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This Thing Called Life is a podcast dedicated to acts of giving, kindness, compassion, and humanity. Host Andi Johnson introduces you to powerful organ, tissue, and eye donation stories from individuals, families, and front-line healthcare teams. These stories are meant to inspire and remind you that while life can be challenging and unpredictable, it’s also incredibly beautiful. We hope this podcast inspires you to connect with our life-saving and life-healing mission.
Episodes
Tuesday May 24, 2022
Tuesday May 24, 2022
On this episode of This Thing Called Life, host Andi is speaking with Chastity Williams. She will tell her life story of how she ignored her high blood pressure problem and ended up on dialysis and the difficulties that led to a kidney transplant. Tune in now to hear her story.
Episode Highlights:
- Andi shines light on the truth about donations. There is no age limit or medical conditions that prevent you from registering to be a donor or having the potential to be a donor. Even if you have been cancer-free for five years and have not received treatment during those five years, you could be a donor. Even if you have hepatitis, you could still be a donor. People who are into their 80s and 90s have been donors and have given the healing gifts of tissue and cornea.
- Even if you have active cancer, you can be a cornea donor. Andi encourages the listeners to renew and not remove yourself from the registry. If you say yes to donation, this is your opportunity to bless others when you have passed away; You can bless them as a donor.
- Chastity shares about her high blood pressure and how the doctor could not let her leave because it was so high; He ended up calling an ambulance and took her to the hospital.
- Chastity was young, 20 or 21 years old. She was always told that blood pressure affected older people, people who didn't eat right and people who were overweight and she didn’t fit any of those descriptions.
- Chastity has the habit of googling things and sometimes Google is very helpful. It told her about the White Coat syndrome.
- Andi explains what a White Coat syndrome is. It might be the feeling of anxiety that someone gets while visiting the doctor.
- Chastity's mother and father passed away when she was three years old. Her grandmother raised her and at the time when she got Chastity, she was pretty old.
- On top of high blood pressure, she developed an allergy that they couldn't figure out where it came from. They said it could be stress induced hives.
- Chastity wasn't consistent enough taking her medicines. One time she went to the emergency room, and they ran some tests, and they said, your kidneys look like they are starting to suffer.
- Every time Chastity went to a doctor’s appointment, she ended up being hospitalized.
- Chastity's blood pressure reached 180/139. So, the doctors pumped her with all the medicine. It was then that she realized it was her new home till January as her baby was due then.
- Her baby was born on November 25th and he weighed 2 pounds and 14 ounces. He is Chastity's miracle son. Today he's 16 years old. He's doing fine. He had nothing wrong with him.
- Chastity started going to the doctor regularly and they just couldn't figure out why she was walking around every day with high blood pressure. She used to be on at least anywhere between 8 and 10 blood pressure pills twice a day. Every time she would go to the hospital, they would say that they had never seen somebody on so many pills who still had hypertensive episodes from time to time, and she ended up on dialysis.
- The dialysis made her look at life so much differently. That was when she just sat down and realized that she had been running at full speed for so long, and now she had slowed down and evaluated life.
- Andi and Chasity discuss when it came time that she needed a kidney, how she asked people in her circles about donation, and who became her ultimate donor.
- For Chastity the first-week post-transplant was absolutely great. But after some time, her health deteriorated. She shares about the struggles and treatments.
- Chastity gives her insights into the patients who are kind of following the same pathway of ignoring some signs and some doctor's orders.
3 Key Points:
- Chastity shares how even though her blood pressure was high why she waited a year to go to the hospital.
- When Chastity used to work at a hospital, she used to tell her patients not to leave the room if they still had questions and to make sure the doctor answered those questions.
- Chastity was one of the people who thought if you get a transplant, you get better. But that didn't happen for her. She shares the journey and importance of taking care of your health and the role that organ donation has.
Resources Mentioned:
- LifeCenter | Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube| Twitter
- Andi Johnson website |LinkedIn
- Organ Donation Website
- https://cerebral.com/
- http://nomi.org/
Tuesday May 17, 2022
Tuesday May 17, 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. In this episode we talk to Lincoln Ware from Radio One about organ donation and encourage older Americans to renew, don’t remove your name from being a donor because people of all ages can donate organs and tissues to those in need.
Resources
https://www.facebook.com/LifeCenterOH
Life Center Phone # 513-558-5555
Tuesday May 10, 2022
Tuesday May 10, 2022
On this episode of This Thing Called Life, Andi Johnson speaks with Aimee Cordrey. She will be sharing the gift of life that her son, Nicholas has given to many recipients and how influenced others to do the same. She will also be reflecting some light upon the life of her son and sharing her story of grief and pathway to healing. Tune in now for this special story.
