Texas Organ Sharing Alliance Insert 2010

Dear Central and South Texas Communities Organ donation is all about helping our community by saving lives.

To date, many families throughout the 35 year history of the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance (TOSA) have expressed their compassion by saving countless lives of many who were once strangers. Through organ donation and transplantation many have formed a unique bond and created an extended family.

It’s important to keep the issue in mind. There are over 107,000 men, women and children who are facing early death because of organ failure requiring a donated kidney, heart, lung, liver, pancreas and/or small intestine. Many of these people will die waiting on the list for a life-saving transplant due to the lack of donated organs.

How do you view giving back to your community? By providing financial support? Giving your time and talent? Or by making the decision to save up to eight lives through organ donation? Saving just one life may mean preserving a whole generation. Regardless of whether you choose one or all of the above methods of giving back – the legacy you leave will impact your community.

As the organization federally designated to serving Central and South Texas, TOSA is committed to conducting donation-related activities. Through these coordinated activities related to public education about the benefits of donation, we increase donor awareness and the number of people registered on the Glenda Dawson Donate Life – Texas Registry.

TOSA is dedicated to assisting individuals who need organs by making our citizens aware that transplantation works and that each of us can help by becoming a registered donor.

Sincerely,

Patrick J. Giordano, MHA, FACHE Chief Executive Officer

www.txorgansharing.org • Donor information line 1-866-685-0277 Central Region Home Office • 8122 Datapoint Drive, Suite 200 • San Antonio, Texas 78229 • 210.614.7030 O • 210.614.2129 F Northern Region • 7000 North MoPac, Suite 325 • Austin, Texas 78731 • 512.459.4848 O • 512.459.7794 F Southern Region • 1400 N McColl Road, Suite 104 A • McAllen, Texas 78501 • 956.630.0884 O • 956.687.7185 F

Departments Hospital Services Partnering with area hospitals to bring the gift of life to those in need is the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance mission. Our many years of working closely with the more than 117 hospitals in our service area have provided both opportunities and progress in responding to hospital, donor and recipient needs.

Working closely with Central and South Texas health care professionals and sharing best practices and critical information about organ donation are essential to maximizing the quality of donated organs. We are proud of our health care partners for consistently exceeding the industry standards of excellence.

Since developing these partnerships, many new strategies and improvements have been made. Together these partnerships have ensured a better referral process and an effective request process, which ensures the donation discussion with families.

Our commitment to the continuing education of our hospital partners is critical. Support services consist of formal best practices classroom sessions to one-on-one visits with physicians and nurses who need current information regarding donation procedures. The goal is to establish an effective process to manage the option of donation.

Clinical Services Brain injuries are devastating events for patients and their families. The sudden and unexpected death of a loved one is difficult to understand. Individuals who suffer irreversible brain damage may become candidates for organ donation upon their death. Organ donation is sometimes the only positive outcome for family members when they know their loved one is saving the lives of others. The process of donation involves very specific testing to determine brain death. Before declaring brain death, the hospital physician will perform a series of tests to determine brain function, the patient's ability to breathe without assistance, pupil response to light, stimulus response and blood flow to the brain. Brain death means there is irreversible loss of all brain functions.

If brain death is declared, it means the person is dead.

There is no hope for recovery because blood is not flowing to the brain, thus no oxygen is carried to the brain to allow it to function. The mechanical ventilator can only keep the heart beating and other organs and tissues preserved for a short

time. Circulation of the blood, a heartbeat and respiration supported by mechanical means do not indicate life. Two options are available for the family: removal of the ventilator and letting the heart stop, or organ and tissue donation. The heart, lungs, kidneys, liver or other solid organs provide life to those awaiting a life-saving transplant. Tissue donation may also be an option in these circumstances.

Many find hope in knowing that others might live through giving the "Gift of Life." Up to 50 lives can be saved or enhanced if a family agrees to donate their loved one's organs, corneas and tissues. Donation does not prevent a family from having a traditional open-casket-viewing funeral.

No major religions oppose donation, and many view it as an act of sacrifice and great love. Family members bear no expenses for the donation, but are responsible for hospital and medical bills prior to the determination of brain death.

The evaluation and recovery of the organs and tissues are the responsibility of the procurement agency.

Communications and Community Development Through the years, the Communications and Community Development Department of the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance has been instrumental in building a donor-friendly community.

A wide variety of community programs and activities has been created as a vehicle to provide the public with factual information about donation so that individuals can make an informed decision about this important issue. All efforts of the department focus on raising the number of people who are registered on the Donate Life – Texas Registry.

Community events, health fairs and speaking engagements provide staff, donor families and pre- and post-transplant recipients the opportunity to stand strong and dispel the myths and incorrect assumptions that are shared by those who do not support donation.

TOSA has the experience, staff and volunteers to handle any community request.

