Facebook, double-lung transplant recipient makes push for organ donors

Facebook launched an organ donor tool last May in Britain and the United States and now Canadians will also have access to this organ-donation status tool.

By GLORIA GALLOWAY
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail

It is through the Internet that millions of people around the world learned the story of Hélène Campbell, the spunky 20-year-old Ottawa woman who received a new set of lungs six months ago.

 And it is through the Internet that Ms. Campbell hopes to convince more Canadians to register as organ donors.

She joined federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and Jordan Banks, the managing director of Facebook Canada, at a news conference on Tuesday where they announced that Canadians will have access to the social media platform’s organ-donation status tool.

Facebook users from Canada who go online to register their willingness to donate their organs will be asked to share news on their Facebook page, the hope being that their friends will then feel compelled to follow suit. If people are not already registered with their provincial donor registry, they can find a link to the official donor registry on their Facebook timeline.

It is a tool that Facebook launched in the United States and Britain in May and has since extended to 12 other countries leading to 275,000 more people to sign up as organ donors.

“I have come to see that through social media the generosity of the human spirit shines through. ‘Sharing Your Organ Donor Status’ through Facebook will grow awareness in Canada, giving hope to those waiting on a life-saving transplant. Today, that light shines brighter,” said Ms. Campbell in a release issued at the news conference.

A recent study in the scientific journal Nature found that activity on Facebook can actively influence decisions offline.

If anyone in Canada knows the power of social networking sites to promote organ donations, it is Ms. Campbell.

At her prompting, pop star Justin Bieber tweeted his support for organ donation last January. She won the hearts of millions in February when she appeared, via Skype, on the Ellen DeGeneres show. And she has become a YouTube darling with hundreds of thousands of hits on the video-sharing website.

Ms. DeGeneres was so moved by her story she has promised to fly her to Los Angeles so the two can dance together on her show. And a video Ms. Campbell sent to Ms. DeGeneres of her dancing after her recuperation has inspired schools, hospitals and others promoting organ donations to do the “Hélène Campbell dance.”

Every time she made news – after the Bieber tweet, after the DeGeneres show, after Hélène Campbell Day was declared in Ottawa, and after her surgery – organ donor registrations spiked in Ontario.

“Social media is a key tool for creating a culture of donation in Ontario. The success of our existing social sharing tools, such as The Gift of 8 Movement at www.BeADonor.ca, demonstrates that people are more likely to make the decision to register when inspired by people they know,” said Ronnie Gavsie, the president of the Trillium Gift of Life Network in Ontario.

“We’re very excited that Facebook has chosen to highlight the importance of organ and tissue donation,” said Ms. Gavsie, “and encourage Canadian Facebook users to display their choice on their timeline.” Millions of people are waiting for a heart, kidney, liver or lung transplant that could potentially save their lives and many die because a suitable donor cannot be found in time. This video explains how the Facebook tool works.

“You Have the Power to Donate Life – to become an organ and tissue donor Sign-up today! Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

New Zealand, register at Organ Donation New Zealand

Canada - Ontario beadonor.ca other Canadian provinces

South Africa, http://www.odf.org.za/

United States, donatelife.net

United Kingdom, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You.

Facebook used to find kidney donor and raise funds for transplant

We are gradually starting to see people using social networking sites to seek living organ donors and to fund raise for their transplant costs. I think this is just the beginning of a trend as more patients try to find ways to get their life-saving transplant.

Facebook Plea Yields Old Friend, Kidney Donor

Reported by Neda Iranpour
CBS13 - Sacremento Area Local News

A Citrus Heights man in need of a new kidney turned to the popular social networking site Facebook to ask for help, and managed to connect with an old friend who happened to be a perfect match.

Eli Powell, a father of two boys, learned he has Berger's disease three years ago, which would eventually eat away his kidneys with toxins. For three hours, three times a week, Eli goes through dialysis to help clean his blood.

"It's been rough, it's been hard, but I'm making it okay," Eli said.

With a new kidney, Eli could live a more normal life, so he put a call out on Facebook, "saying I need help, I need a kidney transplant," he said.

His plea caught the attention and compassion of a long-lost friend who he hadn't heard from in a decade. Paul Jones responded to the advertisement and ended up being a match for the friend he met in the eighth grade at E.V. Cain Middle School in Auburn.

"Figured he's young, has a family, and I'd want someone to do that for me if I was in his position," Paul said. "If we can both be healthy and survive, live long happy lives, I don't see how I couldn't do it."

The transplant will happen this August. Paul will have a few noticeable scars and about two months of pain and recovery.

"It's awesome. It's nice to know people out there who are willing to help like that," Eli said. "It's gonna be a life changing experience for both of us, he literally is going to be part of me for the rest of my life."

Eli is also using Facebook to raise funds for the transplant.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 75 to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Organs donated thanks to Facebook

This story from Israel further emphasizes the power of Facebook as mentioned in my previsous post and the potential this social networking site has for increasing organ donation. The more that I see of Facebbok's capabilities I can understand how it has already slightly overtaken Google as the web's most popular site. Joining is easy: facebook.com

Hilla Abramson. Saved four lives Photo courtesy of family

While Hilla Abramson, 32, lay in a hospital bed suffering from brain death, her parents discovered she was a fan of ADI* group on her Facebook account and decided to donate her organs. Four patients now begin their new life thanks to Hill
*Israel's National Transplant and Organ Donation Center (Adi)

by Dr. Itay Gal Israel Activism

Four organ transplants were carried out at the Rabin and Schneider medical centers in Petah Tikva last weekend thanks to a donation made by the family of a 32-year-old deceased woman.

