10.6K
Downloads
166
Episodes
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 Jul 12, 2022
Tuesday Jul 12, 2022
This episode of TTCL Community Heros will feature an interview with Julie Luebbers on La Mega. The monthly interview will provide the Spanish Community with information about Life Center and the incredible miracles that happen with Organ, Eye, and Tissue Donation.
Tuesday Jul 05, 2022
Tuesday Jul 05, 2022
During this episode of This Thing Called Life, host Andi Johnson continues the series on the donation process from the OPO (Organ Procurement Organization) lens. In the last episode we heard from Erica Randall of Donation Support Services. This week, Andi is speaking with Christenne Wilson, a long time staff member at Life Center; She is the Senior Donation Coordinator. She meets family in very difficult times. Tune in to hear about her experiences as it relates to the important process of organ donation.
Episode Highlights:
- Many people believe that organ, eye, and tissue donation is just a service of the hospital but Andi shares how it is much bigger than that and requires the collaboration of many.
- Christenne has been with the Life Center for over 20 years and is currently the Senior Donation Coordinator. She explains her role as one of the individuals who handles the evaluation, medical management, organ placement, and logistics of the operating room for an organ donation.
- Andi asks Christenne to share what kind of training and background is required to do work like she does.
- Christenne shares her personal experience with organ donation about her sister who had epilepsy and cerebral palsy.
- What does brain dead mean? Christenne shares facts that listeners may not be aware of. She explains the difference between that and vegetative state or coma.
- Organ donation and the education around it has grown significantly over the years.
- Christenne explains her connection to the Life Center and how meaningful it has been to her on several levels.
- Christenne put herself to paraemedic school and applied as an organ coordinator.
- Andi asks Christenne how she prepares for her day and meeting with families in desperate times.
- What happens at the bedside to evaluate potential organ donation?
- Christenne shares that some cases have changed her forever and how it has been a blessing.
- What goes into supporting the families who are in contact with ?
- Andi talks about how COVID caused many people to reflect and seek more meaningful jobs.
- Andi asks Christenne to share what a typical work day looks like for a donation coordinator.
- Logistics and time frames are very important in the process; Christenne explains.
- A lot of communication is required for this job because of the many pieces that must come together.
- An average case lasts about 72 hours so that the right thing is accomplished with the donor.
- Christenne talks about when organ gifts are placed in other locations.
- The donation coordinators are very passionate about giving each individual the best preservation options.
- Have you thought about registering to be a donor? Find out more at https://lifepassiton.org/
3 Key Points
- Christenne shares her personal experience with organ donation when her sister passed away and saved several other lives.
- Organ donation happens through the collaboration of many. Andi and Christenne talk through the organ coordinator role and the piece it is in the overall process.
- Emotional taxation is high in the role that Christenne has. She talks about the challenges, blessings, and how she perseveres through.
Resources Mentioned:
Tuesday Jun 28, 2022
Tuesday Jun 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:
513-558-5555
Tuesday Jun 21, 2022
Tuesday Jun 21, 2022
During this episode of This Thing Called Life, host Andi Johnson speaks with Courtney Schapier, a liver donor, the sister of a liver recipient, and one of the Organ Donation Coordinators at LifeCenter. Upon learning about her brother’s need for a liver, Courtney made the incredibly brave decision to make a difference. Her story is simply amazing!
Episode Highlights:
- Courtney has been an Organ Donation Coordinator at LifeCenter for the past 6-7 years.
- Donation Coordinators handle the medical management and evaluation for organ donors.
- Amongst other responsibilities, Courtney plays a large part in matching organs to donors.
- Sometimes, organ donation acts as the silver lining to families that are going through an incredibly hard time.
- Donation coordination is a 24-hour job because donation does not run on a 9-5 schedule.
- From the time that a case opens to the time it closes, Courtney is on the clock for 36 hours.
- Courtney uses CrossFit and a great support system as outlets for the high stress levels of this job.
- With such a high-stress job, it’s no surprise that there is a high level of turnover.
- There have been times where the stress of the job has made Courtney question her desire to be here.
- COVID brought everything to a screeching halt when it first exploded back in March.
- The sheer amount of unknown information has made the ongoing global pandemic that much scarier.
