I’m very thankful to have another chance at life which a lot of other people don’t get. I thank our Lord and God above especially and the donor and donor’s family. The donor was a caring person wanting to help people’s lives.  He was truly a hero.  I’m so sorry for the family and their loss but thankful I can live on and tell of this miracle that God has made and that this person still lives on in me.

Eleanor Westenhofer, happy and healthy after a life-saving heart transplant

As baby Eleanor Westenhofer waited for a heart transplant, her parents Damon and Lindsey took turns spending the night with her at Kosair Children’s Hospital.

It was Lindsey’s night when that important call came. The cardiovascular nurse-practitioner on the phone asked Lindsey if she was sitting down and told her, “We have a heart.”

The transplant was a huge success, and Eleanor is a happy and healthy toddler.

Eleanor was on full life support after her birth on Oct. 12, 2010. Tests had revealed a congenital heart defect.  Doctors said a transplant was the only option, and 10 days later, she was added to the national waiting list. Her survival was at stake.

Her parents felt helpless. “If you allow yourself to think too much about what could happen,” Lindsey said, “I knew I would be in a very bad place.”

Eleanor was on the list for exactly two months. Her new heart came from a two-month-old little girl in Pennsylvania. The Westenhofers know few details but have sent a letter of deep gratitude.

“For all we know,” Lindsey said, “that is the only heart that would have been perfect for Eleanor. Because of their generosity and selflessness, we have our beautiful daughter at home with us. We feel it’s a miracle. There are no words to fully describe the gratitude we have. Even through their tragedy and immense loss, they saw they could help other people.”

Eleanor may have some limitations, no contact sports for example, but the family’s lives have been transformed.  They see a bright future.

“Now, we have so much to look forward to,” Lindsey said. “Before, our lives were full of stress and anxiety. It’s agonizing. She could have gotten much sicker very fast. We will do everything we can to keep her happy and to make sure she experiences everything she can. Whatever she wants to be, we will help her make her dreams come true.”

The Westenhofers are huge advocates for organ donation.

“We both feel strongly about spreading awareness,” Lindsey said. “I did not know that 1 in 100 babies are born with a heart defect. Everyone should sign up to be an organ donor. Please make your family aware of your wishes, and make sure you sign up for the registry online. You can help so many people.”

Imagine laying in bed at night, trying to scratch an itch that you can’t reach.

That is what Anna Parish deals with. It is part of a liver illness that this charming little girl has lived with for all of her 11 years. Her ammonia levels are high, which causes intense itching from the inside. Despite her best efforts, she cannot really scratch it. It is one of many difficult things she lives with every day.

“She hardly gets any sleep,” said her mother, Cheryl Parish. “I don’t see how she functions.”

Anna’s condition is known as biliary atresia. Sometimes the illness is congenital and can run in the family. Sometimes it comes from nowhere. That is what happened in Anna’s case — she was born healthy but a virus attacked her liver. The Parish family had never heard of the disease, and they were not prepared for this sudden, devastating news.

That is one of the most important aspects of organ donation. You never know when the need will arise, and it can happen to anyone. Imagine your child or grandchild in the same situation, and the fear and anxiety that come with waiting for someone else to say “yes” to organ donation.

Anna was added her to the national waiting list on  April 1, 2009. The family has no way of knowing when or if a call will come, but they’re never farther than five hours from home.

Daily life is a challenge

Anna’s charisma and wit jump out immediately. Inspired by her father, Phillip, who has been taking guitar lessons for a couple years, Anna has also taken up the guitar. Her mom and dad bought her one that is the namesake of her musical hero, Taylor Swift.

Anna starts to giggle and talk faster as she tells the story about meeting her idol when Taylor recently performed at the Yum! Center. Through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Anna got to go backstage and have some personal time with her hero. She came away with cool photographs and said she felt special. It is something she will never forget.

Her lack of sleep makes school difficult for Anna, and she is often too sick to attend. Her mother said that affects her confidence academically and socially. Anna loves to play sports, but her endurance is low.  But she’s enjoying her precious life just the same.She has lots of friends, and loves to have sleepovers. And she loves to hang out with her parents and her sisters, Gracie and Sarah.

Waiting on a ‘yes’

Every three months, Anna and her family travel to the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center where she sees a pediatric gastroenterologist. She is primed to travel to New York for her life-saving transplant.

Her family has been told Anna’s wait time could be 18 to 30 months. It is a scary time for all of them. Anna, who just turned 11, will go on the adult list when she turns 12.

“I used to worry when the phone rang,” Cheryl said. “Now I’m more worried it won’t ring. I worry she won’t get one.”

The Parishes have become huge advocates for the cause of organ donation and the Trust For Life, because the need for organs is urgent and crucial. Kids like Anna all over the country are in need of life-saving transplants, and the only hope they have is for everyone to become a registered organ donor.

