A Quarterly Newsletter of LifeShare Of The Carolinas

VOLUME 16

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ISSUE 3

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FALL 2013

IN THIS ISSUE:

1 Travis’ Story

2 Hot Off the Press

3 Donor Sabbath 2013Offers Hope

4 UNOS Requests PublicComment on Six PolicyProposals

5 Transplant Recipients WithTies to CMC Tapped toShare Their Stories

6 LifeShare Offers Workshopfor Healthcare Professionals

7 Donor Statistics byHospital

8 Plan to Attend VolunteerTraining This Fall

A Donate Life Organization

Travis’ StoryAs told by Renee Rhodes

Travis James Rhodes was a devoted husband

and father to his three year old son. He

loved fishing, four-wheel riding and racing

boats. His smile could light up a room!

On the morning of August 6, 2003, Travis

went to practice in his race boat. Renee

would follow later that afternoon but not

without the feeling that something just

wasn’t right. Later that evening, her life, her

son’s life and the lives of all who loved

Travis would change forever.

Natives of Louisiana, Travis and Renee met in 1991 and were married a year later.

Seven years later, their precious son Taylor was born. Travis spent every waking

moment he could with Taylor.

One evening Travis told Renee he was going to start racing boats. After seeing his

eyes light up and the smile on his face, how could she say no? Late one night after

being out in his new race boat, Travis told Renee that if anything ever happened to

him in the boat, he would have died doing what he loved. Never in a million years

could she imagine how true those words would become just a week later.

Travis was practicing that fateful August day when suddenly his boat flipped. The

EMT’s worked diligently but it was too late. At the age of 33, he became a tissue and

cornea donor. When the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency (LOPA) called Renee

she knew without a doubt that he would have wanted to help others. Travis was the

most giving person—with the biggest heart—of anyone she knew. He wanted to be

the person that others would be proud of. Especially his son.

Little did he know he would leave a legacy not by racing boats but by giving sight

to two people and enhancing the lives of over 50 people through tissue donation.

A year after his passing, Renee began volunteering for LOPA where she later

became employed as a Community Liaison. She was also a member of the Donate

Life Rose Bowl Committee for six years. Renee and Taylor recently moved to the

North Carolina Mountains where she volunteers with LifeShare.

This summer she was honored to learn that Travis’ photo is one of 72 floragraphs

nationwide selected for the Donate Life Float. Renee and Taylor will travel to

California and stand proudly in the stands with other donor families and transplant

recipients as the Donate Life float passes by on New Year’s Day.

The theme this year fittingly is Light up the World, something Travis did everyday.

2 L I F E S H A R E O F T H E C A R O L I N A S

LifeShareOf The Carolinas

1-800-932-GIVE

www.lifesharecarolinas.org

Editor

Debbie Gibbs

Associate Editor

Gary Burris

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OU R M I S S I O N

Improving lives through organ,

eye and tissue donation.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

OU R V I S I O N

We envision a day when everyone

who needs a transplant will be

able to get one.

HOT OFF THE PRESS!DEDICATE A ROSE ON THE 2014 DONATE FLOATWe have delayed publication of our fall newsletter to bring you some exciting breaking

news. Originally, in this space we had prepared a longer story on dedicating a rose on

the Donate Life Float. Transplant recipients, donor family members and even hospitals

that would like to purchase a rose on the float in honor of a special individual may do

so at a cost of $30 each. For more information, visit https://www.onelegacy.org/cgi-

bin/family_circle/family or contact Kari Kozuki at kkozuki@onelegacy.org.

A VEHICLE FOR PROMOTING DONATIONLifeShare is pleased to announce that we will literally be getting the show on the

road at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, October 11, 2013. That is the day

when Joey Gase will return to Charlotte to race his #52 car in the Nationwide series.

He is driving home the story about the benefits of donation. He knows firsthand

from personal experience. At 18, he made the decision to donate his mother’s

organs to several individuals. It turns out one of them lives in North Carolina. We

were pleased Joey helped us to kick-off our Man-Up campaign last year during his

first race at the Speedway. LifeShare and Carolina Donor Services, our sister organ

procurement organization are teaming up to welcome Joey to Charlotte this fall.

ROSE PARADE RIDER UPDATEWe have recently learned that Julie M. Allred, a pancreatic islet cell transplant recipient,

will actually ride on the Donate Life Float on New Year’s Day. A resident of Concord,

NC, Julie is a school nurse and an active LifeShare volunteer.

