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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 Nov 09, 2021
Tuesday Nov 09, 2021
November is the month of National Donor Sabbath, where people of all faiths highlight organ donation within their places of worship. During this episode of This Thing Called Life podcast, host Andi Johnson talks with Renee Paige and Sarah Green who have a beautiful connection that formed a few years ago, tune in for this inspiring story!
Episode Highlights:
- Renee and Sarah recall the details of meeting each other for the first time when they received kidney transplants from the same donor on the same day.
- They both share their belief in God and how they knew they had a connection.
- Did you know that lupus can cause renal failure? Renee shares her journey with it.
- Sarah shares what brought her to the place of needing a kidney transplant and how she wrestled with the news.
- Diabetes and hypertension are precursors to kidney disease.
- Andi emphasizes that Kidney disease is a silent killer and many want to be in denial.
- Renee recalls her thoughts about transplant donation prior to her journey with it.
- Some have a fear of death and therefore just don’t want to address the topic of organ donation.
- Sarah shares her time of working in the medical field starting as a candy striper and how she learned the purpose of organ donation.
- Renee and Sarah share about how they got to go through the whole process of receiving an organ together. They are each other’s kidney champions of support.
- If you received an organ, what would you say to your donor’s family? Renee and Sarah share their responses.
- After receiving a kidney transplant, new freedom is achieved. Renee and Sarah explain the difference between before and after.
- When you are vulnerable and share your journey, more people can relate, be encouraged, and be motivated to address their own health issues too.
- There are opportunities to advocate for the organ donation process, support others who are on that journey, and offer hope.
- How does kidney donation impact people of color?
- For those that are waiting for an organ, keep the faith. It can happen for you. Don’t feel as though you have a death sentence. When you open your eyes each day, be thankful and keep moving forward.
- By signing your name as an organ donor, you can save lives. Educate yourself on the importance of organ donation.
- There are more than 90,000 men, women, and children in need of life-saving kidney transplants in our country today.
3 Key Points:
- There are many misconceptions about organ donation that cause resistance to being organ donors. Renee and Sarah share how their viewpoints on the matter changed.
- Doctors and medical teams' only duty is to save lives. The donation piece is secondary and it’s not until death has been declared that organ donation becomes a part of the end of life conversation.
- Renee and Sarah share the limitations of living life on dialysis three days a week and the freedom they have after being given a second chance at life through kidney donation.
Resources Mentioned:
- LifeCenter | website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube| Twitter
- Andi Johnson website |LinkedIn
- Organ Donation Website
- https://www.donatelife.net/nmdam/
- Life Center’s Community Breakfast Virtual Edition will be November 17th 9-10am EST: This is a free event, open to the public, register at lifepassiton.org.
Tuesday Nov 02, 2021
Tuesday Nov 02, 2021
Life Center’s Community Breakfast, Will Be Virtual This Year On November 17, 2021 at 9am. Join us To Hear Some Amazing Uplifting Stories
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:
Register For Free at https://lifepassiton.org/communitybreakfast/
https://www.facebook.com/LifeCenterOH
Life Center Phone # 513-558-5555
Tuesday Oct 26, 2021
Tuesday Oct 26, 2021
During this episode of This Thing Called Life, host Andi Johnson speaks with John Mock, a salesman for a large wheelchair manufacturer. His life took a turn two years ago when his liver failed after 56 years of perfect health. It took a ridiculous set of miracles for John to get his new liver, but he did, and his story is absolutely inspiring!
Episode Highlights:
- John details his background as a traveling sales manager for a large wheelchair manufacturer.
- John discusses the moment, two years ago, when he realized that something was wrong with his liver.
- The doctors could not figure out what was going on with John’s liver because he passed all tests that they could throw at him.
- The ammonia build-up from liver failure was taking away John’s ability to focus.
- Excessive sleeping led John to the conclusion that something was definitely going wrong.
- John’s liver specialist sent him to the University of Cincinnati’s transplant program.
- MELD (Model for Endstage Liver Disease) goes from 6 (years to live) to 40 (death); John was a 24.
- After some mini-miracles, John was able to accelerate the process of getting on the transplant waiting list.
- A battery of tests and blood work stood between John and getting on the transplant list.
- Expecting a long wait to get on the list to get the tests run, a cancellation got John in for his test two days after his acceptance into the program.
- Canceling the family vacation was tough, but John had to be close enough to get to the hospital.
