vision he needed to see well. Eventually, his cornea surgeon at Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital determined that his brain wasn’t using his left eye.

It was a matter of time before Diaz would lose all vision in it.

But in June 2006, at the tender age of four, Diaz received the gift of sight with a cornea transplant. He made his first appearance at this year’s TGA and set his sights on medals in golf, swimming and track and field.

Colette Jordan, Liver Transplant Recipient: Colette Jordan serves as co-manager of Team Illinois. She first became involved during the 2008 TGA in Pittsburgh. “I went to honor my anonymous hero donor for the gift of life and help showcase the success of transplantation,” said Jordan, a Lisle, Ill., resident. “I was hooked.”

Jordan received a liver transplant in November 2006 at Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital. She has since met and remains close with the family of her donor, Tom Kaiserauer. “I created a quilt square honoring Tom,” she said. “What an incredible experience it was to be at the opening ceremony as the quilt was carried into the stadium by donor family members while crowds were cheering on Team Illinois.”

Jordan has competed in four previous TGA and one international games. This year, she competed in doubles bowling and corn hole.

Lucie Gleason, Liver Transplant Recipient: Lisa Givens, Kidney Transplant Recipient: This year, Lisa Givens set out to bring home the gold. But not long ago, the grandmother and former beauty shop owner couldn’t have imagined the full life she leads now. After eight years on dialysis, Givens heard the words many on the transplant list dream of: “We have a kidney.”

That was in January 1999. “Someone who never met me saved my life,” she said. “To that donor family, how do I say thank you?

I say thank you, thank you and thank you from the bottom of my heart. I promise to cherish your father, husband, brother, uncle, grandfather, friend or family member and to live life to the fullest to show the world that organ donation really works.”

A Berwyn, Ill., resident, Givens serves as Diversity/Minority Liaison for Team Illinois and helped recruit many of the athletes who competed in Cleveland. She trained for months in track and field events — shotput, softball throw, high jump and long jump. Givens took the gold in doubles bowling at the 2014 TGA in Houston and set her sights on a repeat this year. She also competed in corn hole (bean bag toss), just for the fun of it.

Lucie Gleason was just 5 years old and ready for kindergarten when doctors at St. Louis Children’s Hospital diagnosed a liver tumor.

When weeks of chemotherapy failed to shrink the tumor, doctors told her parents that Gleason would need a transplant to live. In July 2003, a donor liver for Gleason became available. Her cancerous liver was removed, and surgeons performed a “split-liver” transplant, transplanting part of the donor liver — the only human organ that can regenerate — into Gleason and the other part into another person who had been waiting for a liver transplant. The donor’s generosity saved two people’s lives.

Now 18, Gleason has been cancer free for more than a decade.

The spirited competitor recently graduated from York High School in Elmhurst, Ill., and plans to study engineering at Purdue University in the fall. Gleason returned to the TGA to defend her 2014 gold medal victory in badminton and silver medal win in swimming.

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John Kachanuk, Bone Graft/Tissue Transplant Recipient: Weightlifting put John Kachanuk in the hospital 12 years ago.

Off-and-on battles with pain in his back and lower legs eventually led to spinal fusion surgery in February 2013 at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, Ill. “I had horrible back pain that wouldn’t allow me to do much other than get comfortable,” he said. “I loved doing anything physical — yard work, house renovation, weightlifting and running.”

Knapp, a medalist in the 2014 TGA, returned to Cleveland to compete in golf, basketball and Texas Hold ‘em poker.

Judith Vargas, Kidney/Pancreas Transplant Recipient: Judith Vargas of Aurora, Ill., was diagnosed with diabetes in high school. Although she often felt ill, Vargas (in hat sitting with sister Betty at left) managed to graduate from college — twice — and have a career in higher education.

She loved to golf, run and work out. She was a pretty good photographer, too, but problems with her eyes put an end to her work in the darkroom.

Kachanuk is the only bone graft tissue transplant recipient on Team Illinois. After surgery, doctors told him that his pain would be gone, but his active lifestyle would likely go away, too.

Instead, Kachanuk overcame the odds. He runs, works out and serves people in the job he loves — fire chief of the Havana Fire Department in Havana, Ill.

