Brenda Sharpe remembers the day in 2010 when her granddaughter Ramonie Smith, then 5, received a kidney transplant that saved her life.
“When you’ve been given a gift like that, everyday is a blessing, and we are taking it one day at a time,” Sharpe said. “I’m thankful for each day she is no longer tied to a dialysis machine, and that she’s able to live life as a normal child.”
On the same day Smith received a new kidney, three other children, all under age 8 received vital organs from the same donor. Due to that experience, Sharpe became a strong supporter of raising the number of organ donors in the African-American community.
“You never know when this issue will hit close to home,” she said. “In the African-American community especially, a lot of people don’t make the association between high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease and how all of these things can potentially lead to someone needing a transplant.”
Sherry Jackson is an active volunteer with the Indiana Organ Procurement Organization (IOPO), a nonprofit health service committed to helping citizens waiting for a life-saving organ or tissue transplant find donors.
The organization has a group called The Passion Panel, which is made up of donor family members, donation recipients, hospital professionals and educators.
Since its formation last year, The Passion Panel has participated in many health fairs at churches, schools and other locations throughout Central Indiana. The panel meets twice a month and presents “The Gift that Keeps on Giving,” a traveling production.
Jackson, one of the panel’s organizers, said its goal is to reach populations that have the lowest donation rates, including the African-American community.
“Donations can save a life,” Jackson said. “African-Americans are at the lowest percentage of people who donate, but in some aspects, we actually need it the most.”
According to the IOPO, 1,417 residents in Indiana and 113,416 people nationally, are on the waiting list for a life saving organ transplant.
The issue of organ donation has taken on special importance in April, which is National Donate Life Month.
Jackson became an organ donation advocate after the death of a family member. She remembers rushing to Florida last year to visit her aunt, who had suffered a devastating aneurysm.
“I remember going in the room and just seeing her lying in bed, connected to all the tubes and everything,” Jackson recalled. “From what the doctor told us, it seemed like she had a chance to make it.”
Actually, Jackson’s family had not yet fully comprehended what the doctor was saying: her father’s sister was clinically dead. A family discussion, which included a representative from the IOPO, was held. The representative asked about the possibility of a few organs being donated, but the family, with Jackson dissenting, quickly declined.
“It really took me by surprise, because my family is normally very giving,” Jackson said.
She then decided to commit to the cause herself, volunteering with the IOPO and agreeing to be a donor upon her death.
“If I’m dead, I can’t use those organs anymore,” she said laughing. “Someone might as well use them and live.”
Sharpe said her family has now joined her in supporting the cause for more organ donation in the African-American community. In January, her 6-month-old nephew passed away, but the family checked into the possibility of him being a donor, and his heart valves were used to help four babies.
Sharpe added that she would like to see other families experience the joy she had when her granddaughter was given another chance at life.
“What we’re trying to do is reach out as far as we can in all directions and break down the myths that keep a lot of people from becoming organ donors,” Jackson said. “Many people are on the waiting list as we speak, and there’s a much better chance for the long term success of a transplant if you have a donor from your own ethnic group.”
For more information visit www.iopo.org or call 1-888-ASK-IOPO.