- John was accepted onto the transplant list and found a donor within the same day.
- Recipients have to manage their expectations because there is a chance the organ is not a good match.
- It was important for John to reach out to the family of the donor to express his gratitude and condolences.
- Only 6 weeks after his surgery, John was on a plane to his national sales meeting in Colorado.
- Relying on others for everything was incredibly humbling for John as a natural go-getter.
- 27 days after his surgery, John and his family were able to meet his donor family and they hit it off.
- The liver that John has now is not his own, but has been inside two other people along the way.
- It’s incredibly difficult to have a healthy relationship between the recipient and the donor family.
- What it was like connecting with his donor family and how hard it remains for them to this day.
- If both sides can see that through donation, it can help both sides move forward.
- The gift of life is shared between two families, two worlds really, in the case of organ donation.
- It all starts with the decision that two people do not have to die.
- You see life from a completely different perspective when you come so close to death.
- John works tirelessly as an advocate to make sure that his donor’s family would be proud.
- Hope doesn’t get people to become donors, but it is a strategy.
- Anyone can be a registered organ donor and give hope to someone in need.
3 Key Points:
- John’s life completely changed when his liver failed two years ago. Through some mini-miracles, John was able to get in front of the board of the University of Cincinnati’s transplant program.
- Organ recipients tend to question what they have done to deserve to live and why someone else had to die. The harsh reality of life sets in at some point.
- It’s incredibly humbling when your body and mind stop you from doing certain things and you are forced to rely on others to do things for you.
Resources Mentioned:
- LifeCenter (website) (Facebook) (Instagram) (YouTube) (Twitter)
- Andi Johnson (website) (LinkedIn)
- John Mock (Facebook)
- Hope is Not a Strategy - Book
- United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)
- University of Cincinnati Medical Center
Tuesday Oct 19, 2021
Tuesday Oct 19, 2021
Did You Know You Can Donate A Part Of Your Liver? Andi and Lincoln Ware Of WDBZ Discuss, in this episode of Community Heroes.
Lincoln Ware and Andi Johnson discuss Life Centers involvement in the community educating and advocating for those in need of a transplant. In this episode they focus on expressing gratitude for the employees of the BMV who are on the front line of creating awareness for the opportunity to become an organ, eye and tissue donor.
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://lifepassiton.org/
https://lifepassiton.org/who-we-are/leadership/
https://www.facebook.com/LifeCenterOH
513-558-5555
Americantransplantfoundation.org
Liverfoundation.org
Tuesday Oct 12, 2021
Tuesday Oct 12, 2021
During this episode of This Thing Called Life podcast, host Andi Johnson talks to Dr. Govil,who has been in health care for many years, specifically working in the area of kidneys and kidney health He is a professor of medicine at UC Health as well as Director of Transplant and Chief Section of Transplantation.
Episode Highlights:
- Dr. Govil shares has been in this field for over 20 years and he has dedicated more than 15 years of that time to take care of patients needing kidney transplants.
- Dr. Govil shares why he chose this area of medicine to practice in.
- One of Dr. Govil’s first exposures as a medical resident was with a patient who had trace protein in the urine. All of them, as residents, ignored that component of lab finding and did not realize that their finding was a world-renowned figure in diabetic kidney disease.
- One in six of the US population is at risk for kidney disease, and more importantly, one in 10 out of the US has some element of kidney disease or chronic kidney disease.
- Dr. Govil says kidney disease is very silent. You may only have pain in the kidneys when you have physical problems like kidney stones or any cyst that is hurting you.
- The only way you discover kidney disease is through the blood test and routine numbers analysis.
- Diet does play a role in making kidney disease worse or stable, but a lot of that has to be done with how we manage our primary disease, which is causing kidney disease.
- It is very difficult to ask one patient to stop eating salt because everything we eat around us is loaded with salt, and it is very difficult to break that cycle, says Dr. Govil.
- Andi asks, “Is this kidney disease more prevalent here in America, or is it more prevalent in other parts of the world?”
- There are definitely certain aspects of kidney disease that we do not understand, which means that they may have familial clustering, says Dr. Govil.
- As we progress, we now can identify certain genes that make one more prone to have kidney disease, which does not mean that everyone who has it will present with it.
- Andi asks about Dr. Govil’s experience specifically, “Do you see more of Caucasian patients? Do they seem to have more success in identifying living kidney donors? And if so, why do you think that is?”