Nefeterius McPherson, the Texas attorney who was pictured on the front page of

our last newsletter, has also been named one of the 2014 float-riders. If you recall,

Nefeterius, received a liver transplant from 12-year old Taitlyn, the beloved daughter

of one of our volunteers. Taylor’s Foundation is the sponsor for Nefeterius. Julie is

being sponsored by Emory Transplant Center. Look for more information about the

Donate Life float on our Facebook page.

Julie M. Allred Nefeterius McPherson

3

Number of Candidates on theNational Transplant Waiting List

Kidney 97,668

Liver 15,837

Pancreas 1,179

Kidney-Pancreas 2,065

Heart 3,580

Lung 1,629

Heart-Lung 49

Intestine 258

NATIONAL TOTAL 119,547

North Carolina 3,436

South Carolina 966

Based on OPTN data as of September 13, 2013.

Donor Sabbath 2013 Offers HopeNational Donor Sabbath, observed annually two weekends before Thanksgiving, is a

time when the donation and transplant community focuses on the important role

faith plays in our community. No one understands that better than Gary Simmons, a

liver transplant recipient and his wife, Rev. Elizabeth McGregor Simmons, the Pastor

at Davidson College Presbyterian Church (DCPC).

This time last year, Gary was extremely ill and waiting for a liver transplant. The

congregation was praying for his health to improve. Meanwhile, Rev. Simmons says

most days Gary was too sick to even sit at the table for dinner.

Their prayers were answered in January when Gary received a new liver. On Easter

Sunday, the miracle of organ donation was the topic of Rev. Simmons’ sermon. This

November, DCPC will join thousands of congregations across the country in observing

the National Donor Sabbath.

To assist members of the clergy and others who may be interested in planning an

observance at their own place of worship, we are posting Rev. Simmons sermon on

donation at http://www.lifesharecarolinas.org/resources/news/nds2013.

Research has shown that one of the main reasons people refuse to become organ

and tissue donors is the belief that it is against their religion. With more than 118,000

individuals nationwide and over 3,500 in North Carolina in desperate need of lifesaving

or healing transplants, it is more important than ever that more people sign up.

LifeShare invites all congregations in our region to observe the National Donor

Sabbath on Sunday November 15th or anytime during the month of November by

sharing the message of donation and encouraging members to register as organ, eye

and tissue donors. With your help, we can eliminate one of the common misconceptions

about organ donation and save lives.

If you would like for someone to speak at your place of worship for a Sunday

school class, an evening Bible study or even a Sunday worship service, we have

speakers that are available. Upon request, we can also provide Bible markers, registry

enrollment forms and other materials.

To orders yours, contact Jennifer McCarn at (704) 512-3303 or jmccarn@carolinas.org.

F A L L I S S U E – 2 0 1 3

National DonorSabbath MaterialsAvailable Now

To orders yours, contact

Jennifer McCarn at

(704) 512-3303 or

jmccarn@carolinas.org.

Don’t take your organs to heaven.Heaven knows we need them here!

4 L I F E S H A R E O F T H E C A R O L I N A SYou have t

he power to donate life!

CALENDARof events

October 19, 2013Volunteer Training

CHS Center for Learning and

Development

Charlotte, NC

October 22, 2013Volunteer Training

LifeShare Office

Asheville, NC

October 22, 2013Volunteer Training

LifeShare Office

Charlotte, NC

November 14, 2013

LifeShare Workshop

Caromont Regional Medical Center

2525 Court Dr.

Gastonia, NC

Contact Ben Martin: (704) 512-3303

November 15–17, 2013National Donor Sabbath

Churches and Congregations

Nationwide

Headline news about a young girl on the waiting list for a lung transplant and other

recent stories have raised a number of questions about the fairness of the nation’s

transplant system. The reality is there are hundreds of physicians, ethicists, transplant

professionals, attorneys, donor family members and transplant recipients who weigh

in on each policy from how organs are allocated to the packaging they are shipped in.

You too can have a voice. Whenever there is a new policy or a revision under

consideration, the Organ Procurement Transplant Network (OPTN) sends it out for

public comment. Then, after all of the comments are considered, the policy is

formulated. The process from beginning to end usually takes months. In some

cases, it has taken years.

Organ donation and transplantation is one of the nation’s most highly regulated

fields of medicine. The OPTN, under contract with the federal government, is

charged with creating and administering policies that are not only fair but that have

utility too, which means that extenuating circumstances are considered.

For instance, while it may be fair to give an organ to the next person in line on the

waiting list, there is little utility if the next person doesn’t have the same blood type

as the donor and is likely to reject the organ.

