Group seeks to end Iowans' wait for organ transplants
Jonathan Brown registered as an organ donor when he renewed his driver's license at age 17. At the time, he joked that someday he wouldn't need his organs anyway.
He never learned how pivotal that decision would become.
Four years later, a tragic car accident took his life — but by agreeing to donate his organs and tissue, he was able to help 130 other people in need.
Brown was struck by a vehicle in October 2010 as he crossed the street after an Iowa State University football game in Ames. He died five days later.
When first approached by Iowa Donor Network representatives, the family was initially hesitant, said Brown's older sister, Lisa Langgin. Remembering Brown's story about registering and knowing he'd want to help others, they agreed to move forward.
Brown was able to donate his heart, liver and both kidneys. His corneas, pancreas and lungs were too damaged, but he provided 94 people with tissue and an additional 31 people with bone grafts, Langgin said.
Nearly 1.8 million adults have registered as donors in Iowa, making the state sixth in the nation in the percentage registered. About 550 Iowans are currently waiting for an organ transplant, and some of those patients have been on the list for more than five years.
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In November, Iowa reached a five-year low in the number of people on the transplant wait list, said Tony Hakes, public outreach manager at Iowa Donor Network. Iowa is also one of the few states in the country that's been able to reduce wait times, he added.
The network's Campaign to Zero aims even higher, encouraging Iowans to register as donors and drop the state's wait list to zero.
"Iowa would be the first state in the union where no one waits, or people wait for a very short amount of time, for a transplant," Hakes said.
The reason you should register as a donor is simple, he said.
"It's the very unique ability to save someone's life. It costs nothing to register," he said. "When a family chooses to move forward with donation, or when someone is already registered as a donor, that family takes so much solace and so much comfort in bringing a little bit of light to a tragic situation."
The group has sought to reduce wait times since its inception 20 years ago. For its recent campaign, the group enlisted the three state universities, the Iowa Department of Transportation and other foundations to help.
A major contribution from the Gerdin Charitable Foundation helped launch an initial campaign last year — a competition among the three state universities to register the most organ donors. The late Russell Gerdin, founder of Heartland Express in North Liberty, was a liver transplant recipient.
Online registrations went up as a result of the Web and radio campaign during the 2013 college football season.
Building on that success, Iowa Donor Network kicked the campaign up a notch this year. Coaches from Iowa's three state universities appear in videos that have run on the Jumbotrons during football games, on television and online.
Radio and social media helped spread the word, and Iowa Donor Network representatives also set up booths before college football games Nov. 1.
The group added 200 more registrants that weekend and visits to its social media sites were at an all-time high, Hakes said.
The Campaign to Zero will extend into the basketball and college football bowl seasons. Videos will also air in movie theaters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Des Moines.
Because nearly 3 of 4 adults are already registered, the effort has also been a chance to educate more people, Hakes said.
"There are some misconceptions about donation," he said. "Our goal is to get people to register and make sure they know what they are registering for."
Some key facts:
• Donation costs nothing for the donor family.
• An open casket can still be an option.
• Medical crews will still do everything they can to save the life of an organ donor.
• Donors can be any age. Adults can register when getting a driver's license. Parents can register children younger than age 18 online and talk to teens about registering as donors when they apply for a driver's permit after age 15.
Many transplant recipients go on to meet the donor families and build relationships with them, Hakes said. Brown's family has received letters from two recipients.
"We've never met them, but we would like to," Langgin said. "Now we are ready. I'm not sure we were ready in the beginning."
The heart recipient wrote the family during recovery, saying he was looking forward to going fishing again. The mother of a 2-year-old boy who received one of the kidneys sent a photo of her son and expressed guilt that a loved one had to die for her son to receive a transplant.
Looking back, Langgin said her brother's decision meant that transplant families no longer had to endure the wait and despair.
"We understood what that felt like, too. That this is over. There's nothing else we can do. So now that they can have a little bit of that back, that's a great thing," she said.
Iowans should remember that they can accomplish just as much in death as they do in life, Langgin added.
"Never underestimate the power of what that can mean," she said. "Jonathan had a happy life, even if it was cut short, and he would want other people to do that, too. "
You can register to be an organ and tissue donor through Iowa Donor Network's website: IowaDonorRegistry.org
Iowa organ transplant wait list as of Nov. 21:
Organ, number of patients
Kidney: 480
Liver: 22
Pancreas: 4
Kidney/pancreas: 3
Heart: 27
Lung: 11
Total: 547
Source: Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network
Organ transplant facts
• Nearly 124,000 Americans are waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.
• Every day, 19 people on the national waiting list die. About 6,000 people die every year.
• Every day, 105 new names are added to the national organ waiting list.
• People between the ages of 18 and 49 make up nearly 60 percent of the national organ waiting list.
• 50,000 sight-restoring transplants are performed every year.
Sources: Iowa Donor Network and United Network for Organ Sharing