Contact TOSA if you would like to: • Enroll in the Donate Life – Tex as Registry.

• Obtain donor inform ation or registration form s.

• Request a speak er for a school, church, club or organization presentation.

• Becom e a volunteer and help raise organ, ey e and tissue donor aw areness.

Please contact the following staff for story ideas or volunteering for events in your community: Esmeralda “Mela” Perez Manager, Communications & Community Development (210)614-7030 mperez@txorgansharing.org Michelle Segovia Senior Community Relations Coordinator Northern Region (512)459-4848 msegovia@txorgansharing.org Tricia Barrera Public Relations Coordinator Southern Region (956)630-0884 tbarrera@txorgansharing.org

Get the facts...

An average of 18 people die each day from the lack of available organs for transplant.

There are over 107,000 men, women, and children in the United States currently waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. Of these, an estimated 10,000 are living in the state of Texas. Someone listed on the national waiting list is severely ill and can spend up to six years waiting for a donor organ. No one listed will receive special consideration because of their financial and/or celebrity status.

With the national list at an all-time record high and a new name being added every 12 minutes, why are so many families avoiding the talk about organ donation when there is a good chance of knowing someone who is being afflicted with an end-stage disease?

The fact is that many people make their decision – NOT to be a donor – on the basis of myths and incorrect assumptions about donating. Concerns such as not being able to be a donor because of age, medical history, religion, life-saving procedures and who can and cannot be a donor can be answered by visiting any one of the following Web sites: www.donatelifetexas.org (English) www.donevidatexas.org (Spanish) The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) online organ, eye and tissue donor registry.

www.organdonor.gov The official U.S. Government web site for organ and tissue donation and transplantation, maintained by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Healthcare Systems Bureau (HSB), and Division of Transplantation. The Division also administers grant programs and conducts public and professional education initiatives to increase awareness of the critical need for organ and tissue donors. www.transplantliving.org Created and maintained by UNOS, the Transplant Living Web site is the definitive information and education resource for transplant patients and their families.

www.txorgansharing.org Texas Organ Sharing Alliance (TOSA) is a nonprofit, independent organ procurement organization authorized by the federal government to serve the 5.5 million people in the 56 counties located in Central and South Texas. TOSA is dedicated to supporting families in our community who have lost loved ones by providing an opportunity to donate life through organ donation.

Facts You Should Know

Other Resources:

18: The number of people who die every day while waiting for a life-saving transplant.

www.organtransplants.org An in-depth Web documentary focusing on the miracle of organ, eye and tissue transplantation in America.

12: The number of minutes it takes for a new name to be added to the transplant list.

www.unos.org The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is the organ transplantation and donation data and information resource for medical professionals and the general public.

UNOS brings together medicine, science, public policy and technology to facilitate every organ transplant performed in the United States.

107,000: The number of men, women and children waiting for a life-saving organ transplant in this country.

10,000: The number of people awaiting an organ transplant in Texas.

8: The number of lives that can be saved by one organ donor.

3: The number of ways you can sign up to be an organ donor (Department of Motor Vehicles, online at www.donatelifetexas.org/www.donevidatexas.org and down-loadable form).

0: The number of lives that are saved when “You” say “NO” to organ donation.

In Loving Memory Sergio David Rincon 1957 - 2009

Above: Sergio David Rincon, 2009 Donor.

My name is Criselda Ivon Rincon-Flores. I represent the donor family of Sergio David Rincon. Sergio Rincon was my beloved father. I give thanks to the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance for giving me the opportunity to share my special story.

Sergio David Rincon was born in Reynosa, Mexico, on December 19, 1957. He was born to Francisco and Maria Guadalupe Rincon. He had four brothers and one sister. He married Criselda Cortez Rincon in October 1981. In 1982, I was born. They had three children – myself, my brother Sergio David Rincon, Jr. and my young brother Francisco Javier, who died when he was 1 month old from heart problems.

On January 31, 2009, my son Joel Flores, Jr., named after my husband, Joel Flores, was born. My father had the privilege of meeting his first grandson. Joelito was born prematurely at 7 months. I say God works in mysterious ways. He wanted my father to live his dream of being a Grandpa. My dad met his grandson and loved him for those two months he was sent early to us.

Our family’s life changed April 6, 2009, 30 minutes after my father started working – he suffered an accident at work.

He was employed by an oil drilling company as a floor hand. A 150-pound object fell on his head. When I got to the hospital, I was glad that he was taken to the Rio Grande Valley Trauma Hospital. The emergency room doctor and nurses gave me hope and understood what I was going through. Within an hour, we were informed that my dad was going to have brain surgery. Just hearing those words, I

knew it was serious. However, the doctors and nurses always gave us hope and asked that we trust that they would do what it took to help him. Unfortunately, after two brain surgeries my father was declared brain dead on Good Friday, April 10, 2009.