Episode Highlights:
- Aimee Cordrey is married to Darren Cordray. They have been married for over 20 years and been together for a little bit longer than that. They met in college, and they have two sons Richard, a 19 year old, and Nick, who would be 17, but he is forever 15. Both of them are athletes, very different yet very similar in their interests and just how they approach life.
- In the middle of the pandemic Aimee and her family had been quarantined like everyone else for quite some time. School had just ended. Nick had just finished freshman year of high school and it was Memorial Day. Nick and Aimee went shopping that day to get some hamburgers and some vegetables and different things to grill out.
- Nick hadn't seen his friends because of quarantine. Aimee allowed him to go meet some of his friends at a local ice cream shop that was within walking distance of their house because one of his best friends was leaving for vacation the next day and she was going to be gone for two weeks.
- Nick decided to take a shower at night. All of a sudden Aimee heard the water go on and then they heard some really heavy, intense breathing, they were shocked. They thought it was our other son Richard, playing video games. She went to the basement, but it was not Richard, it was Nick.
- Nick loved life and he approached everything with this attitude of – "I can do it." His family really believed he was going to be okay and pull through.
- Aimee explains how and when they went about the conversation of Nick being an orgn donor. The hospital staff acknowledged all the protocols that they have in place, and they contacted Life Center.
- Nick had not yet been able to get his temps. He would have been eligible for them. The month that everything happened, he had actually registered as an organ donor.
- The letter that Aimee received said that Nick saved five people with seven organs, and probably impacted 40 to 50 others. The only thing Nick was unable to donate was his intestines, which they initially believed he was going to be able to do until they started doing the surgery.
- Aimee shares her thoughts on what it all meant to her, Darren and Richard to know that Nick helped so many people by donating his organs.
- “Learning that sometimes bad things happen to good people and learning to be ok with that and it is not even being ok with it, it's just accepting it- that is one piece of it. The donation piece brings that pride.” -Aimee
- Aimee thinks that being able to talk about organ donation enables her to talk about Nick.
- Andi feels like Aimee is doing so much just to help people understand the magnitude of the donation and its impact.
- Andi asks Aimee about the project that she is working on at his school in his honor.
- One of Nick's friends, Grayson, started a change.org petition. He wanted to have the school board name the soccer field after Nick.
- There isn't a lesson here when it comes to losing a son. The only lesson that Aimee has learned is that bad things happen to good people, and she has learned that when you encounter a loss like this you integrate it into your life, you don't overcome it.
- Grief is something that has stages and some stages may be re-visited at times. It is ongoing.
- Nick loved everything. All of the time he was researching, reading to understand deeply, caring deeply, everything was with passion, everything was with full intent. He didn't do anything without truly caring about it. If he was gonna do it, he was doing it 100% all in and that's what Nick was, and he is.
3 Key Points:
- Nick had a brain aneurysm that his family didn't know about. Nick did not complain of a headache that day. He didn't have any signs of anything that day. He had an amazing day, and it was that quick. They called 911. They were very quick, they took him to the hospital, his aneurysm ruptured three times. At the hospital, they did surgery on him and for 9 days his family thought Nick was going to make it.
- Aimee tells the listeners how Nick was able to help other people through the gift of life that he was able to give.
- Each one of us is different. Unique as people, Aimee thinks everyone's grief is very unique. She needed to be around other people. Aimee thinks that the donor family council is amazing. They are a source of strength. They are unshakable.
Resources Mentioned:
- LifeCenter | Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube| Twitter
- Andi Johnson website |LinkedIn
- Organ Donation Website
Tuesday May 03, 2022
Tuesday May 03, 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 Apr 26, 2022
Tuesday Apr 26, 2022
On this episode of This Thing Called Life, Andi will speak with Mr. Tony Burdette, who will discuss his involvement with organ donation. Tony's life was saved in August 2019 via a liver transplant. His father passed down a genetic disease called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency to him. He was diagnosed in the early 1990s, with symptoms including exhaustion and low platelet counts. Tune in for his great story.
Episode Highlights:
- Tony had never given much thought to organ donation, but sometimes it takes a crisis to bring it to the forefront of your mind.
- Tony's father underwent a liver transplant in 1997, but it was a painful experience since, after 14 hours, the surgeons came out and told them that he probably wouldn't survive. But, happily, doctors were able to get it to work sufficiently, and he received a second transplant two days later.