Saying “yes” at your circuit clerk’s office or joining the registry online states your willingness to help kids like Anna. More registered donors means more hope for those waiting. Everyone counts, and everyone can join the registry today. It only takes five minutes!

A call to action

If you are moved by Anna’s story, please remember — you can DO SOMETHING to make a difference. Be a hero. Be hope. Join today!  Sign up online or at your circuit clerk’s office.

The Parish family are staying strong and dreaming of a bright future for Anna — maybe with the guitar! They dream of her attending college, getting married and having her own family.

“If she could get her transplant and move on with a healthy liver and body, I truly think that the sky is the limit for Anna,” she said. “She could be capable of almost anything if she were given the chance!”

Asked how she would describe organ donation in two words, Cheryl said simply:

“Saving lives.”

Carissa’s mother explains, “After meeting her heart recipient, my life has been changed forever.  Carissa has rewarded me with a blessed journey of telling her story and helping other donor families.  Miracles do appear even after your loved one is gone, through organ donation.  Our family has been blessed with meeting two of the three recipients.  I’m now an ambassador for KODA to fulfill Carissa’s wishes.”

- Story by Cathy Mattingly, Carissa’s mom

The diagnosis of end-stage liver disease came in 1999, but I was not sick enough to be placed on the transplant waiting list. As time passed I began to exhibit symptoms of PBC – fatigue, higher liver enzymes, and encephalopathy – and was no longer able to work. I slept much of the time, had little energy to walk and my muscles atrophied. I don’t remember most of the final months prior to transplant.

My hepatologist sent me back to Jewish Hospital Transplant Center for another work-up and it was determined that my condition was deteriorating rapidly and I was placed on the waiting list on May 7, 2005. On May 17^th   I received a life-saving liver transplant and after a fairly short time, I was a healthy individual again. I am very fortunate to have met my donor’s family after corresponding for about a year. They are wonderful people and live near us.  I am luckier than most people; I have two families to love.

My life is full and rich and I feel absolutely great! My husband retired recently and we do volunteer work for an organization called Second Chance at Life of Louisville to inform the public about the need for organ and tissue donation and to ask them to sign theKentuckyor Indiana Donor Registry. We also do volunteer work for KODA, Kentucky Circuit Court Clerks’ Trust for Life, UofL Lions Eye Bank and National Kidney Foundation of Kentucky. I look forward to many more years of good health and volunteerism. Life is good!

In the beginning of 2009, my husband was totally healthy.  Suddenly, in February, he was diagnosed in end stage renal failure.  They called it IgA Nephropathy, a rare kidney disease that attacks the immune system.  Mayo Clinic had a treatment plan to keep Mike going but eventually, that quit working.  We knew a transplant was our only hope.  We put the word out that he needed a kidney.

Tim Clark was a friend, but not someone we saw every day.  In fact, we had not seen him in 8 years.  He heard through Facebook from his wife (who is a friend of mine).  When Tim heard Mike needed a kidney, he called him out of nowhere and said, “Saylor, I hear you need a kidney!”  Mike told him yes.  Tim asked what blood type he needed.  Mike confirmed O positive and Tim was the same type so he said, “Where do I go to get tested?”

Much later, we learned that Tim had lost an Aunt waiting for a kidney transplant.  She was only 32 years old and left 8 children without a mother.  He vowed that if he could help others through kidney transplantation, he would do anything he could to help.

It was approximately a year from that phone call when the actual transplant took place.  Tim had to work hard to be able to be Mike’s living donor.  He owns a bar and totally gave up drinking, smoking, and eating bad so he would be healthy enough to donate to Mike.  We were running out of time.  The clock was ticking against us.  We were close to needing dialysis and trying to avoid it.  By Christmas, he would have been on dialysis.  The doctors at Mayo said it was best to avoid that.

What we went through in Cincinnati is almost impossible to put into words.  To sit in the same waiting room with Tim’s wife, mother, his children, my children and Michael’s brother and sister & my two best friends.  Watching waiting for updates on both men was surreal!  The morning before the surgery, we sat in the pre-op room holding hands and saying the Lord’s Prayer.  I held it together for all of this.

I had to be strong for Michael and my children.  We have a very strong love, and I was scared to death I was going to lose him.  Before he went into surgery, I told Mike that he better come back to me.  I told him if he sees a light or any voices telling him to go the other way, he was to fight to get back to me.  He jokingly said he’d telepathically communicate with me half way through the surgery.  I laughed it off.

