Shirley Brill

OnMay5,2008whilewatchingThe Price is Right, I received “the lifesaving call” that a lung was available and to head to the hospital.Iwassureitwasgoingto be a dry run so I coordinated my workout clothes Did I mention my daughter and three grandchildren just happened to be visiting from Memphis and just left to begin the drive back home. She left a quite expensivecamerahereandhadto return for the camera so she was able to drive me to the hospital where loyal friends were waiting for me to arrive. It was a go! Around 9:00pm, I was heading in for my surgery to receive a lung and with God’s blessing and the gift from my donor, prayers from my family, friends, pastor and churchfamily,Ireceivedadouble

The road to a lung transplant meant I had to lose close to 90 lbs.anditwasachievedwiththe help of diet and exercise with routine workouts at “the clinic.” Finally, I was listed and by January,2008mydiagnosiswas now ESLD (End Stage Lung Disease). Between 2005 and January,2008Iwasinandoutof thehospitalonaregularbasis,a collapsed left lung twice, of course my health would no longerallowteachingbutI would still make my way to church on Sunday mornings to give my glory to God on the instrument.

1)What caused you to start SODA National?

I became passionate about organ donation at a young age. In February of 2009, my older sister, Laura, suddenly passed away from a brain tumor. On the worst day of my life, my sister was able to save a life by donating her liver to a special education teacher named Trish.

During this dark time in my life, I felt hope from knowing that my sister saved a life, and soon became passionate about spreading the importance of organ donation with my peers At a young age, I spoke at driver’s education classes, to my youth group, and, of course, to my friends and family

When I went to college, it felt natural that I would get involved with organ donation, but there weren’t many ways I could advocate on a consistent basis with my peers and on campus So, I founded the first chapter of SODA in 2014

By 2017, other students reached out to me with interest to start SODA chapters on their campuses. I wanted to make sure saving lives was easy for other students, so we created SODA National to provide new student leaders with mentorship, supplies, event funding, how-to guides, and other resources to reduce the organ shortage.