- When we look at the transplant or people who are receiving dialysis, 1/3 of them are African American, which means that there is definitely more propensity of any disease in this group of patients than any other group.
- Dr. Govil says, “When we look at the number of people on the list compared to the people who get transplanted and then compare it to the number of people who are on dialysis, they just don't add up completely.”
- Dr. Govil clarifies the myth that kidney donation can harm a donor in the short run and in the long term.
- As per Dr. Govil, education is the key, and that is what he feels when he goes to multiple outreach clinics in the tri-state area, and he realizes a lot of these barriers are related to misinformation.
- Dr. Govil gives recommendations for keeping your kidneys healthy.
- Don't count on kidney pain as one of the symptoms because kidney pain really is not a symptom of kidney disease -that is just a mechanical problem, which could be because of a stone in the kidney or some cyst.
- Diseases are frightening in many aspects; These are things that could be prevented if we took the proper steps and proactively saw our doctors.
- Changes in organ allocation will generally increase some of the volume, but it will definitely increase the volume for certain centers to do more transplants.
- A donor that may have hepatitis is now able to give organs to the patient in need of a transplant, and then that can be treated, says Andi.
- The dialysis survival is really dismal over a period of time. So, a 10-year survival on dialysis is around 10%.
3 Key Points:
- Dr. Govil explains what leads someone to having kidney failure. We have to realize that the kidneys are affected by a lot of things that happen in our body, whether it be high blood pressure, diabetes, or any other changes that may be related to some problems happening at the level of the kidney itself.
- Kidney disease means we are in a tier of the kidney, which is a very silent process and so essentially, your kidneys really do not have to hurt and actually they do not hurt at all when you fail your kidneys over a period of time.
- If we have a healthy, balanced diet to stabilize our diabetes and high blood pressure, it will indirectly help keep our kidneys happy and healthy.
Resources Mentioned:
- LifeCenter | website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube| Twitter
- Andi Johnson website |LinkedIn
- Organ Donation Website
- https://www.donatelife.net/nmdam/
Tuesday Oct 05, 2021
Tuesday Oct 05, 2021
It’s National BMV (DMV) Appreciation month, And We Want To Recognize Their Commitment To The Donate Life Mission In This Interview with Lincoln Ware on WDBZ
Lincoln Ware and Andi Johnson discuss Life Centers involvement in the community educating and advocating for those in need of a transplant. In this episode they focus on expressing gratitude for the employees of the BMV who are on the front line of creating awareness for the opportunity to become an organ, eye and tissue donor.
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://lifepassiton.org/
https://lifepassiton.org/who-we-are/leadership/
https://www.facebook.com/LifeCenterOH
513-558-5555
Tuesday Sep 28, 2021
Tuesday Sep 28, 2021
During this episode of This Thing Called Life podcast, host Andi Johnson talks to Debbie Hayes. She is a healthcare leader in Cincinnati, and specifically she leads a number one ranked hospital in the Cincinnati region. Tune in to hear her experiences and perspective on kidney donation.
Episode Highlights:
- Debbie began as a nurse at Christ Hospital. She worked her way up to being CEO, also led the Board of Directors at LifeCenter Organ Donor Network for 9-10years.
- She started her career 34 years ago as a student nurse aide. The one thing that always amazed her about this organization is that you are given opportunities to grow and develop your talents.
- The pandemic was one of the most challenging times in the history of healthcare, but it has also been one of the most rewarding times. Because of the extraordinary efforts of an incredible team of people working they have still kept that mission of the organization at the forefront of everything that they do despite every challenge.
- “We are definitely grateful for all of our hospital partners throughout our service area who are able to facilitate organ, eye, and tissue donation”, says Andi.
- Many people who have organ failures of any kind are not able to fully experience what life is all about,which is why Debbie is passionate about this.
- Andi inquires, during the pandemic, “Did that affect patients waiting for kidney transplants at Christ Hospital?”
- One of the trends that she has noticed during her time at the Life Center is that living kidney donation continues to increase. Debbie explains her thoughts about why we are seeing more people making that choice to be a living kidney donor.
- Andi had the opportunity to interview a young woman who was actually waiting for a kidney, and she was listed at Christ, and she just could not say enough about what a positive experience has been with her team there.
- There are probably a million-plus surgeries that occur in the country requiring donor tissue, which is very interesting.
- Andi recalls a story about a young woman who was a volunteer and ambassador, and she has been waiting for a kidney for about three years, and unfortunately, she passed away. But she was able to be a cornea donor, and it just meant so much to her husband and young daughter.
