Give All Your Heart To a Good Cause, Literally

How long is the wait for a second chance at life?

For more than 2,000 people in Maryland and 110,000 people nationwide waiting for a life-saving transplant, it can be weeks, months or years. It all depends on when the right match is found.

An average of 18 people die every day nationally waiting for a transplant, said Natalie Benavides, executive director of Donate Life Maryland, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing donor designations.

“We are trying to end the number of deaths on the national wait list,” she said. “That’s our first priority.”

Organ donation makes organ transplantation possible. By recovering organs, eyes and tissues from donors after they have died, doctors can transplant them into those in need, often saving lives.

The first successful organ transplant – a kidney – occurred in 1954. Since then, the world of transplant medicine has evolved. The heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas and small intestine can now be donated and transplanted, as well as tissues like eyes, corneas, heart valves, skin, bone, ligaments and tendons. Up to nine lives can be saved by one organ donor.

Yet even with advances in transplant medicine, the need for organs continues to exceed the supply.

In Maryland, almost half of residents are designated donors, Benavides said.

As of April 1, 45 percent of Howard County residents were registered as organ donors. In Carroll and Montgomery counties, 44 and 40 percent were registered, respectively. In Baltimore County, 37 percent of residents were registered, while in Prince George’s County, 28 percent were registered.

There are two ways to register as an organ donor in Maryland: online through the Donate Life Maryland Web site or in-person when applying for or renewing a driver’s license at the Maryland Department of Motor Vehicles. Residents who are at least 18 years old can register to donate all or specific organs and tissues when they die.

“It’s really a gift to tell your loved ones what you want at the end of your life,” Benavides said.

To honor National Donate Life Month this month, Patch talked with transplant recipients, as well as families of organ donors, about their experiences. These are the stories of:

Daisy Lobos, donor, Prince George’s County

Scott Jeznach, donor, Carroll County

Kathryn Turner, recipient, Montgomery County

Michael and Christa Gahagan, recipient and living donor, Baltimore County

Daisy Lobos, donor

Daisy Lobos was only 17 when she died. The charismatic redhead from Bowie suffered from a rare disorder in which her blood vessels lacked enough collagen. The disorder caused her blood vessels to become extremely fragile, and as a result, Daisy suffered from aneurysms.

Sadly, she never recovered from her second aneurysm. Daisy died in November 2000, leaving her mother, father and three siblings behind.

The decision to donate her organs was not an easy one, said Rosa Lobos, Daisy’s mother.

“It was a distressing moment for me,” she said, as she recalled the minutes after her daughter’s death.

But after talking with her husband, Lobos said the family decided it was best to donate.

Lobos thought at the time: “Somehow, she will save somebody else.”

And, save someone else she did. A man received Daisy’s kidney and a woman received her pancreas and other kidney.

With time, the pain associated with Daisy’s death has lessened, Lobos said. Talking with other donor families has helped. So has volunteering with the Washington Regional Transplant Community, she said. Throughout the year, Lobos works with the WRTC to spread awareness about registration and organ donation.

“Why be selfish if we can help somebody else have a better life by receiving an organ,” she said.

Still, Lobos thinks about her daughter every day.

“She cared for people,” Lobos said. “I always believed that she was a special person. That she had a mission here. She was my angel.”

Scott Jeznach, donor

Scott Jeznach spent his life helping others.

The Westminster resident served in the U.S. Army for almost 15 years and later as a volunteer firefighter, protecting his hometown.

“He was a chatterbox,” said his wife, Josie Jeznach. “He loved to talk to anybody who would hear him.”

Early in their relationship, Jeznach told his wife he wanted to be an organ donor. She felt the same way, and both of them registered.

Tragically, when an accident took his life last May, Josie knew what to do. She supported his decision to donate his organs, as did his mother.

Jeznach’s lungs, liver, tendons and corneas went to patients in need.

“He’s still living,” Josie said. “He’s living in all these people. In life, he helped people. He’d give the shirt off his back. In death, he’s still helping people.”

Kathryn Turner, recipient

In 1984, Kathryn Turner got sick. Really sick. Doctors found Turner had Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, an auto-immune disease affecting the liver’s bile ducts. With PSC, the body attacks its own bile ducts, causing constant inflammation and eventually scarring and liver damage.

For years, the Bethesda resident underwent procedures to clear her bile ducts. But by 2006, her body needed another option. Fatigued and jaundiced, Turner traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Florida for a transplant evaluation. In October of that year, she received her new liver.

Turner never met her donor’s family, as identities are kept confidential. But through her donation agency, she writes to them regularly.

“I always start by thanking them again and saying how dear their loved one is to me, as well as them,” Turner said.

Turner said she always took care of her body, even before she was sick. But now, with the gift of her new liver, she has an extra reason.

“I’m so grateful for it, I have to be as healthy as I can,” she said.  “It’s something that really gives you a second chance at life,” Turner said. “I have never met a recipient who wasn’t grateful. We don’t have bad days.”

Michael and Christa Gahagan, recipient and living donor

Love took on a new meaning for Christa and Michael Gahagan on July 10, 1998. So did life.

On that day at the University of Maryland Medical Center, Christa donated a kidney to Michael, her husband of almost 20 years.

The journey to donation was a long one for the Gahagans, who live in Towson. Three years earlier, doctors found Michael in the early stages of renal failure. Treatment options included dialysis or a kidney transplant.

“I was very much afraid of going through with a transplant,” Michael said. “I didn’t want to ask my family members, and I couldn’t imagine asking anyone to sacrifice a part of their body for me.”

Michael chose dialysis. For two years, eight hours each night, a machine transferred fluids through Michael’s body to cleanse his kidney.

The treatment wore on the Gahagans, both physically and mentally. Eventually, Christa “sweet talked, cajoled and then begged” Michael to be evaluated for a transplant.

“It was very stressful,” Christa said. “I knew the preferred treatment was the transplant.”

A team at the University of Maryland Medical Center evaluated Michael so he could be placed on the organ waiting list. Just down the hall, Christa had her own evaluation: a blood test for organ compatibility.

“I figured it was worth a long shot,” she said.

 Two weeks later, the Gahagans learned Christa’s kidneys were an excellent match.

Given Michael’s initial reservations about organ donation from a family member, he hesitated about moving forward.

“I didn’t want to take her kidney,” he said. “But I realized it was something I had to do.”

The transplant was a success, and Michael returned to a full life with his wife and two sons. But in 2005, the family learned Michael’s transplanted kidney was failing. He received a second transplant kidney, this time from his brother.

“So far, everything has been great,” Michael said. “I’m able to go places with no strings attached – literally no strings attached. It’s given me a life back that I would not have had, and it’s given our family a life back.”

 It has also given them a new perspective on life, Christa said, one that she is reminded of every day. At work, a sign posted near her desk reads, “Don’t take your organs to heaven. Heaven knows we need them here.”