The Gifted Life: Organ, Tissue and Eye Donation Podcast

Show Notes: A staggering statistic, children from 1 to 4 years of age are at the highest risk for drowning. Drowning prevention is a year-round essential education for all people, adults and parents alike. We welcome Chris Knoblauch with the St. Tammany Parish Coroner's Office and Kristen Sanderson, Injury Prevention Manager, with the Louisiana Department of Health to discuss valuable and necessary precautions to ensure your pool is safe and fun for those of all ages. Check out the additional resources from the American Red Cross and the YMCA. Then in our Mental Health Moment, we get a lesson on what congruence means and how you can use it to be more honest and enhance your life. We answer your question about donation and honor hero Colby Prestenback.

Show Notes: Grieving is the process of rebuilding following a loss. In this episode we connect with donor mom and author, Autumn Jackson, to hear her story, and learn about her tips for growing with grief. She provides those who are grieving with resources, and she shares her newest outreach efforts through SODA, Student Organ Donation Advocates, at the upcoming Rose Parade. What is schema? We define the term and learn how it helps a person adapt to new information, and honor hero Rylee Marie Jackson.

Show Notes: There are currently 57 Organ Procurement Organizations (OPO) throughout the United States. In a lively conversation, we connect with passionate President and CEO of LiveOnNY, Leonard Achan, to learn about how the gift of life has changed the trajectory of his career. Hear how his OPO is saving and healing lives in the Empire State, and propelling forward to share how special the gift of life is for donor families and recipients alike. We chat about the importance of truly plugging into yourself for self care and honor hero Maria Markell.

Show Notes: On this episode we learn about an organization facilitating the process of living donation for veterans in need of a transplant and hear from one of the program's altruistic living donors. Veteran and living donor, Lindsay Gutierrez, first tells us how she connected with DOVE Transplant founder, Sharyn Kreitzer who also recently donated her kidney. Sharyn shares the important work her nonprofit does to facilitate living donor transplants for veterans and how life adjusts once giving the ultimate gift of a kidney. We discuss ways to vocalize curiosity when you're concerned about a friend or family member, and honor hero William Kyles, Jr.

Show Notes: The organ transplant recovery process is a crucial time for recipients. Denise Redeker with Heartfelt Help Foundation joins us to share her experience following a heart transplant, and the importance of clean, safe and accessible temporary housing during transplant rehabilitation. Hear how the foundation works to alleviate what is often a financial burden for heart transplant candidates, patients, and their families. In our mental health moment we define doom scrolling, offer tips for recognizing the behavior and how to curb it when scrolling online, and then we honor hero, Carl Miller.

Show Notes: August is National Multiethnic Donor Awareness Month, and in this episode we connect with Chavon Trahan, a Tissue Family Advocate with LOPA. Chavon walks us through how she personally connects with multiethnic families to explain the opportunity to give the gift of donation, and how she addresses families' concerns about common myths. Then we discuss ways to recognize that it might be time to seek professional help for mental health, and Lisa shares the following resources: National Institute of Mental Health/NIMH, www.nimh.nih.gov and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), www.samhsa.gov, then search Office of Behavioral Health Equity. Our donor hero this episode is Linden Gray.

Show Notes: We welcome Tara Storch with Taylor’s Gift Foundation, who's a previous guest from episode 43 of The Gifted Life. She re-joins The Gifted Life to talk about Taylor's Gift Kindred Hearts Program and how it is creating a space so that no donor's family ever grieves alone and welcomes them to participate as long as services are needed. In our moment for mental health we offer tips for building your social support system and then, honor hero Christopher Cabrera.

Show Notes: Sudden Cardiac Arrest is the #1 leading cause of death in student athletes. Michelle Temple is donor mom to hero Grayson Temple and started Gray’s Army Foundation in honor of her son. The foundation has passed legislation as a way to help prevent sudden cardiac arrest in children and young adults. They also focus on education, providing student CPR training and AEDs to schools in need and preventing SCAs through the promotion of free heart screenings for student athletes. Then Nila gives tips for living in the present and being grounded, and we honor Grayson Temple.

Show Notes: MediGO brings together forward-thinking and caring leaders that share a desire to use technology to digitally transform and revolutionize the organ donation and transplantation process to save lives. Scott Plank, CEO and co-founder of MediGo, shares how the company got started, the uniqueness of the donation/transplantation supply chain and how MediGo is addressing those challenges by tracking organs recovered for transplant. Nila discusses strength based learning, and how many of us have difficulty naming our strengths. The hero for this episode is Maureen Favret.

Show Notes: Donor mom, Melanie Marcel, joins the podcast to talk about both the power of adoption and the miraculous power of donation. Hear how Melanie's multifaceted story about her son and hero, Connor, has continued to make an incredible impact on her family's life in ways she didn't anticipate. Then we discuss tips for regulating emotions in our mental health moment, and honor hero Connor Marcel through his father and siblings who read his story.