Sioux City firefighters are flying an organ donor flag. (KSCJ photo)
April is a month dedicated to raising awareness of organ and tissue donations.
Sioux City firefighters held a ceremony and raised an organ donation flag Friday. Iowa Donor Network services coordinator, John Jorgensen, spoke at the event. “In 2022 many lives are transformed through organ and tissue donation in Iowa, 115 organ donors generously gave 341 organs for transplant. Thousands more lives were healed by the gift of 979 tissue donors,” he says.
Melissa Foister spoke about her husband Michael, who died in September of 2020 at the age of 40.
“Michael was able to donate both of his kidneys, his lungs and his liver,” she says. “Also, 184 grafts had been created from his gift of bone and connective tissue along across 13 states.”
Foister says she’s heard from some of the people who benefited from the donations. “I have received letters back from two recipients, which did make me cry tears of joy knowing that Mike is still out helping others,” Melissa says. “The gentleman who received his right kidney has four kids and 10 grandkids and is grateful for the history of his new life. And just the other day I received a letter that I couldn’t wait to open, and it was from a gentleman who received Mike’s lungs. He has three kids and is still in rehab but is thankful for the life that had been given.”
The Sioux City Fire Department received an award for being tops in the state for out of hospital donor referrals. There are more than 600 Iowans waiting for a transplant or tissue donation. You can register to be an organ donor at IowaDonorNetwork.org.
(By Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City)