A few hours in, my oldest son, Kyle, asked me if they were about half way through.  I thought about what Mike had said.  Suddenly there was a laptop on my lap and a video playing.  It was Mike making jokes about what he assumed was going on in the waiting room while he was in surgery.  He also took time to tell me how much he loved me, and that he was never going to leave me.  Many laughs and tears filled the waiting room as everyone passed the lap top around.  It was amazing, and I had a peaceful feeling everything would be ok.

The procedure was not without difficulty, but Transplant Surgeon Dr. Steve Woodle, who himself is a liver transplant recipient, performed the operations superbly.  The donor kidney began functioning immediately and Mike’s cheeks filled with color.  Since the transplant, both men are doing great and expected to live long and healthy lives.

Tim gave me my husband back, and he gave my children their dad.  We cannot express our gratitude enough.  Donation is an incredible gift.  It is the gift of life.  Everyone can show their support for helping people in need, simply by registering as an organ donor.

Tim owns a successful restaurant in Louisville called Mulligan’s.  Mulligan’s means second chance, and Tim gave us the ultimate second chance.  Like Tim, everyone can register to be a hero.  Join the KY Organ Donor Registry – www.donatelifeky.org.  You can give hope to more than 80,000 people waiting for kidney transplants.

-As told by Leigh Ann Saylor, Mike’s wife
(Mike pictured middle right with arm around his donor, Tim – with their wives and children posing for a Christmas Card the Saylor Family sent with the words “BELIEVE in Love, in Faith, in Miracles.”)

The turn of the century was also a turning point in my life. My mother had developed sclerosis of the liver, the result of Hepatitis C she contracted when she had a blood transfusion in the 70s. Doctors at University of Ohio, Cincinnati were placing her on the donor list, but also shared with us they had performed 3 living related donor liver transplants. As they explained the process to us, I immediately knew it was God’s will that I be the vessel he would use to perform a miracle and save my mother’s life. I began the testing to become her donor and on April 24, 2000, 60% of my liver was removed and placed into my mother, Flonnie Broyles. I spent 6 days in the hospital and went home, but returned for a few more days due to a lower right lobe lung collapse.

Several years later, I was blessed with the opportunity to give another organ…a kidney. My friend and co-worker had been suffering with kidney failure and had been on dialysis for 2 years. I offered to donate when he first began dialysis, but he refused. He did not want to consider having anyone give him a kidney and especially me…having gone through it already. It wasn’t until later, when he came to the realization that his life was slipping away, that he would consider anyone. Numerous family members were tested, but health issues prevented some and no match could be found. I saw him struggling one day, just to make it up a flight of stairs and my heart broke. I emailed his wife, who was also a good friend, and pleaded with her to convince him to let me be tested. Again, I knew it was God’s plan and I would be a match. He agreed to let me be tested, and I was a match! Doctors were concerned at first that I had been a donor previously, but after extensive consultation; they couldn’t find any reason not to let it happen. So, October 24, 2007… seven years and six months after the liver transplant, I became a two time living related organ donor when I gave my left kidney to Kenny Ramsey. Kenny was able to celebrate his 40th birthday in September, 2008, something he said he didn’t think he would get to do. I only spent 3 days in the hospital and was released. Doctors at Jewish Hospital, Louisville, KY said they researched, and could find no evidence that anyone; anywhere in the world was a two time living related organ donor.

I have been so blessed during my 52 years, and I thank God every day that He chose to use me to be a part of these two miracles. Fortunately, I am healthy and seriously can’t think of any way the donations have hindered me. I actually went back to work three weeks after the kidney donation!

My family and friends have been so very supportive through it all. As someone who knows, I need to emphasize that medical personnel are as concerned for the donor as they are for the recipient. They won’t take any chances when it comes to a donor’s health and well-being. I would encourage anyone who has an opportunity, to give the gift of life…and also make certain your family and friends are aware of your wishes. Your rewards will outweigh any difficulties you may encounter as a living related organ donor.

After almost 12 years since the liver transplant, and 4 ½ years since the kidney transplant, both mom and Kenny are doing great! God is so good!

Pattie Corder
Monticello, KY

He is our Hero.

-Shared by Jason’s Mother, Danita

Being a donor involves a simple blood test to determine the match.  Then 5 days of painless shots and lying still for several hours.  In September of 2011, my stem cells were retrieved and the next morning transplanted into my sister.  Within one month, there was no sign of MDS and my sister’s DNA was already 91% me.  We give Almighty God all the glory for this amazing miracle.  If I could share my feelings of being a donor, about the humbling experience of working alongside The Great Physician or of being a tool used by God to help save another’s life, words could never explain the feeling of fulfillment.  I believe God created us all for a purpose and as I watched my blood restoring life to my sister, I found new meaning in not only my purpose, but the purpose of others.  Everything we have belongs to God and when we can share it with others, we are fulfilling His perfect plan.

Donate Life.

-Shelia Gold, Living Donor (pictured right)