I was asked to help with a newspaper story. . .

I was contacted earlier this week by Bob from the Morning News in my hometown of Blackfoot. He had a guest editorial from the Idaho Transplant Donor Registry and he decided to do a story on Organ Donor and Transplantation. Here is the story. He did a really good job!


Transplant recipient has donor card too

Friday, 01 January 2010

By BOB HUDSON bobhudson@cableone.netThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it BLACKFOOT — Two years ago Jamie P. Warren of Blackfoot was near death. The cystic fibrosis she had battled her entire life had become critical. Because of a bacteria which was resistant to most antibiotics, she wasn’t a good candidate for a lung transplant. In April of 2007 her situation was becoming dire. “We pushed every transplant center in the country,” Warren recalled. “Most told us ‘no’ but we found one in Pennsylvania that was willing to test. We had one chance of hope out of the entire country.” On Dec. 10, 2007, Warren received a double lung transplant. Now she has a new life, one free of the disease which had crippled her previously. “It definitely, 100 percent, has given me another chance at life,” Warren said. “I definitely owe my life to my donor.” Both Warren, daughter of Doug and Cristie Peery of Blackfoot, and her husband Bryan, son of Wayne and Terri Warren of Pingree, carry donor cards themselves. “One way I can honor my donor is to tell my story to keep her spirit alive,” she said. Echoing the thoughts from a guest editorial, found on page 4A of today’s Morning News, from Idaho Donor Registry public education director, Alex McDonald, Warren said, “Be someone’s hero. Be an organ donor. There’s someone out there who needs a hero and possibly it’s you.” Speaking from Arizona, where her husband is furthering his education, Warren said, “there’s lots of things they can improve other people’s lives with.” Warren noted that one donor can save up to eight lives. She said that, although she doesn’t know anything about her donor, she is reasonably sure that that person saved at least two. She recalled meeting a heart transplant recipient shortly after she received her new lungs. “There’s no better way to make a difference than to give someone something personal they can relate to,” she said of the gift of a new life that her donor gave her. “Through the organ donor and her family’s sacrifice, Jamie got a second chance at life,” Bryan Warren said. “We were given a happier, healthier life. Jamie is healthier than before. “Throughout our marriage we were so overwhelmed with her sickness and disease that our lives revolved around hospitals, doctors and medications. Now we have been given a life full of opportunity, where we can pursue our dreams, hopes and even further my education. We sacrificed almost everything we owned to pursue a transplant and I feel like Jamie’s life was worth it,” Bryan said. “If I were to lose my life, I would know that someone else would have the benefit and blessing that I received,” Bryan added. “Organ donation is a very personal choice,” Jamie said. “But, through tragedy something good can come about.” For more information about organ donation, go to www.idslife.org.

Save a life * Be Someone's Hero * Be an Organ Donor