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A few years ago, Kokomo resident Tara Dennis was doing the things most people do, traveling to and from work and watching her grandchildren attend sporting and school events. I was sending it.
Then, in 2016, the last place fell out.
“My lungs collapsed,” she said. “It was sudden. So I ended up in the hospital. They fixed my lungs and then sent me home.”
But Dennis ended up returning to the hospital, where he stayed for 16 days and eventually underwent surgery to seal a hole in one of his lung membranes with glue.
Dennis recalled that doctors at the time told him that his lungs were in poor condition.
And by her own admission, she thought it was because of her years-long smoking habit, but she soon realized just how bad it really was.
Back to March 2022.
Denise became critically ill and had to be rushed to hospital, where medical staff eventually sent her to a pulmonologist.
“On my first visit, I was told I needed a lung transplant,” she said.
Dennis said he still remembers sitting in that doctor’s office crying as he heard the news.
“It was scary. It was scary,” she said. “And then I got home and my husband was like, ‘Oh my god, what’s going on?’ And when I told him about it, he was so angry. He had no idea either. So, I’m going to have a transplant. Before, we both thought I was going to die. I was sure of it.”
But before Dennis could get on the national transplant list, he needed to prepare his body for a lung transplant.
And when you can’t breathe, she said, it’s not easy.
It becomes even more difficult if you carry an oxygen tank with you.
Ultimately, it took about a year for Dennis to meet the criteria and he was placed on the transplant list.
And she waited, believing it would be months before she heard the news.
But it took about 48 hours.
“I was on that list for two days,” she said. When they told me that, I thought, “Are you serious?” Is this a joke? “I had never heard of anything like that.”
Dennis, who thought he would never be removed from the transplant list, underwent a successful lung transplant on September 1, 2023.
“I’m new,” she said with a smile when she met with the Tribune earlier this month at Community Howard Regional Health, where Dennis is undergoing rehabilitation. “Some days are good, and some days are still not so good, but when the good days come, I embrace them. But I can walk around the house without taking a breather, and I can go outside with my grandchildren. You can also play with it. I got my life back.”
Dennis added that there is hope where there was once depression.
Because that is the power of organ donation.
And people seem to understand its power, officials say.
In 2023, the Indiana Donor Network, founded in 1987 with a mission to save and enhance lives through organ, tissue and eye donation, marks the eighth consecutive year with 1,134 donated organs from across the Hoosier State. The has been updated.
But according to the website organdonor.govThe national transplant waiting list, organized through the Organ Sharing Network, currently has more than 100,000 people looking for organs such as kidneys, pancreas, hearts, lungs, livers and intestines.
In Indiana alone, that number is about 1,000.
According to national statistics, approximately 17 people die each year while waiting for organ donation.
That’s 17 parents, siblings, spouses, and friends.
For experts in this field, that’s 17 too many.
life on a list
Kelly Tremaine, president and CEO of the Indiana Donor Network, said the organization’s end goal is pretty clear.
“We want to eliminate transplant waiting lists,” she said, but acknowledged that is easier said than done.
Tremaine then detailed what life is like for many of the people on the list.
“The list depends on how sick you are and what organs you are waiting for,” she explained. “In some cases, people wait three to four years for a kidney transplant, but if you’re really sick, you may have to wait days or weeks for a heart or lung transplant.” , weight, and even where you are in the country.”
But the real problem, she pointed out, is that only a small percentage of people die in a way that allows them to donate their organs.
So it’s essentially a question of supply and demand.
“As people live longer and their medical histories and disease processes become more diverse, more people continue to be added to the transplant list,” Tremaine said. “But, donors, clearly while we are increasing the number of donors and the number of organs being transplanted, the number of people being added is outpacing the number of transplants.”
For example, Tremaine pointed out that in 2023, 45,000 organs were donated nationwide.
But with more than 100,000 people actively waiting to donate their organs, it will be difficult to move forward.
And that’s where you can play a role.
how to save a life
Dr. Islam Ghoneim is Program and Surgical Director for the Adult and Pediatric Kidney Transplant Program at Ascension St. Vincent Hospital and says that while the medical community has made great strides in raising awareness about organ donation in recent years, He said there is still no progress. The way to go.
The doctor also pointed out that both living and deceased people can donate organs, but each has slightly different criteria.
“A deceased donor can donate two kidneys,” he said. “You can donate a whole liver or part of a liver. They can donate a heart, two lungs, a pancreas, a small intestine. So how many people can donate from just one organ donor? You can imagine the benefits. They can also become tissue donors, so they can donate their corneas and other tissues recovered after organ retrieval.
“They become living donors and can donate a kidney or part of their liver,” Ghoneim added. “But when someone comes into the office and wants to be an organ donor, we need to make sure that person is healthy. If not, we need to make sure that the person remains healthy after the transplant. We need to be able to continue living uninterrupted lives.” Donate. ”
And Ghoneim emphasized that an exact match is not necessarily a requirement for donation.
This also applies to families.
“What we need is compatible blood types,” he said. “And when it comes to the antigens that make up a unique individual, siblings have a lot in common, so family is often the first place to look. Parents also have a lot in common. Therefore, the possibility is very high.”
But he pointed out that while the blood types have to match and the organs have to match, they don’t have to be an exact match.
In the case of kidney donation, which is the organ with the highest need for people on transplant lists, Ghoneim says that even if a living donor comes forward and is not a match for the intended recipient, the donor will still be accepted. explained. You can save the lives of others through your donation.
“We can always put them in a domestic swap,” he said. “What that means is that person’s kidney will be allocated or assigned to a compatible location, and we will then return the kidney to the intended recipient that will be a match for that person.”
And there is even more flexibility for deceased organ donors, Ghoneim said.
“When you look at someone whose organ function is no longer needed, there’s more room to say, ‘This person could have had diabetes, or could have had diabetes,'” he explained. Although I have high blood pressure, my organs are still healthy. We can still extract organs from those people. ”
Because at the end of the day, becoming an organ donor is more than just putting a mark on the back of your driver’s license or filling out a form.
It’s about saving lives and giving the gift of time to others.
The power of second chances
Dennis doesn’t know much about the man who donated his lungs so he could breathe again.
She knows his first name and knows he loved the beach.
And Dennis wants to honor her gift by doing the same activities he loved to do, because they are now lifelong “friends.” she stated.
Goneim and Tremaine said the mission to find more organ donors is stronger than ever because there are many stories like hers out there.
“We are seeing a significant increase in the number of people in Indiana who are saying they want to become donors,” Tremaine said. “It is truly amazing to see people give as much as they do, and truly shows the selflessness and generosity of donors and their families who want to give others a second chance at life.” I am.”
Ghoneim agreed.
“There are so many good things you can leave behind by becoming an organ donor,” he said. “Your gift of organs that you no longer need or will need in the future will have a huge impact on this world. So this is confirmation that you no longer need those organs. It’s a very lovely and very deep gift because you know that it can only be done in a given situation.
“This is the ultimate gift,” Ghoneim added. “It’s the gift of life.”
