“By this time tomorrow, 18 people will die because a life-saving organ is not available.”

Lifebanc has been working diligently to educate, engage and inspire individuals, corporations and foundations from our communities to get involved and support our mission of saving and healing lives. However, as the headline indicates, 18 people will not be alive tomorrow because a life-saving organ is not available in time. This is a very direct message to stress the need for organ, eye and tissue donation.

The men, women and children on the organ transplant waiting list are not just a number or statistic. They are our friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members. To help you understand the need for the Gift of Life, Lifebanc will introduce you to a transplant candidate waiting right here in Northeast Ohio each week. Your generous contribution will help support initiatives and programs that educate people on the need for and benefits of organ, eye and tissue donation, so there will be no more lives lost.

We hope you stop back often to meet the individuals that need your help.

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Kenneth

Kenneth hopes to return to a life of normalcy with his wife, three school-aged children and dog. That time is uncertain due to restrictive cardiomyopathy which has placed Kenneth on the heart transplant list at age 45. The chambers of his heart are unable to fill with blood properly.

“It’s tiresome waiting,” Kenneth says. “You just take it day by day. People are always asking how long it’s going to be, and you just don’t know. You take your phone to bed with you every night. You’re always anticipating that call.”

Kenneth wishes to avoid being tired all the time and having quality of life after his transplant.

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John S.

It’s difficult for John S. to come to grips with needing a heart transplant. He feels guilty about needing one. Even though he’s had problems since birth, John S. had hoped that a pacemaker would alleviate his congestive heart failure. For a year and a half, it did. Then, his health deteriorated.

John S. joined the transplant list eleven months ago. Every 10 minutes a new name is added to the national waiting list; in Ohio three names are added each day. “I talk to everyone I can about organ and tissue donation,” John S. maintains. “The months have taken a toll, but I try not to show it to my wife and daughter.” His wife and daughter visit every weekend from Charleston, West Virginia, and has only missed twice, a fact that makes John S. smile.

With a new heart, the future would embrace home and family, maybe going back to work. “I want to go on with life,” says John S. “I hope to honor the donor family and to rally support for the mission of donation.”

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Michael Fisher

“I’ve always been an organ donor. I never thought I’d be put on that list.” Michael, a 50-year-old research scientist, used to study the side effects of medicines for Pfizer, but now waits for a heart and kidney transplant. He is now one of the more than 107,000 women, men and children waiting for life-saving organ and tissue transplants in the United States.

The last five years have been difficult with increasing heart problems. As conditions worsened, Michael tried to stay at home, but when the fluid built alarmingly, Michael needed to be admitted to the hospital.

The uncertainty of receiving a transplant does not phase Michael. He looks forward to the weekend visits of his wife of fifteen years, who drives 4 ½ hours from Kalamazoo to Cleveland. He follows the regimen of Cardio-Rehab daily and tries to do better each time he participates. Camaraderie is strong with his fellow patients while they play cards. “We’re like a big family,” Michael beams.

Michael and his wife are classic car buffs. He boasts about his ’55 Ford Prowler Purple Pickup and the car he bought for his wife, a ’36 Buick Special. “I’d like to finish restoring that Buick after the transplant,” Michael hopes. He envisions travelling once again with his wife and returning to fishing through Upper Michigan, Canada and Lake Erie.

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