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This Thing Called Life is a podcast about acts of giving, kindness, compassion, and humanity. Host Andi Johnson, will introduce you to powerful stories about organ, eye, and tissue donation from individuals, families and front-line health care teams, whose experiences will hopefully inspire you and remind you, that while life is hard and unpredictable, it’s also beautiful. We hope this podcast serves as a catalyst for you to register to become an organ, eye, and tissue donor.
Episodes
Friday Jan 28, 2022
Friday Jan 28, 2022
Community Heroes is a special extension of This Thing Called Life’s podcast. In this series we talk to community leaders, share important information about organ and tissue donation and honor those who have been instrumental in saving lives through the gift of donation.
Resources:
https://www.facebook.com/LifeCenterOH
Tuesday Jan 18, 2022
Episode 38: Overcoming The Myths About Organ Donation
Tuesday Jan 18, 2022
Tuesday Jan 18, 2022
On this episode of This Thing Called Life, host Andi is going to talk with Kelly Williams about her connection to donation. There is a lot of misinformation and falsehoods about donation. One of the goals of this podcast is to really dive in and help listeners better understand what donation is and how it truly impacts others. It can be best accomplished by hearing from the people who have lived it, who have walked, can speak, and share their experiences. Tune in for Kelly’s life saving story.
Episode Highlights:
- Kelly donated her left kidney 13 years ago to Caleb, and Caleb was 12 years old at the time. Caleb celebrated his 25th birthday a few days ago, and he is in such a good place. It is the power of organ donation.
- Andi asks Kelly to take the listeners 13 years back when she was working, she was young and kind of getting her career going, and she met Caleb’s mom at her place of employment.
- The process started in September, and then in December, they ended up getting the call that our transplant date was confirmed, and we were on the books for January 15th, and we did it, says Kelly.
- In the African American community, there are some barriers to donation, and one of them is the lack of transplantation awareness.
- Andi asks, how do you think we’re doing at breaking down the donation-related barriers, and what do you think we could be doing better? Unfortunately, people are not taking the time to get that transplant awareness, and it could ultimately be a death sentence for many people.
- Growing the living kidney donor base of people of color who can stand in front of somebody else and say, you can do it as I did it will probably be most impactful, says Kelly.
- Kelly doesn’t think there are things that she can’t do, and she genuinely doesn’t have any limitations.
- Ask as many questions as possible and determine if kidney donation is something that you can do and if you can’t do it, take that knowledge and share it with somebody else.
- The waitlist continues to increase, and that’s the part that Kelly thinks is so important to highlight. People of color make up the majority of that waitlist for kidney transplants.
- It has been amazing to see over the years the number of people who are stepping up to say, “I will be a generous kidney donor. I don’t know who I can donate to, but I’m going to walk through this process, and I will do it.”
3 Key Highlights:
- When you do something like kidney donation, it gives you such a surge of purpose and energy, and it feels like the best possible outcome that could have ever happened, says Kelly.
- Kelly was young in her 20s when she decided on kidney donation. She tells the listeners how her parents fely about this decision.
- Kidney donation is a big decision, and it is worth contemplation for sure. You want to make sure it is the right thing for you and your family to do.
Resources Mentioned:
Tuesday Jan 11, 2022
Tuesday Jan 11, 2022
Community Heroes is a special extension of This Thing Called Life’s podcast. In this series we talk to community leaders, share important information about organ and tissue donation and honor those who have been instrumental in saving lives through the gift of donation.
Resources:
https://www.facebook.com/LifeCenterOH
Life Center Phone #: 513-558-5555
Tuesday Jan 04, 2022
Tuesday Jan 04, 2022
On this episode of This Thing Called Life, Andi is going to talk to Katie Beurket. She is a program coordinator at Fernside. Fernside is an exceptional organization in Greater Cincinnati. The fernside staff is very honored to continue their legacy of supporting grieving children and families. Katie says they provide peer support groups for children ages 3 to 18 and their parents or legal guardians. Tune in to hear about their valuable work.
Episode Highlights:
- We must understand that many people are struggling right now. They could be grieving a variety of different things or could be mourning the loss of a loved one. So we will talk about those feelings of sadness and how we try to best get through during times like this, says Andy.
- Fernside is a children’s grief center,the second oldest children’s grief center in the country. They were founded 35 years ago by Rachel and Paul Burrell, says Katie.
- Andi asks Katie to share about the switch to virtual during covid and how that has been going.
- Andi asks Katie, “You are very passionate about the work you do; What led you to this?”
- Grief will change throughout your lifespan based on your developmental age. There are different signs of grieving children that correlate with the period that they are at.
- Unfortunately, kids at a young age are experiencing loss, but if we are not educating them and telling them what it means now, they will hear about it later on, and it can affect them badly. Educating kids is also part of grief.
- The 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders are one of Katie’s favorite age groups because they do start to understand what death means. They understand the permanence of death, and that is when they begin to really ask questions.
- Fernside has over 100 direct service volunteers. They have different lesson plans that are given to them.
- Programs like Fernside and what they offer allow individuals to keep memories alive of their person and create a safe space to talk about it which is so important.
- The National Alliance for Children Grief is an excellent resource for finding things even outside the region. They have a wealth of other information on how to help children who are breathing in different resources, says Katie.
3 Key Points:
- Katie says that they do orientation in their office, and they help give tours to suffering children and families. There is a program called the Pit Crew at Fernside. It is a philanthropy and training.
- A lot of kids don’t understand what happens when people die, they think they are going to come back or don’t understand the permanence of death.
- Fernside is helping families have healthy coping skills to figure out how to move forward because they don’t want anyone to be stuck in their grief forever.
Resources Mentioned: