Bone and Tissue Transplant Saves a Man’s Arm Eric Albers discovered he had bone cancer just after his wedding, but thanks to donated bone and tissue, he received a lifesaving transplant and a second chance for a healthy life. To read more about Eric’s remarkable story and his fight with cancer, click here.
Gift of Hope Helps Haitian Earthquake Burn Victims Gift of Hope partners with AlloSource to help bring relief and lifesaving treatments to burn victims from the Haitian Earthquake. To read more about what Gift of Hope and AlloSource are doing to help these critically injured patients, click here.
Federal Grant Helps Increase Registrations Among 18-Year-Olds The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services awarded Illinois’ Secretary of State’s Office, in partnership with Gift of Hope and the University of Illinois, a grant to help increase the number of 18-year-olds who register to become organ/tissue donors. To read more about this grant project, click here.
Donor Father Urges You to Register Donor family member Tim Joos recounts the tragic loss of his young daughter, Samantha, who helped enhance the lives of others through tissue donation.
To hear Samantha’s story and learn how you can register to be an organ/tissue donor, click here.
Rose Parade Video
Two local families honor their loved ones who gave the gift of life through organ and tissue donation at the Rose Parade in Pasadena, CA. To watch the video from the parade, click here.
2009 Donor Family Tribute Event Every year Gift of Hope’s donor families and friends gather for a special day of hope and remembrance to honor their loved ones who became organ/tissue donors. This year, more than 700 people attended on September 12, to hear inspiring stories and view a memorial presentation. To see the videos from this extraordinary day, click here.
New Life Rises at 2010 Rose Parade Every year families of organ/tissue donors and transplant recipients gather at the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California to honor those who gave the gift of life through organ and tissue donation. This year, one donor’s wife, Anne Gulotta, had the opportunity to participate in the event. To view the video from her experience, click here.
Israel Revamps its Priority System for
Organ Donation In the U.S. everyone has an equal right to receive an organ donation; however, in Israel, new priority is given to those who are registered and to those whose family members were donors. To read about this unique priority system,
click here.
Gift of Hope has moved! For the address and directions to our new facility, click here.
“When I Needed an Angel”
Inspires Listeners to Register The music group, All-4-One, is debuting their new hit single, When I Needed an Angel, as a way to help bring awareness to organ and tissue donation. Proceeds will be used to help educate about the importance of organ and tissue donation and the need to register as donors. You can help by downloading the song from www.itunes.com and registering to become a donor. To read more about this inspiring project, click here.
Chicago White Sox Want You to Register Donate Life Illinois and the Chicago White Sox team up to spread the word about organ and tissue donation. Former White Sox pitcher, Ed Farmer, received a kidney transplant in 1991, and is now urging people to help save lives by registering to be donors. To hear Ed’s radio commercial, click play below.
Defining a Hero You don’t have to wear a cape to be a hero–signing up to be an organ/tissue donor helps save lives. To hear how college campuses across Illinois are asking students to become heroes, click here.
Five Years and Counting Waukegan man, Ron Howard, has been waiting five years for a kidney transplant to save him from painful dialysis and give him time with his new grandson. To read more about his story and what you can do to help, click here.
Loyola Students Advocate for Donation Loyola students inspired by “the big picture” are working to make a difference by helping to register other students as organ/tissue donors. To read why Loyola students are making a very personal decision to donate, click here.
Together we can Tackle the Shortage Help the Chicago Bears and Astellas Tackle the Shortage, by registering to become an organ and tissue donor.
To learn more about how the Chicago Bears are helping, and what you can do to support the effort, click here.
Saving lives in a different way
18-year-old Stephanie Herrera’s dream of becoming a doctor who helps others ended when she was killed, but in her death she saved lives by donating her organs. To read Stephanie’s story, click here.
Recipient and Donor Family Form a Bond
After twenty years of suffering with liver disease, Donna Frett received a new liver from organ donor, Dustin Rozmenoski. Today, Donna and Dustin’s family find comfort through the bond they have formed. To read their remarkable story,
click here.
Remembering a Hero When 20-year-old soldier, Matt Martinek, was shot and killed in Afgahnistan, he managed to make one last heroic effort – he donated his organs and saved the lives of his fellow soldiers. To read more about Matt’s heroic act, click here.