Natalie Ketter, Bile Duct Transplant Recipient: Natalie Ketter was born with biliary atresia, a disease of the bile ducts in infants. As a toddler, Ketter spent some 300 days at Lurie Children’s Hospital, where she learned to walk and celebrated her third birthday. Through it all, she never stopped smiling, said her mother Rebecca, who became her living donor in February 2005.

Ketter, now a sixth-grader in Byron, Ill., swims competitively, runs track and plays volleyball. As a way to give back, she collected nearly 300 toy donations for children at Lurie Children’s Hospital and the Ronald McDonald House in Chicago. She and her mother visit classrooms to encourage others to become organ donors, too.

The youngest member of Team Illinois, Ketter competed as a swimmer in her first appearance at the TGA.

Paul Knapp, Heart Transplant Recipient: In 2012, life for Paul Knapp, sales manager for a hand tool manufacturer in Chicago, was, by his account, “amazing.” He was enjoying golf, music, playing backgammon and reading. But a massive heart attack that year damaged his heart so badly he needed a mechanical pump implanted inside his chest to keep it beating while he waited for a new one.

Some 30 years later, she learned that she needed a kidney and pancreas transplant, which occurred in October 1996 at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. “My transplant enabled me to enjoy a dialysis-free and insulin-free life,” she said. “Best of all, it enabled me to take care of my mom, who had developed Alzheimer’s disease.” Vargas’ mother died at 93 in 2013, just as her transplanted kidney was failing.

“Remarkably, the moment my mother went into cardiac arrest across town, I was on the phone talking to my brother about how he wanted to give me his kidney. I decided Mom went to talk to the man upstairs about taking care of her kids.” Vargas’ transplanted pancreas works beautifully. She met her donor’s mother and brought her to the TGA in 2008. “Delores was a wonderful woman who had a heart of gold,” Vargas said. “She lost both of her children in their adult years before she died.” Vargas competed in bowling doubles with her sister Betty, and their brother Terrance partnered in ballroom dancing with his wife Mindi.

After 13 months, Knapp received a heart transplant in June 2013 at the University of Chicago Medicine. “I am more grateful for everything that happens in life,” he said. “I met my donor’s mom and sister. They were so grateful that my donor was able to save a life.”

A Team Effort

ABOUT TEAM ILLINOIS

Team Illinois is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization that brings together transplant recipients, living donors, donor families and their family and friends to promote awareness of the critical need for organ, eye, bone marrow and tissue donation and increase the number of potential donors in the state organ and tissue and bone marrow registries.

Gift of Hope provides Team Illinois and its athletes with promotional and organizational support throughout the year by offering use of its Itasca facility for meetings and other events, assisting with media relations efforts and partnering with the team in general advocacy affairs.

“We are thrilled to partner with Team Illinois and offer whatever help we can,” said Gift of Hope President/CEO Kevin Cmunt. “We’re proud of all these amazing athletes who continue to show the world that transplantation saves and enhances the lives of recipients while commemorating those who selflessly offered the gift of life.”

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For more information and to learn how Team Illinois athletes did at this year’s Transplant Games of America in Cleveland, visit goteamillinois.org. To learn more about the Donate Life Transplant Games of America, go to transplantgamesofamerica.org.

DuPage County Board Honors Donor, Donor Family, Gift of Hope

The DuPage County Board honored young organ donor Lauren Leone, the daughter of Addison Fire Chief Joseph Leone (second right), at its April meeting. The Board also recognized Gift of Hope and DuPage County hospitals for the work they do to turn tragedy into triumph through donation. Joining Leone at the event were (l-r) Don Markowski, former Addison Fire Chief, Gift of Hope President/CEO Kevin Cmunt and Gift of Hope Donation Specialist Jessica Kasparek.

Public proclamations read at DuPage County Board of Commissioners meetings typically don’t spark much emotion among people attending the monthly gatherings in this county located west of Chicago. But DuPage County Board Chairman Daniel Cronin brought more than a few people to tears when he read a moving statement at the board’s April 26 meeting.

Cronin delivered the proclamation to recognize National Donate Life Month, observed throughout the country in April, and to call upon residents of DuPage County to embrace and advocate for organ and tissue donation and register as donors. Emotions bubbled to the surface during Cronin’s reading and then boiled over when Joe Leone, the father of a 15-year-old organ donor from Wheaton, Ill. — whose story served as the centerpiece of the proclamation Cronin read — took the podium after Cronin and humanized the topic of organ and tissue donation.