The OPTN recently released six new policy proposals, two of which involve living

donation. If you are interested, they may be viewed at:

http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/policiesAndBylaws/publicComment/proposals.asp.

The deadline to make comments is December 6, 2013.

UNOS Requests Public Commenton Six Policy Proposals

If you missed getting a Donate Life license plate when they were first ordered last year, it’s not

too late. You can actually order one now at your local license plate agency or online through the

NC Division of Motor Vehicles.

The fee for a Donate Life License Plate is $20 in addition to the regular license fee. Individuals

who want a customized plate can opt to have a Donate Life License Plate personalized for a cost

of $50 per year. Four spaces are available for a personalized message. Some of the unique plates

so far are: YNOT, DOIT, SAV8 and 4LIF. Needless to say, the possibilities are endless.

We’d like to thank each of you who purchased one of the first 300 plates for your support

and your willingness to help “drive” donation across North Carolina!

DONATE LIFE LICENSE PLATES AVAILABLE ONLINE

5F A L L I S S U E – 2 0 1 3

Nick Doumas, a Winston-Salem resident and well-known businessman, is one of

three individuals from North Carolina featured in a series of stories recently added

to the web site of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Life Stories,

features donation professionals, transplant recipients and donor family members

from around the country.

The Doumas tie to donation? He received a liver transplant at Carolinas Medical

Center (CMC) at the ripe young age of 73. His donor was even older, proof that people

of all ages not only benefit from organ transplants but can donate as well.

Fittingly, Doumas is joined on the web site by Dr. Dan Hayes, the head of the

transplant program at CMC, LifeShare’s Medical Director and the person who actually

performed Doumas’ transplant. His story is especially interesting.

Dr. Hayes is not only a transplant surgeon. He is also a two-time corneal transplant

recipient. Thanks to two generous donors, he is still able to perform surgery on

hundreds of patients each year.

When the film crew came to Charlotte last fall to tape the interviews

with Hayes and Doumas they were so impressed they made the

decision to include their stories on the organdonor.gov web site.

The producer also decided to create a series of television and radio public service

announcements featuring Dr. Hayes. The video on organ donation including Hayes,

Doumas and Sandra Phifer, a local donor wife, will be available later. Both projects

were produced by the Health Services Resource Administration and are expected to

be released sometime this fall.

Look for those Life Stories and others from around the country at www.organ-

donor.gov/lifestories. The headline above says there are three people featured on the

web site. If you look hard, you will notice there are actually two other individuals

from our area who were previously profiled—Debbie Gibbs, LifeShare’s Public

Relations Manager and Bobby Height, a heart transplant recipient.

LifeShare is proud to have partnered with HRSA in bringing these stories to life.

When the public service announcements and the video are available, we will post

them on our Facebook page. Stay tuned.

Three Transplant Recipients With Tiesto Carolinas Medical Center Tappedto Share Their Stories in Print

Nick Doumas, liver recipient

Dr. Dan Hayes, cornea recipient

Bobby Height, heart recipient

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PLANNING A PROGRAM?

As your organization plans its meeting

calendar for the year, please think of

LifeShare. Speakers from your community

whose lives have been touched by

organ or tissue donation are available

to talk to local groups.

If you would like to schedule a

free, informative presentation tailored

to the needs of your organization,

call the LifeShare office nearest you

at (704) 512-3303 or (828) 665-0107.

If you are interested in joining our

Speaker’s Bureau, we’d also like to

hear from you.

Lots of opportunities are available

to help in the office, to staff a booth

at a health fair or to make presentations

to community groups. Call us.

PLEASE CONSIDERMAKING A FINANCIALCONTRIBUTION

By making a donation to LifeShare,

you can help to save lives by raising

organ and tissue donation awareness.

You may contribute in several ways.

In lieu of flowers, LifeShare may

be designated as the organization to

receive memorials for funerals.

Contributions may also be made in

the name of a transplant recipient,

donor or other loved one. Each person

who makes a contribution to LifeShare

receives a thank you letter. A separate

letter is sent to the family or person in

whose honor the donation was made.

Please mail your check, payable to

LifeShare, to the address on the back

of the newsletter. All contributions

are tax-deductible and are used for

public education purposes.

L I F E S H A R E O F T H E C A R O L I N A S

Nurses, chaplains, respiratory therapists and family support staff from hospitals

throughout southwestern North Carolina are invited to participate in an upcoming

donation workshop sponsored annually by LifeShare at Caromont Regional Medical

Center. The one-day program: Making a Difference: Putting all the Pieces Together...

from Referral to Transplant and Everything in Between, will address the critical role

that healthcare professionals play in the donation process.