Israel Sanchez
Israel Sanchez is a bi-lateral lung transplant recipient with a passion for dance and theater. Israel was born in Chicago, but spent most of his life in Puerto Rico where he developed a passion for cultural arts. Over the years, his zest for the arts grew stronger and it eventually developed into his career.
Asthma was the biggest obstacle coming between Israel and his aspirations. Most people suffering Asthma would find it too difficult to pursue dancing and strenuous activities, but not Israel – nothing, including lung disease, stopped him from achieving his dreams.
A mother expresses her appreciation for organ donation From donor families to recipients and their families, lives are forever changed by someone making the decision to be an organ and tissue donor. Wendy Montgomery is a mother of a young heart transplant recipient, an employee of the State Farm Company, and an advocate for donation. Wendy told her story to over 30,000 State Farm employees in a company newsletter in hopes of creating awareness about the life-changing impacts of donation and to express her appreciation for the gift of life that her family received.
UIC Achieves Chicago’s Best Abdominal Transplantation Survival Rates University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago is ranked number one in one-year patient survival for abdominal transplantation. To read more about the excellent achievement, click here.
Advocate Christ Medical Center Hopes to Begin Kidney Transplants in 2010 Advocate Christ Medical Center is hoping to extend its transplant program to kidneys. To read more about this exciting program set to begin in 2010, click here.
Chicago White Sox Want You to Register Donate Life Illinois and the Chicago White Sox team up to spread the word about organ and tissue donation. Former White Sox pitcher, Ed Farmer, received a kidney transplant in 1991, and is now urging people to help save lives by registering to be donors. To hear Ed’s radio commercial, click play below.
The need for organ and tissue donors Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White reiterates why it’s crucial to sign up or
re-register to become an organ and tissue donor.
Good news for kidney recipients
A new process called plasmapheresis has allowed surgeons to successfully perform seven kidney transplants involving recipients and donors who did not match. To learn more about what this could mean for the more than 80,000 people waiting for kidney transplants, click here.
A Hero’s Heart
22-year-old Army Ranger, Ben Kopp, is a hero to more than the lives he saved in Afghanistan – he is a hero to Judy Meikle who received a second chance at life thanks to his heart donation. To read about Ben’s extraordinary heroism,
click here.
Finding Comfort Through Donation Little comfort could be found when Debra McDowell-Walker found out her son was killed, but through organ donation, she found something positive. To read Debra’s story and learn how donation saves lives, click here.
Young Girl Gives the Ultimate Gift 10-year-old Viridiana Lopez spent much of her short life caring for others. So when Viridiana died in a car accident, her family knew she would have wanted to save lives by being an organ/tissue donor. To read more about Viridiana and her family’s story of donation, click here.
Transplant Helps Girl’s Heart Heal Itself Hannah Clark received a heart transplant, and after her own heart healed, the donor’s heart was removed. Hanna’s story is unlike any other – never before has a person been able to reuse their own heart years after receiving a transplant. To read her remarkable story, click here.
Tree of Life Tribute Wall
On April 1, the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago (UIC) kicked-off National Donate Life Month by unveiling its Tree of Life tribute wall. To read more about UIC’s remarkable tribute to donors, donor families and recipients, click here.
Messengers of Hope On Sunday, April 26, Gift of Hope’s African-American Task Force and Salem Baptist Church’s organ donor ministry co-hosted a telethon event, Messengers of Hope, at the House of Hope in Chicago. The telethon was held in honor of National Donate Life Month to encourage thousands to register as organ and tissue donors. We hope you had the chance to see the event, which was televised on WJYS-Channel 62, but if you missed it, please click on the names below to read about two of the highlighted participants: Paul Hutchins, former offensive tackle for the Green Bay Packers; and Mariah Madison, a patient awaiting a heart transplant.
Check Our New Transplant Community Network Site Gift of Hope and Donate Life Illinois have recently launched a new Illinois transplant community networking site. This site is open to transplant patients, recipients, donor family members as well as any general supporters and Illinois’ advocates of organ and tissue donation. Come check it out! It’s a great way to meet members of the community and to share photos, videos, ask questions and come up with great new ideas to help spread the word about the importance of organ and tissue donation!
Together we can