Leone, Chief of Operations for the Addison Fire Department in Addison, Ill., shared the story of his daughter Lauren, who lost her life in February 2015 due to a catastrophic brain aneurysm. After Lauren died, the Leone family chose to turn tragedy into triumph by making the decision to donate Lauren’s organs. Through that selfless decision, Lauren saved five people’s lives.

“The week when Lauren died was the worst time of my life, yet the most rewarding time of my life,” Leone said. “We prayed for a miracle while she was hospitalized, but the doctors eventually told us there was nothing more they could do to save Lauren’s life. We knew that was coming, so we had partnered with Gift of Hope to let them know we wanted Lauren to be an organ donor.”

That’s when the miracles began, Leone said. “A 36-year-old man with two little girls received one of Lauren’s kidneys and her pancreas. Now he will be able to see his little girls grow up. A 9-year-old girl received Lauren’s other kidney and will be able to live a normal life. It would have been a tragedy if those organs and the other organs that helped three other people were not donated. People call our decision to donate Lauren’s organs ‘heroic.’ But it’s not heroic; it’s just the right thing to do.”

Brian Lemon, President of Winfield, Ill.-based Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital, where Lauren received her care before her death and where Gift of Hope staff recovered her organs for transplantation, joined Leone, Cronin and Gift of Hope President/CEO Kevin Cmunt at the podium. Lemon represented the leadership and staff members at DuPage County’s seven hospitals, all of which work with Gift of Hope to honor the decisions of donors and donor families.

The hospitals in DuPage County, like all other hospitals in Gift of Hope’s service area, serve as “sacred ground” where heartrending decisions about donation are made, according to Cmunt. “We are privileged to work with 180 hospitals to help make donation happen, and Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage is one of the best partners we have in caring for families during these tragic times,” he said. “Lauren’s gifts and the Leone family’s grace during such a difficult time in their lives impacted my organization — and me personally — and continue to inspire us to do good works.”

Visit GiftofHope.org to download a copy of the DuPage County Board proclamation honoring Lauren Leone.

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Gift of Hope Made Research Donation Happen in 2015 Gift of Hope achieved tremendous success in making research donation happen in 2015. The organization was able to provide more than 400 organs to researchers across the country to support their work to enhance donor management and transplantation outcomes and advance medical care.

This achievement illustrates strong teamwork among Gift of Hope staff, medical researchers and donors and donor families, according to Lisa Hinsdale, Gift of Hope’s Manager of Allocation and Perfusion Services, who also coordinates the organization’s research initiatives. “The effort starts with the decision of a donor or donor family to offer organs and tissue that cannot be used for transplantation for medical research,” Hinsdale said. “Without that decision, nothing can happen.”

From there, it extends across many Gift of Hope departments, she added. “Our Donation Specialists work with donor families to help them see the benefits of research donation. Our Allocation staff spends countless hours contacting researchers and getting them the important information they need. Then our Organ Recovery staff make sure organs are recovered, packaged and labeled appropriately, and our Transportation staff go out of their way to make the delivery of research organs a priority.”

Gift of Hope is among the leading research organ procurement organizations in the nation with a longstanding history of supporting and conducting medical and donation-related studies.

“Working under the umbrella of Gift of Hope’s Research Institute, we partner with researchers at some of the most prestigious learning institutions in the world, including those affiliated with hospitals in our own service area,” Hinsdale said.

Here are a few of the research initiatives Gift of Hope is currently supporting to develop lifesaving and life-enhancing advances in donor management and medicine: • LUNG RESEARCHERS are evaluating the causes of lung diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cystic fibrosis with the goal of learning how to prevent them.

• HEART RESEARCHERS are studying calcium cycling in the heart to develop new treatments to prevent cardiac arrhythmias.

• PANCREAS RESEARCHERS are studying the efficacy of transplanting pancreas islet cells to treat Type 1 diabetes.

• BONE AND JOINT RESEARCHERS are evaluating joint systems to develop new treatments and medications for rheumatoid arthritis and other similar conditions.

“Every donation is a precious gift that offers new promise, but donors and donor family members who donate to research leave a lasting legacy by saving countless lives through medical advancements,” Hinsdale said.

Illinois Organ/Tissue Donor Registry Passes 6 Million Mark More than 6 million people in Illinois are now registered as organ and tissue donors in the Illinois Organ/Tissue Donor Registry.