- The hereditary condition does not impact everyone. They can live perfectly well without it. However, something triggered Tony's liver in early 2019, and his liver began to fail rapidly.
- Tony had all the excess fluid in his body, common for people with liver failure. So, he had to have the procedure called a thoracentesis, and over seven months, he had to have that procedure done 52 times.
- Tony couldn’t keep having these procedures every other day. So at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center for evaluation at the Transplant clinic, he was put on the list rather quickly around the beginning of May and received his liver on August 3rd, 2019.
- It was a quick illness for Tony and a painful one, but thankfully his transplant and the surgery were very successful. He was discharged from the hospital just five days later without any complications.
- Tony has a brother. He obviously has the deficiency, but he hasn’t had any symptoms so far. He is under the care of a GI, and they are keeping close tabs on him.
- Both of Tony’s children have a deficiency as well, and they are under the care of the liver transplant team at children just out of precaution. The doctors check them every year and have liver scans done to keep a check on them and make sure everything is ok.
- About three weeks after Tony’s transplant, he received two letters in the mail from elementary-age girls who wrote him a letter and said that they just wanted to let him know that he had received their mother’s liver.
- Tony has studied music at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory, one of the greatest in the world, and it is such an honor to be accepted there.
- Tony is the artistic director of an organization called Aviva Voices Choral Organization. It’s an organization that he founded, and it provides high-quality community choirs for children, youth, and adults.
- The program’s cornerstone is the brand new work for a course and orchestra called the breath of life, and it was written actually before the pandemic.
- Often, being open with what you are going through can impact other people. When Tony was going through all this, we posted periodically about this on social media as encouragement for people.
- Tony encourages people to not be afraid no matter what you are going through in life. Be open, share, and find people that you can talk to and know that your story can impact people.
3 Key Points:
- Alpha-1 antitrypsin is an enzyme and it is created in the liver. The deficiency is that the enzyme gets trapped in the liver and creates a deficiency in the lungs. But when that enzyme gets trapped in the liver, it can cause liver damage.
- Tony has spent his whole career serving as a professional musician, singing professionally with opera and orchestras around the country, and doing a lot of conducting with choirs and teaching singing.
- Tony’s concert’s date is Saturday, April 30th, the last day of the month and the last day of donating life month. The concert is taking place at Christ Church Cathedral, which is a huge, beautiful venue.
Resources Mentioned:
- LifeCenter | Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube| Twitter
- Andi Johnson website |LinkedIn
- Organ Donation Website
- https://www.vivavoices.net/about/
- https://www.facebook.com/tony.burdette.5
Tuesday Apr 19, 2022
Tuesday Apr 19, 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 Apr 12, 2022
Tuesday Apr 12, 2022
On this episode of This Thing Called Life Podcast, host Andi Johnson is going to talk to Shelly Sherman and Stephanie Jackson. They are discussing kidney health and an exciting new project that is being launched to shed light on kidney disease as well as prevention. No doctor or medical expert will kill you for your organs; In fact, no medical professional is aware of your donor status until your death is declared. Tune in for more information!
Episode Highlights:
- Host Andi Johnson has a few big asks. Will you join us and be a part of this interconnected life sustaining community by registering to be an organ, eye, and tissue donor? Will you make the commitment to become more educated about living donation and championing the donation cause?
- Shelly is associated with the Cincinnati, Ohito chapter of The Links, Incorporated and she served as the Health and Human Services Facet Committee chair.
- The Ohio central chapter was granted an award by Baxter International for increasing the awareness of kidney health in the communities in which Shelly lives and primarily in the African American community.
- What is GFR? Shelly has been working hard in the community to make sure people know where they are regarding their GFR, which lets them know how well their kidneys are functioning and what they can do to maintain kidney health.
- The Links organization was founded in 1946 on the premise of friendship, and Shelly wants to uplift and elevate people by providing health information.
- Stephanie and Shelly first met through collaboration with The Center For Closing the Health Gap.
- Shelly had goals in mind based on the grant they received regarding the number of people that they needed to touch and the number of community partnerships that they needed to do.
- Shelly and Stephaine share the experiences they have had with training sessions and connecting in the community. They hope people will continue to listen to the podcast and continue doing some things and spreading the word in their communities.
- When people are ill, you can see it on their skin and eyes. You can notice the effects of kidney and liver illness on the skin and other body systems.
- Garlic is great for decreasing inflammation; It has Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, and Manganese, a great alternative for your seasoning. If you want to decrease your psyllium, you can add more garlic, which is great for your heart and your kidney.