The family agreed to donate the organs after the woman's parents discovered that she was a fan of the ADI organization, which advocates organ donations, on her Facebook account.

Hilla Abramson, a social worker from the central city of Kiryat Ono, suffered from juvenile diabetes since the age of six. Due to the circumstances, she was certain that her organs would not be suitable for donation and therefore did not sign an ADI card, but was a fan of the ADI page on Facebook.

About two weeks ago, Hilla experienced a sharp drop in her blood sugar level. As a result, she lost consciousness and suffered cardiac arrest. She was rushed to the intensive care unit at the Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, where she was hospitalized for a week. It was clear to the doctors that she was suffering from irreversible brain death.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Facebook plea for kidney donor gets a response in 20 minutes

Facebook has become the most popular social networking site on the Internet because it enables millions of people to connect with each other, to promote their causes or to reunite with long lost friends and relatives. This story about Phyllis Frederick's successful kidney transplant after finding an altruistic donor on Facebook is a wonderful example of the power of Facebook and it's role in society.

By Eric Schwartzberg Dayton Daily News

WARREN COUNTY, Ohio — Five years ago, Phyllis Frederick’s chances of finding a match for a kidney transplant would have been reduced.

That’s because five years ago, Facebook, the popular online social network, did not exist. Thanks to a posting on her daughter’s Facebook page, Frederick quickly found a donor and recently received a kidney transplant.

Frederick has been under medical care for her kidneys since 1998. In June 2007, her doctor told her treatments were no longer working and that dialysis would be necessary. Later, she was told she would have to be put on waiting lists for a new kidney and should work to get people to donate for her.

After two years and several unsuccessful attempts at lining up a donor via friends and family, Frederick, 71, said a prayer before going to the doctor’s office late last year for a yearly assessment.

“I said ‘OK, God, I just have to know if I’m getting too old,’ ” she said. “ ‘If I’m getting too old, I’m OK with dialysis. It’s my lifeline.’ ”

Frederick asked her doctor if age would be an issue and her doctor told her he had just performed a kidney transplant on an 82-year-old patient.

“He said ‘We’ll talk about your age five years from now,’ ” Frederick said. “I left there thinking, ‘Oh good! Now I have five years to find a donor.’ ”

Wondering how she would get the message out, Frederick’s daughter Carrie posted a request on her Facebook page: “My mom’s Type O. She needs a kidney. Can anybody help?”

Twenty minutes later, a Warren County resident said she could.

Kirsten Montgomery had recently reconnected with Frederick’s daughter, her best friend from their high school days, after being out of contact for many years.

The 34-year-old Deerfield Twp. mother of two, whose brother’s life had been saved because of bone marrow transplants, said the decision was a simple one.

“I saw that and thought ‘Wow. She’s Type O negative, I’m Type O negative.’ We’re technically a match in those terms and called my husband Mike and said something about it. His response was, ‘If we can help somebody, we should,’ and I said ‘That’s all the permission I need.’ ”

Driving home from the doctor’s office that day, Frederick pulled her car over to the side of the road before taking the call that would change her life.

“(My daughter) said, Kirsten answered the plea that I posted on Facebook and you’ve got a kidney,” Frederick said.

When a stunned Frederick questioned why she would do such a kindness for her, her daughter said Montgomery remembered Frederick’s kindness during visits to her home almost two decades ago.

“My daughter and Kirsten’s birthday is a day apart... and I made them each a birthday cake and apparently Kirsten remembered that,” Frederick said.
Recalling Montgomery’s kindness, Frederick’s voice filled with emotion and her eyes welled up with tears.

“I just was saying, ‘Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord’ and crying practically all the way home,” she said. “I just couldn’t believe prayers could be answered like that in such a short period of time.”

Montgomery said she probably would have donated the kidney even without her family members’ medical difficulties, but being able to empathize helped.

“I think having seen the struggles my brother went through it made it was much easier for me to want to help eliminate those for someone else,” she said.

During the Feb. 9 surgery, doctors easily removed Montgomery’s kidney and placed it inside Frederick’s body, where it went to work immediately. “They were awfully impressed they were working so well,” Frederick said.

Following the surgery, Frederick has found her energy rebounding and her blood pressure lower than it has been in decades.

Frederick, who volunteers twice a week as a Eucharistic minister at The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, expresses gratitude almost daily to Montgomery via phone calls and e-mails.
Montgomery does not want Frederick to feel indebted.

“I just want her to be able to go out and do the good things she does for the community, be with her grandkids and continue our relationship as well, because she’s such a neat person,” Montgomery said. “I enjoy spending time with her because her spirit and her energy are just contagious.”

Both women are telling their story to encourage others who may consider donating an organ.
Frederick offers those who are waiting for a transplant of any kind a simple message: “Have faith, don’t give up hope and try to be an optimist.”

Montgomery urges people not to hold back when considering performing an act of kindness of any size.

“Those little things that may affect us for an hour or a couple of days or, in the case of donating a kidney, a couple of weeks, can have a lifelong effect on other people,” she said. “I don’t think we realize how much of an impact we can have on other people if we all stop to think about it.

“I would love for people to see what an influence they can have just in the small, everyday actions.”

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.