The registry passed the 6 million-registrant threshold in early May as a result of the extensive donation education and community outreach activities conducted by the Secretary of State’s Office, Gift of Hope and other donation advocacy organizations during National Donate Life Month in April.

“I’m thrilled to see that Illinoisans continue to show their giving spirit by signing up for this lifesaving program,” said Ill. Secretary of State Jesse White. “Our mission is to sign up everyone who is eligible in order to give others a second chance at life and end the waiting for the approximately 5,000 people statewide who need lifesaving organ transplants.”

More than 12.8 million people live in Illinois, according to 2015 U.S. Census Bureau data. About 77 percent of those people are 18 years old or older, making them eligible to register as organ and tissue donors. Every year, about 300 people die waiting for an organ transplant in Illinois, and thousands more can benefit from life-enhancing tissue transplants.

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CONNECTIONS

During National Donate Life Month in April, White attended events at many Illinois driver services facilities, hospitals, churches and other venues throughout Illinois to encourage donation. Gift of Hope also was active throughout the month, conducting more than 170 community outreach programs to raise public awareness of organ and tissue donation, educate the public about Gift of Hope’s role in the donation process and encourage people to register as donors.

“Our coordinated efforts last month had an impact on the increase in registration,” White said. “I think our public awareness campaign, whether it was visiting our facilities, television commercials or attending events in the community, motivated people to register. It takes less than a minute to register, and one person can improve the quality of life for up to 25 people.”

Illinoisans can register as organ and tissue donors at LifeGoesOn.com and GiftofHope.org or by visiting a local driver services facility. Indiana residents can register at donatelifeindiana.org.

Gift of Hope works in partnership with 180 hospitals and nine transplant centers to meet the ever-growing demand for donor organs and fulfill the organization’s vision — that every

HOSPITAL PERFORMANCE* METRICS

opportunity for organ and tissue donation is successful. Here’s a look at key donation performance metrics for Illinois and northwest Indiana hospitals that have had at least one organ donor during the period noted and the contributions these hospitals are making to give hope and life to others.

Donation Donation Timely

Organ Conversion Authorization Notification Hospital Donors Rate Rate Rate Adventist LaGrange Memorial Hospital

1

100

100

100

Advocate Christ Medical Center

12

68

72

98

Advocate Condell Medical Center

2

40

40

99

Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital

1

33

25

98

Advocate Lutheran General Hospital

1

50

40

98

Advocate Sherman Hospital

1

50

50

97

Alexian Brothers Medical Center

1

100

100

100

Carle Foundation Hospital

7

100

100

100

Community First Medical Center

2

100

100

99

Decatur Memorial Hospital

2

100

100

100

Delnor Hospital

1

100

50

100

Edward Hospital

1

100

100

100

Franciscan St. Anthony Health: Crown Point

1

100

100

100

Franciscan St. James Health: Olympia Fields

1

50

100

99

Franciscan St. Margaret Health: Dyer

1

100

100

100

Glenbrook Hospital

2

100

100

100

John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County

4

100

100

93

Kishwaukee Community Hospital

1

100

100

98

Little Company of Mary Hospital & Health Care

1

100

100

98

*Hospitals with at least one organ donor through 3/31/16. Note: Data subject to change due to Gift of Hope’s quality assurance process.

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DEFINITIONS

Donation Donation Timely

Organ Conversion Authorization Notification Hospital Donors Rate Rate Rate

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Loyola University Medical Center

2

60

50

0

Memorial Medical Center

3

100

100

99

Mercyhealth (Rockford)

6

78

100

99

Methodist Hospital: Northlake

1

67

100

100

Morris Hospital

1

100

100

100

Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital

2

75

60

100

Northwestern Memorial Hospital

2

75

33

98

Norwegian American Hospital

1

100

100

92

OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center

1

50

50

100

OSF Saint Francis Medical Center

7

73

73

100

Presence St. Francis Hospital

1

75

75

100

Presence St. Joseph Hospital

1

100

100

100

Presence St. Joseph Medical Center

3

67

57

99

Rush University Medical Center

2

64

70

97

Silver Cross Hospital

4

100

100

97

Skokie Hospital

1

100

100

100

St. John’s Hospital

1

33

50

100

St. Mary’s Hospital

2

100

100

100

Swedish Covenant Hospital

1

100

100

97

University of Chicago Medicine

6

80

89

99

University of Illinois Medical Center

1

20

25

100

Vista Medical Center: East

1

50

67

100

West Suburban Medical Center

1

67

67

100

Totals

94 79% 80% 97%

Organ Donors

Donors from whom one or more organs were recovered for the purpose of transplantation. This includes both donation after brain death, or DBD, donors and donation after circulatory death, or DCD, donors.

