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Giving Back To Organ Donors

Len Ly |
March 8, 2009 | 4:34 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

Leiauna Anderson and her 14-week-old son Rex. Photo by Neon Tommy/Len Ly
Leiauna Anderson and her 14-week-old son Rex. Photo by Neon Tommy/Len Ly

After a stillbirth, a ruptured liver and two liver transplants, Leiauna Anderson finally fulfilled her dream of becoming a parent.

Anderson shared her transplant success story and showed off her 3 ½-month-old son at the 7th Annual OneLegacy "Field of Gold" organ and tissue remembrance series ceremony. The event featured 70 donors and 350 of their family members who were honored Saturday at the Grand Long Beach Event Center.
"I really believe I have three guardian angels: The first one is my son who died...The second is the person whose liver I received first...and the third guardian angel is that person whose liver I have now," Anderson said. "That person's decision keeps me alive and made my son Rex's life possible."
To help commemorate donors, there were yellow rose petals drifting in clear water bowls that sat on ballroom tables. 
A donor's family member and organ recipient gave speeches, and families of the donors received a yellow rose and pendant. 
Jennifer Choe spoke to the audience about her 5-year-old daughter Erin, whose corneas saved two people from becoming blind.
"We gained God's perspective that Erin has fulfilled what she was commissioned to do here," Choe said. "It's about giving a second chance."
Music performances and video tribute presentations were also featured. Performer Candi Sosa sang "Gracias á la Vida," or "Thank You for Life," at the event to Latino donors, who made up half of OneLegacy's donor list last year.
The event was held by OneLegacy, the largest nonprofit donor network in the nation. Last year OneLegacy had 400 organ donors and approximately 2,000 tissue donors. But organ contributions are still in short supply, said Tom Mone, CEO and executive vice president for OneLegacy.
"About 12,000 people a year die in such a way that they could be organ donors in the whole U.S., but if everybody donated, we wouldn't have a waiting list in five years," Mone said.
The number of registered organ donors has increased in recent years, but in California the demand is much greater than the supply. California represents approximately 20 percent of the nation's transplant waiting list, but only 10 percent of people who die in California are eligible organ donors.
Terry Harrington, who plays the saxophone for the character Lisa Simpson in "The Simpsons," waited nine days for his transplant.
Harrington was healthy enough to perform twice at the weekend ceremony. However, in 2001 Harrington was under hospital care until he received a new heart from a 24-year-old man.
"We're now in our 20th year of The Simpsons and we got renewed for two more years," Harrington said. "I don't feel 70. I feel like I'm 31."
Jacques Williams Pascal experienced both sides of the transplant process.
Pascal is an emergency room doctor at Kaiser Sunset who has a "more personal connection" now because her oldest nephew died in a car accident and became a donor last year.
"I know that it was the right decision then, but it feels really good today to know that we did that and that someone right now is still benefitting from our donations," Pascal said.
Michelle Post, the keynote speaker and clinical aftercare coordinator for OneLegacy, said only 5-percent of donor and recipient families meet because mourning is a lifelong process and the majority of people from both ends want privacy.
"Immediately after getting the transplant, it was really difficult for me because I knew that someone died and gave me the second chance of life," said Glenn Matsuki, who received a new heart 14 years ago and became a hospital services coordinator for OneLegacy. "So recipients do go in a long mourning period as well for our donor and donor families."
Reach reporter Len Ly here.


 

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