- The one thing is to avoid canned and packaged chicken breast because those can contain sodium and other preservatives.
- Raising awareness and making small changes goes such a long way in promoting healthier lifestyles. There is a great ripple effect too when you share information like this with those in your family and circles.
3 Key Points:
- Blueberries are an important food for kidney patients. They serve as antioxidants and are very good for healing. In addition, they help your body to increase urination.
- People talk about dialysis and transplant, and these are things that you want to avoid. By opting for a healthier lifestyle and changes in the food you eat, you can do that.
- There are so many ways you can just move your body, and Stephanie always tells people 15 to 20 minutes is sufficient. Make sure that your body is doing something that it doesn’t do every day.
Resources Mentioned:
- LifeCenter | Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube| Twitter
- Andi Johnson website |LinkedIn
- Organ Donation Website
- https://www.cincinnatilinks.org/black-kare-initiative
- https://www.facebook.com/CincinnatiLinks
- https://www.instagram.com/cincinnatilinks/
- https://www.yoursweetestlife.com/
- https://www.facebook.com/yoursweetestlifewithstephaniej
- https://www.instagram.com/yoursweetestlifewithstephaniej/
Tuesday Apr 05, 2022
Tuesday Apr 05, 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:
513-558-5555
Tuesday Mar 29, 2022
Tuesday Mar 29, 2022
On this episode of This Thing Called Life Podcast, host Andi is going to talk to Mr. Idris Gray, who will share his experience about kidney donation. Mr. Idris is extremely resilient, and he had some health challenges throughout his life, but he always maintained, “I can do it, don’t quit, push forward attitude.” Tune in now for his story.
Episode Highlights:
- Idris used to play football but didn’t maintain his lifestyle. Due to poor eating habits, family history, and sedentary lifestyle at the age of 16 he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
- At the age of 27, something wasn’t right about Idris’s body. One day at home, coming back from the office, he collapsed on the couch. The doctor at the hospital told him that he needed to control his diabetes and get more rest because he had acute kidney failure.
- The doctor told Idris that if he didn’t receive a kidney in two years, he would start dialysis, and he was right. Idris experienced other health conditions like diabetic retinopathy, which rendered him blind for three months. He was blessed to have surgery on his left eye, but his right eye is still gone.
- Idris also has a diabetic condition called diabetic circles, which is a deterioration of the midfoot joining the right foot.
- In July 2013, Idris received a phone call from the kidney and pancreas transplant department at UC, and they asked if he was ready for kidney transplant.
- This donation and transplantation journey isn’t like a linear path. Idris explains.
- Many times, the more we ignore the symptoms, the diseases grow into a bigger monster than they could have been before.
- Idris’s keypoint to share is prevention over intervention because you are going to have to deal with it, but you have a chance to stop it from forming complications.
- It took about a month and a half for Idris to recover from immune suppression and anti-rejection medications because those medications are extremely strong.
- We live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and people should not have to choose what they can pay for when it comes to medications that will keep them healthy.
- Creatinine is crucial in your body, created by the kidneys, and the higher the creatinine levels, the more prone that your kidney is to go through failure. Creatinine level 1,1.2, or 1.3 is a good range for kidney patients, but Idris’ level was about 3.4.
- In November 2019, Idris again started experiencing the major symptoms like itching of the skin, fatigue, swelling, and he started outpatient dialysis in March 2020, in the middle of the pandemic.
- There are certain blood tests you have to do, and you have to go through orientation, and there is a whole different process that you have to do just to become a candidate for another transplant.
- As humans, we tend to try to put our best foot forward for people to see, and when we are candid about certain things, it gives other people strength to be candid as well.
- Idris had parathyroid surgery, and many people don’t understand what parathyroids do, but it controls certain hormones in your body, including your calcium.
- Idris follows the law of divine oneness too. Everything is connected to everything elsewhere, and the same feeling and belief have a corresponding effect on others and the universe around us.
- Your health is wealth. If you are not feeling well or ever exhibiting any of the symptoms, please go and get tested.
3 Key Points:
- People tend to ignore symptoms that they are experiencing. In Idris’s situation, he ignored it out of fear and thinking that he didn’t have time for his health.
- Idris explains the process that one has to go through for a second kidney transplant.
- Your health is wealth. Idris often looks at other people’s situations and says, you know what, mine is not that bad. He knows he has to move on, and be an advocate for other people.
Resources Mentioned:
Tuesday Mar 22, 2022
Tuesday Mar 22, 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:
513-558-5555