No exploding volcanoes for Mia Belluomini.
At six, and facing a decision about what to do her science fair project on, the first grader set out to explain how, when people die, they can help save the lives of others by donating organs.
So at the Foster City Elementary School Science Fair held this month, the California youth decked herself out in a “Donate Life” green tee-shirt (even painted her fingernails a green used to symbolize donation) and presented her project.
Up and down the aisles, there were projects done by first through fifth graders explaining which shoe treads get the best grip or how green dye changes the taste of a soda (and a volcano or two).
Mia fielded questions from adults and peers alike, such as “when people die, how long until their organ die?”
With 115,000 people waiting for an organ in the county, this was a serious project, says mother Kimilou Gilchrist, a former elementary school teacher. But her daughter knows what the donated “gift of life” means.
“Her grandmother received liver transplant about 10 months before Mia was born” says Gilchrist.
Kimijo Gilchrist, received a new liver after her old one was ravaged by Hepatitis C, says Kimilou, as the result of needles used in acupuncture.
Her mother, and Mia’s grandmother, is from Japan. Gilchrist said Mia grew up watching her “nana” go to follow up doctor visits, taking the medicines required to fight off the body’s attempt to reject the liver as well as being active and there for her.
Mia would ask questions. How come 18 people die each day while waiting for an organ? Why don’t people agree to become donors? “I would tell her that it’s because lots of people don’t know,” said Gilchrist.
Using the story board panels common to any science fair presentation, Mia’s work covered the entire process of organ transplant and saving lives. In the center, a hospital and its “broken” red heart – symbolizing the person who has died.
The large hospital is surrounded by eight smaller hospitals. Between each, a helicopter in flight, much like the organs from a donor are often flown to a transplant center.
Real world transplants take place because organizations, like the California Transplant Donor Network, help connect donor families to those who need transplants. Mia shows a picture of people on the phone -- a “call center”-- where this happens.
On the left side of the three-panel display is a list with full color representation of each of the eight organs which can be transplanted – heart, intestine, liver, pancreas, kidneys (2) and lungs.
And on the right panel, Mia and her grandmother.
The project, which was the result of three to four weeks of research and construction, did more than educate. Two people signed the forms on the site, agreeing to be donors.
Sign up to be a donor at www.donateLIFEcalifornia.o
At six, and facing a decision about what to do her science fair project on, the first grader set out to explain how, when people die, they can help save the lives of others by donating organs.
So at the Foster City Elementary School Science Fair held this month, the California youth decked herself out in a “Donate Life” green tee-shirt (even painted her fingernails a green used to symbolize donation) and presented her project.
Up and down the aisles, there were projects done by first through fifth graders explaining which shoe treads get the best grip or how green dye changes the taste of a soda (and a volcano or two).
Mia fielded questions from adults and peers alike, such as “when people die, how long until their organ die?”
With 115,000 people waiting for an organ in the county, this was a serious project, says mother Kimilou Gilchrist, a former elementary school teacher. But her daughter knows what the donated “gift of life” means.
“Her grandmother received liver transplant about 10 months before Mia was born” says Gilchrist.
Kimijo Gilchrist, received a new liver after her old one was ravaged by Hepatitis C, says Kimilou, as the result of needles used in acupuncture.
Her mother, and Mia’s grandmother, is from Japan. Gilchrist said Mia grew up watching her “nana” go to follow up doctor visits, taking the medicines required to fight off the body’s attempt to reject the liver as well as being active and there for her.
Mia would ask questions. How come 18 people die each day while waiting for an organ? Why don’t people agree to become donors? “I would tell her that it’s because lots of people don’t know,” said Gilchrist.
Using the story board panels common to any science fair presentation, Mia’s work covered the entire process of organ transplant and saving lives. In the center, a hospital and its “broken” red heart – symbolizing the person who has died.
The large hospital is surrounded by eight smaller hospitals. Between each, a helicopter in flight, much like the organs from a donor are often flown to a transplant center.
Real world transplants take place because organizations, like the California Transplant Donor Network, help connect donor families to those who need transplants. Mia shows a picture of people on the phone -- a “call center”-- where this happens.
On the left side of the three-panel display is a list with full color representation of each of the eight organs which can be transplanted – heart, intestine, liver, pancreas, kidneys (2) and lungs.
And on the right panel, Mia and her grandmother.
The project, which was the result of three to four weeks of research and construction, did more than educate. Two people signed the forms on the site, agreeing to be donors.
Sign up to be a donor at www.donateLIFEcalifornia.o
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