- Debbie talks about who/what experience has helped shape her into the leader she has become.
- Andi asks Debbie to give advice to someone who is just starting out in their career in healthcare and may be inspired to lead a healthcare system down the road.
3 Key Points:
- Debbie shares how she maintains the passion for the work that she has been doing. She was recently named CEO of the Christ Hospital after serving as interim for a period of time, and just as an outsider looking in, it seems like health care leaders don’t tend to stay put with this same place for so long. She shares what it is that kept her at Christ all of this time.
- During the pandemic, things at the LifeCenter were quite dramatic. Debbie talks about the changes they have had to undergo during this time to attract people to sign up to be donors.
- There are about 750,000 people a year in the United States that have kidney failure. If we could get a transplant for every single one of those patients when they needed it, wouldn’t that really make an impact in the United States?
Resources Mentioned:
- LifeCenter | website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube| Twitter
- Andi Johnson website |LinkedIn
- Organ Donation Website
- https://www.donatelife.net/nmdam/
Tuesday Sep 21, 2021
Tuesday Sep 21, 2021
Its National DMV Appreciation Month
This month is National DMV Appreciation Month and we want to thank and show our appreciation of our DMV partners and their dedicated employees across the country. They are a critical component of creating awareness and registering the public to become organ and tissue donation and we want to take this time to say thank you.
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://lifepassiton.org/who-we-are/leadership/
https://www.facebook.com/LifeCenterOH
513-558-5555
Tuesday Sep 14, 2021
Tuesday Sep 14, 2021
During this episode of This Thing Called Life podcast, host Andi Johnson talks with Karyn Frost. This Thing Called Life introduces you to powerful stories about organ, eye, and tissue donation from individuals, families, and health care teams whose experiences will inspire you and remind you that while life is hard, unpredictable, and imperfect, but also beautiful. Tune in to hear Karyn’s story!
Episode Highlights:
- Karyn is living a very normal life. She and her husband of over 20 years just dropped off their oldest at a college. However, a part of Karyn's story has shifted some things for her.
- At Ohio State, Karyn met her husband, Damon Frosty, who is from Cincinnati. They have two children, two daughters, one as Andy mentioned, is a freshman at Tennessee State University in Nashville and the second one is a junior in high school at Indian Hill High School.
- When Karyn was a sophomore in college, she was diagnosed with lupus. It can impact many different organs in the body, and she was lucky enough that lupus impacted her kidneys.
- Karyn's kidneys were not functioning properly, but they weren't terrible or in need of dialysis or a transplant; It was just one of those situations where they said, "we are going to watch this."
- Andi asks, "Did your doctor at that time talk about the possibility of needing a transplant at some point?"
- Andi inquires, "You mentioned a family history of diabetes. Did anyone in your family ever need a kidney transplant because of diabetes?" Karyn affirms, her father received a kidney donation 15 years ago. It lasted for about five years, and then he had to go back on dialysis, but he did receive a kidney transplant.
- There are a lot of things you have to do after you receive a transplant which some are not prepared for. There are other people who can't get a transplant for financial reasons because that is a big part of it. You have to be able to afford the medication, and Medicare doesn't cover everything.
- Karyn has been on dialysis since May 2018, and honestly, she should have been on dialysis since 2016 because that is when her doctor noticed that her blood work in her physical exams and the biopsies indicated that she needed to start dialysis.
- When you have a certain level of toxins in your body, your body just decides if your kidneys can't get rid of it, we are going to get rid of it one way or another, says Karyn.
- Karyn has a lot of people around to support her; between immediate and extended family and people in organizations that she is a part of.
- Most of the people on the kidney and organ donation lists who are waiting for transplants are people of color. So, we need to have the organizations that were part of be supportive and joining the fight, says Karyn.
- Karyn has heard people say that they are not going to save her because they want her organs. She is interested in the statistics on how many African Americans agree when they are renewing their license to be registered.
- Andi asks, "Do you think that part of the issue with chronic kidney disease is that it's one of those conditions where you know it is there, but if it is not really impacting your day-to-day life?"
- As young people, we are naturally more self-centered, and she is much more focused on helping others.
- Karyn wanted to tell her story to get awareness for herself but also to get awareness for other people.
- Andi asks, "If someone is interested in being tested to be your kidney donor, how might they go about that?"