- Things have finally begun to get back to normal, meaning more lives are being saved via organ donation.
- In 2016, Courtney’s brother discovered a huge mass on his liver that required a transplant.
- Unfortunately, Courtney lost her father when she was only 2 months old, so her brother acted as a father to her.
- Courtney was informed that she was a donor match for her brother while supporting a family that was pulling life-support.
- The weight of the situation started to feel heavy when Courtney sat on the pre-op table.
- Sitting outside the OR doors on the pre-op table, Courtney was rolled back for surgery after only 20 or 30 minutes.
- There were a handful of signs that something was wrong with Courtney’s brother’s liver long before the doctors caught it.
- After everything was said and done, it took a 10-hour procedure for Courtney to donate over half of her liver.
- The first thing that Courtney can remember is getting sick immediately after surgery.
- Courtney finally got to see her brother when she was transferred to the ICU.
- It was a complete shift in lifestyle for Courtney from the moment that she found out she was a donor match for her brother.
- Finding living liver donors is more rare than finding living kidney donors.
- Both Courtney and her brother fully recovered and are as healthy as they can be today.
- TX Jet was kind enough to donate its services to fly Courtney and her family out for surgery.
- After her donation, Courtney was sure that she was at the right job at LifeCenter.
- Courtney was comforted by the knowledge that everything in her life made her the perfect donor for her brother.
- This year, Courtney is focusing on being more present when she is with loved ones.
- The amazing thing about donation and transplantation is the opportunity to potentially save a life.
3 Key Points:
- Organ Donation Coordinators manage everything from the moment a donor decides to donate, to the time that the organ is sent to its recipient.
- It takes a very special person to not only manage the responsibilities of being a Donation Coordinator, but also the rollercoaster of emotions that come with the job.
- Courtney donated just over 50% of her own liver, which was oversized, to begin with, to save her brother’s life.
Resources Mentioned:
- LifeCenter (website) (Facebook) (Instagram) (YouTube) (Twitter)
- Andi Johnson (website) (LinkedIn)
- TX Jet (website)
Tuesday Jun 14, 2022
Tuesday Jun 14, 2022
During this episode of This Thing Called Life podcast, host Andi Johnson kicks off a series about how the donation process works from the perspective of the Organ Procurement organization, which is what Life Center is. Andis guest today is a staff member of Life Center, Erica Randall. Have you ever wondered how the gifts of organ, eye, and tissue donations come to be? Tune in for the intricacies of this life-saving and life-healing process.
Episode Highlights:
- The LifeCenter of Cincinnati, Ohio is 1 of 47 Organ Procurement Organizations that are under the umbrella of AOPO:The Association of Organ Procurement Organizations. There are about 56 in total.
- The donation process is collaborative; Andi shares about the organizations that are involved and how they are interconnected.
- Today’s guest, Erica Randall, shares her role in donation support services, or DSS.
- What exactly is DSS and what do they do?
- Erica explains guidelines and how they reach out to families.
- What does it take to work in the DSS?
- Andi asks Erica to share what motivates her to go into the DSS everyday and do her work especially when she is meeting with families in tough circumstances who have often unexpectedly lost a loved one.
- There is a misconception that to be a donor, you have to be in perfect health. That is not the case. Andi asks Erica to explain.
- Erica’s mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer and asked if she could still be a donor. In her case, she was and she was able to give the gift of restoring eyesight for two people when she passed. Erica shares how it changed the perspective for her family.
- Andi asks Erica to share with honesty what she finds most challenging about her role.
- There is a major ripple effect in the donation process for all of the families.
- The DSS is open 24/7, 365 days a year. Erica explains the shifts and needs.
- In 2006, Erica’s cousin was killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. He became an organ and tissue donor. That is the first time she had ever heard of organ and tissue donation and the first time she had an experience with LifeCenter.
- In nursing school, for her senior capstone project, she chose to work with Life Center and sent up a table at the Batavia, Ohio BMV where they were educating people about donation. She knew she wanted to work for LifeCenter at that time.
- Andi shares about how Erica’s cousin’s family has done so much in the community to fuel the education efforts that LifeCenter does.
- Interested in positions at LifeCenter? Visit https://lifepassiton.org/who-we-are/careers/
- Erica speaks from experience and explains how it is so rewarding to work for LifeCenter and be a part of the positive difference.