CONNECTIONS

Donation Authorization Rate The rate at which authorization for donation is obtained, expressed as a percentage.

Donation Conversion Rate

The rate at which potential donors are converted to actual donors, expressed as a percentage.

Timely Notification Rate

The rate at which hospitals contact Gift of Hope after a death or within one hour after an individual meets the criteria for imminent death and before the withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies, expressed as a percentage.

STATE OF DONATION 120,807*

4,897*

in the U.S.

in Illinois

1,366* in Indiana

The number of people waiting for heart, liver, kidney, lung, pancreas or small bowel transplants as of May 31, 2016. * Based on data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network

GIFT OF HOPE DONATION ACTIVITY

Organ Donors Organs Transplanted Organs Per Donor Tissue Donors Bone Donors** Heart Valve Donors** Skin Donors* *Through April 30

2016*

2015*

% CHANGE

133 419 3.15 606 584 55 395

129 354 2.74 611 475 50 300

3.1% 18.36% 14.96% -0.82% 22.95% 10.0% 31.67%

MAKE A DIFFERENCE! REGISTER TO BE AN ORGAN AND TISSUE DONOR GIFTOFHOPE.ORG

**Subset of Tissue Donors

ILLINOIS ORGAN/TISSUE DONOR REGISTRY

6,015,701 22 58% 300 :10 25

An average of 22 people die each day while waiting for a transplant.

As of May 31, 2016

Of adults (18 or older) in Illinois are registered as organ and tissue donors.

In 2015, more than 300 people registered for transplants in Illinois died while waiting.

Every 10 minutes, a new person is added to the national transplant waiting list.

One donor can save or enhance the lives of more than 25 people.

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FPO INDICIA TO BE ADDED

BY PRINTER

425 Spring Lake Drive Itasca, IL 60143

To learn more about organ and tissue donation, visit GiftofHope.org

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

Cina Keynotes Annual Funeral Directors Seminar Former Cook County Medical Examiner Stephen Cina, MD, FCAP, D-ABMDI, was among several featured speakers at A Mission of Honor and Hope, Gift of Hope’s annual continuing education seminar for funeral service professionals held May 18 in Itasca, Ill. The all-day seminar, offered at no cost to professionals in the funeral and forensics community, is a popular donation educational resource for Illinois and northwest Indiana funeral directors, embalmers, coroners and medical examiners.

Dr. Cina, pictured with Gift of Hope’s John Krenn, Supervisor of Tissue and Peri-Operative Services, and Shaun Martin, Manager of Forensic and Tissue Relations, told how he and his team transformed a problem-plagued CCME office into one of best urban medical examiner’s offices in the country. Other noteworthy

speakers covered a broad range of timely topics designed to educate funeral and forensic service professionals about organ and tissue donation and how they can work with Gift of Hope’s team to perform their duties while producing successful donation outcomes. Visit GiftofHope.org to learn more about the 2016 seminar and download select speaker presentations.

Tissue Group Staff Member Shares Story of A Life Everlasting Sarah Gray, Director of Communications for the McLean, Va.-based American Association of Tissue Banks, a national tissue banking accreditation group, visited Gift of Hope’s Itasca, Ill., headquarters in May to share her personal story as a donor mother with Gift of Hope staff members.

Gray’s story recounts the journey she took as a donor mother to learn about the impact her son Thomas had on the world after living for just six days. It is a powerful story of grief, rebirth and revelation and a fascinating medical science “whodunit” that takes people inside the world of organ,

eye, tissue and blood donation and cutting-edge scientific research.

You can listen to Gray’s story in her TED Talk at ted.com. And later this year, you can read her story in A Life Everlasting: The Extraordinary Gift of Thomas Ethan Gray, a book on her experiences. The book will be published in September by HarperCollins Publishers. You can get a sneak preview of the book and order an advance copy at harpercollins.com.