3 Key Points:
- Karyn's doctor mentally prepared her for what she was dealing with today, so it wasn't like a shock. And one day, he just said, "Hey, you are going to do dialysis. He did a good job of preparing me for it."
- Karyn shares details about her body's way or your kidney's way of saying help. Her kidneys were not functioning, so all those toxins stayed in her body anytime she ate or drank anything. They weren't being filtered out.
- "If you could tell your younger self, having a great time at The Ohio State University and also just starting to realize that there are some medical issues that are going to be a part of your life, what would you say to that, Karyn?" asks Andi.
Resources Mentioned:
Tuesday Aug 31, 2021
Tuesday Aug 31, 2021
During this episode of This Thing Called Life podcast, host Andi Johnson speaks with Dr. Madison Cuffy, an Associate Professor of Surgery and the Kidney Director at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Cuffy has built trust-filled relationships with his patients throughout the years and loves nothing more than to see them live their lives to the fullest after getting their transplant. In case you missed it, tune in now!
Episode Highlights:
- Dr. Cuffy started his medical journey back in 2002 during his residency, before doing a transplant fellowship at New York Presbyterian.
- Growing up in Brooklyn, Dr. Cuffy was first introduced to Cincinnati by Talib Kweli and Hi Tek.
- As a 14-year-old, Dr. Cuffy was volunteering in a hospital cleaning instruments.
- Even to this day, no one in Dr. Cuffy’s family has experience in medicine, nor any clue what a transplant surgeon does.
- Dr. Cuffy was born in the Caribbean and grew up with his great aunt in New York.
- One of the most common misconceptions surrounding organ donation is that the medical community will let you die.
- After being in transplant and seeing how one can help create life during a time of despair, Dr. Cuffy became an organ donor.
- The medical community is not out to harm organ donors for their organs, contrary to popular belief.
- COVID has disproportionately impacted the African American community, leading to a rise in a renewed mistrust of the medical community.
- It’s who passes on the information about medical issues like COVID that is important.
- Despite all the concerns and misinformation that has been passed along, Dr. Cuffy highly recommends getting the COVID vaccination.
- According to the statistics, on average, 22 people die every day waiting on an organ transplant.
- While most of his focus is on kidney transplants, Dr. Cuffy does work with all transplant organs.
- There is an access problem for people who need a kidney transplant and are on dialysis.
- Over the span of a year, Dr. Cuffy performs around 70 kidney transplants.
- During the pandemic in 2020, the transplant team was able to get recipients in and out with anyone contracting COVID.
- Dr. Cuffy facilitates living kidney donation as the best option to treat end-stage renal disease.
- Andi has noticed that people of color tend to shy away from sharing their donation needs with other people.
- Socioeconomic issues and disadvantages can make it more difficult for certain patients to share their stories.
- People who don’t want to share their stories need a donor champion to do it for them.
- There are different forms of literacy, so Dr. Cuffy makes sure his patients know that there is no stupid question.
- It’s important for patients to speak up about their questions to their doctor so that they don’t go get misinformation from another source.
- If your physician is too busy to answer your questions now or in the future, you may need to find a different provider.
- Dr. Cuffy feels rewarded by his job when he sees his patients experiencing life after their transplant.
- His grandmother’s advice to be who he is, even when things get tough, gets Dr. Cuffy through his hard days.
- Raised without his parents in Brooklyn, Dr. Cuffy knows first hand that you can do anything you set your mind to.
- Dr. Cuffy has always had an extra gear that has allowed him to outwork everyone around him.
- When he goes back to Brooklyn now, Dr. Cuffy gets a different kind of respect from the people he grew up with.
- Dr. Cuffy thoroughly enjoys going to J. Alexanders in Cincinnati because of the sheer amount of professional African Americans that go there.
3 Key Points:
- While volunteering at a hospital with the hopes of staying off the streets as a 15-year-old boy, Dr. Cuffy had the opportunity to watch a kidney transplant up close, and that’s how he chose the transplant route.
- Unlike in other cities that have multiple transplant programs with different surgeons, Cincinnati has a single transplant program where the doctors act as one unit.
- Living donor kidneys last anywhere from 15 to 20 years, recipients don’t have to wait on a list to get one, and the quality is usually very good.
Resources Mentioned:
- LifeCenter (website) (Facebook) (Instagram) (YouTube) (Twitter)
- Andi Johnson (website) (LinkedIn)
- Dr. Madison Cuffy (website)
- University of Cincinnati Kidney Transplant