- Andi talks about the after-care department that follows families for 18 months after the death of a loved one. In a coming episode, there will be more information about it and someone from that department as well as the in-between pieces with coordinators.
- There are 106,065 people who are waiting for life-saving organ transplants and about 90,000 of those people need kidney transplants. Your decision to be a donor matters. For more information visit https://lifepassiton.org
3 Key Points:
- The Donation Support Services (DSS) are at the core of organizing organ, eye, and tissue donation through the stages. They give their all to the families providing comfort and remaining professional while collaborating with hospitals, coroners, etc.
- Erica shares what motivates her to work in the DSS and the impact that the work has.
- Andi and Erica discuss the opportunity in donation and how it provides healing and hope for so many involved on all sides.
Resources Mentioned:
Tuesday Jun 07, 2022
Tuesday Jun 07, 2022
During this episode of This Thing Called Life podcast, we are re-airing an incredible interview with Dr Shimul Shah, the head of the Liver Transplant Program at UC Health. Dr. Shah and his team are utilizing ever-evolving medical technologies to help all those facing the liver-transplant process. He knows that it is vitally important to try to understand what the patient is going through so that they can best be served with their health problems. Tune in.
Episode Highlights:
- Dr. Shah runs one of the largest liver transplant programs in the country to help as many people as possible.
- In his 9th year with UC Health, Dr. Shah and his team have done over 750 liver transplants.
- COVID has presented some challenges in the world of liver transplantations because of its immunosuppressed patients.
- There are a number of things that must be considered with the introduction of a global pandemic before conducting transplants.
- Though they didn’t understand what was happening around the world, Dr. Shah’s team went ahead with multiple transplants.
- Many healthcare professionals had to come together when making protocols for transplantations during COVID.
- There has been a lot of success with telehealth and that proved useful for the Liver Transplant Team.
- After protocols were put in place, liver transplants were resumed at the same rate as before.
- Programs all over the country were forced to shut their doors for a small period of time while they figured out how to get ahead of COVID.
- There are more donors in the Midwest and South than there are on the East Coast and West Coast.
- A national policy of “sickest first” has allowed organs to be shared throughout a wider geographical region.
- Clinical trials are underway for pumps that pump the livers continuously during travel.
- The pump presents an opportunity to repair the damage that has been done to organs before transplants are conducted.
- Because of technology, more organs are being used today that would have never been used 5-10 years ago.
- Dr. Shah uses complete transparency when he gives his patients past results of treatment options.
- Patients can donate their livers at much older ages because liver cells constantly repair themselves.
- Dr. Shah originally wanted to be a liver and pancreas cancer expert, but a fellowship in liver transplant shifted his path if only slightly.
- Patients know when the care that a doctor shows is authentic and that they are all in on the process.
- It’s important to talk to patients as people and try to understand what they are going through.
- Dr. Shah helped lead the Living Liver Donor Program that launched earlier this year.
- New patients find out how sick they actually are and what all their options are before moving forward.
- Dr. Shah and his team do everything they can to help people get better without a transplant.
- During his free time, Dr. Shah enjoys playing tennis, basketball, and taking afternoon naps.
- COVID has made Dr. Shah’s family’s favorite activities, eating out and traveling, a little tricky.
3 Key Points:
- People with compromised immune systems are more susceptible to COVID-19, thus bringing a learning curve to those in the liver transplant field.
- Transplant systems all over the country were forced to shut down their programs when COVID first hit, but have since been able to resume transplants after implementing protocols.
- Patients with an extensive medical history have benefited greatly from advancements in technology due to the larger amount of organs that are now available.
Resources Mentioned:
- LifeCenter (website) (Facebook) (Instagram) (YouTube) (Twitter)
- Andi Johnson (website) (LinkedIn)
- Dr. Shimul Shah (website)
- UC Health | Liver Transplant Program
- In Shock - (Book)
- Dewey’s Pizza
Tuesday May 31, 2022
Tuesday May 31, 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 about the renewal symbolized by the month of June, pride month, and men's health month.
Resources:
https://www.facebook.com/LifeCenterOH
Life Center Phone # 513-558-5555
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