A number of donation experts from across the state have been invited to speak

providing information on the best practices on donor recovery and management.

Some of them include: Dr. Thomas Nakagawa, a pediatric intensivist and Dr. Lon

Eskind, a transplant surgeon.

All participants will be awarded continuing education credits. They will also earn

the designation of Donor Resource Specialist which will enable each person to function

as the donation “expert” on their respective units.

Space is limited. To register, contact Ben Martin or Jennifer McCarn at (704) 512-3303.

Their respective e-mail addresses are: Arthur.martin@carolinas.org and

Jennifer.mccarn@carolinas.org.

LifeShare Offers Workshop forHealthcare Professionals onNovember 14, 2013

F A L L I S S U E – 2 0 1 3

LifeShare is pleased to offer

donor family members a

special way to remember

their loved ones—through

our memorial quilts, the

Quilts of Life.

We display the quilts in our

office and at special events

designed to promote organ

and tissue donation. Squares

are added to the quilts at

least once a year, usually in

the spring in time for

National Organ and Tissue

Donation Awareness Month.

If you would like to add a

square in memory of your

loved one, visit our web site

at lifesharecarolinas.org for

size dimensions, a release

form and other details. You

may also call us for additional

information at (704) 512-3303.

We look forward to receiving

additional squares and to

sharing the memory of your

loved one with others.

LifeShare gratefully acknowledges the commitment of all nurses and other medicalpersonnel who help to further the ideals of organ and tissue donation. It is throughtheir efforts and the generosity of donor family members that donation occurs. Whencomparing statistics, please note that not all hospitals have the same donor potential.

DONOR S TAT I S T I C S BY HOSP I TA L

April–June 2013

Hospital Eye Organ Tissue

Angel 0 0 0

Anson 0 0 0

Asheville Specialty 0 0 0

Carolinas Medical Center (CMC) 12 8 13

CMC - Blue Ridge Grace 0 0 0

CMC - Lincoln 1 0 3

CMC - Mercy 0 0 0

CMC - NorthEast 8 0 7

CMC - Pineville 5 0 4

CMC - Union 1 0 1

CMC - University 0 1 0

CMC - Valdese 2 0 2

CMC - Waxhaw 0 0 0

Caromont 4 1 4

Cherokee 1 0 0

Cleveland 2 0 0

Crawley 0 0 0

Harris 2 0 1

Haywood 1 0 3

Highlands-Cashiers 0 0 0

Kings Mountain 1 0 0

Lake Norman 1 0 1

Mission 8 0 6

Murphy 2 0 2

Novant 1 0 3

Novant Huntersville 0 0 1

Novant Matthews 2 0 2

Pardee 3 0 1

Park Ridge 1 0 0

Rutherford 2 0 1

St. Luke’s 0 0 0

Stanly 0 0 2

Swain 0 0 0

Transylvania 1 0 0

VA Medical 0 0 0

7

Quiltof Life

LifeShareOf The Carolinas

5000-D Airport Center ParkwayCharlotte, NC 28208

LifeShare is always looking for individuals with a strong desire to help us spread the

good news about organ/tissue donation and to increase the ranks of donors on the

NC Organ Donor Registry. In conjunction with Donate Life North Carolina, we will

host a series of volunteer workshops in October designed to enhance your knowledge

of donation and transplantation and to maximize your ability to interact with the

public on public outreach programs.

Just in time for the National Donor Sabbath, LifeShare Of The Carolinas and

Donate Life North Carolina are partnering on three upcoming training sessions.

They are designed to train new volunteers on donation basics and to update

existing DMV Ambassadors on designation trends in the state as well as

changes happening at the DMV.

Typically, LifeShare volunteers speak to the public about donation, staff

tables at health fairs and lend a helping hand on administrative tasks in our

office. We have DMV Ambassadors who visit local driver’s license offices on

a quarterly basis. The workshop will contain information for them as well.

The dates and times are below.

Plan to Attend VolunteerTraining This Fall

DATE LOCATION TIME

October 19 CHS Center for Learning and Development, 5039 Airport Center Parkway, Charlotte 9 to noon

October 22 LifeShare Conference Room, 1200 Ridgefield Blvd, Suite 150. Asheville 10 to 1

October 23 LifeShare Conference Room, 5000 D Airport Center Parkway, Charlotte 10 to 1