Our family was faced with the biggest decision in our life. We were glad that we did not have to make the decision to disconnect, since by law it is mandatory, but we were faced with the decision of giving life. My mother was extremely hesitant. With my brother’s, husband’s, and my advice based on my father’s attitude toward life, she decided to make him an organ donor. All doubts we had were cleared by the staff at McAllen Medical, including doctors and nurses. We knew everything was done to save my dad. It was God’s decision to take him, but not without leaving a little bit of him behind to continue helping others.

TOSA representatives approached us and asked us if we knew anyone who needed an organ to inform them so he or she could have an opportunity to be a recipient.

My thoughts were not so clear. Since I had been on maternity leave, I had heard from my co-workers at the District Attorney’s office that one of our paralegals was very sick and needed a liver transplant. At first, I was not clear about what type of transplant. However, TOSA was able to make the arrangements possible, and Liz Handy, who is now part of the Rincon family, was in San Antonio the next morning as a compatible recipient.

Our Mission Above: Criselda Ivon RinconFlores, 2009 Donor Family and Liz Handy, 2009 Liver Recipient.

Our father lives in each one of us with the memories, love and thoughts he left behind. He was an extremely positive person who always saw everything with joy and admired every day and gave thanks to God for letting him live each minute. Even so, he died at a very young age – 51 years old, full of life, and wanting more than anything to enjoy his new stage of being a grandpa. His dream in life after seeing his kids get an education was seeing his grandson grow up.

Thanks to his hard work, I am an assistant district attorney of Hidalgo County, and my brother is getting his master’s in business administration. His grandson is now taken care of by his beloved grandmother, and every day of his life will know about his grandpa who was a great man not only when he was alive, but even after his death. Liz Handy is living a joyful life with her liver transplant and spending time with her family. We, the Rincon family, feel grateful that God heard her prayers and used my dad for her miracle. This I learned from Mrs. Handy personally. Being a woman of faith, she quoted Mark 11:24 – “Therefore I say to you whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them.”

I ask that you join with me in promoting organ donation because even though you no longer have your loved one, you live fulfilled in seeing how others get to have another opportunity to live. I know my dad lives with us in heart and mind, but his living in Liz Handy and the four other recipients from Texas he helped bring great joy to us.

Pa, “ERES Y SERAS PARA SIEMPRE MY HERUE TE AMO.” Criselda Ivon Rincon-Flores 2009 Donor Family

To maximize quality organ donation within the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance service area and to provide the regional transplant centers and the national Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) with a professional and responsive organ recovery program. In so doing, the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance will constantly maintain the utmost consideration and concern for the donor family, the potential donor and the donor hospital staff.

Lives put on hold Rebeca Garza

*At press time Rebeca Garza had received the gift of life.

Left to right: Transplant recipient Rebeca Garza, Brigitte Garza, Miguel De Los Santos, Pedro De Los Santos (far back), Priscilla Ann Garza.

A mother’s wish for her children is for their happiness and success. As a mother of two boys (Miguel and Pedro De Los Santos) and three girls (Blanca Estella De Los Santos and Brigitte and Teresita Garza), my mother, Rebeca Garza, is no exception to wanting the same for all her children.

As the daughter of Rebeca Garza, I believe I have fulfilled my mother’s wish. Today, at the age of 38, I am married to a wonderful, caring and compassionate man, Valente. Together, we are the proud and happy parents of two small children – Valente, our 3-year-old son, and Miranda Blanca, our 1-year-old daughter.

Both have brought so much happiness to my family and me.

Our hobbies are surrounded by family activities such as barbecues with family and friends. For Sunday morning breakfast my mother cooks a full Mexican spread with all our favorite dishes – chorizo con huevo, barbacoa, carnitas, frijoles, queso con salsa, papas con huevo and tortillas de harina, to name a few. Ask anyone who knows my mother, and they will tell you she is known for her Sunday morning breakfast.

Although my mom has been able to share in the happiness and success of her children, her life has not been without heartache. She was widowed at an early age when her husband, Rodolfo Garza, passed away leaving her to raise her children alone. And like most mothers who expect that their children will outlive them, this was not the case for my mom. She has had to deal with the loss of two of her daughters, Blanca Estella De Los Santos, who died at the age of 23, and Teresita Garza, who died at the age of 3. Having experienced the loss of two of her children, she adopted one of her grandchildren, Priscilla Ann Garza (daughter of Blanca Estella De Los Santos).

The loss of her children caused her many years of grieving and neglecting her own health. Facing renal failure as a result of years of high blood pressure, she was placed on dialysis in

2002. The same year, I was tested to see if I was a suitable kidney match, but unfortunately was ruled out as not being a compatible donor. I appealed the decision under the fact that I wanted the insurance company to allow the experimental procedure of plasmaphersis so that it would make it possible to donate one of my healthy kidneys to her. The appeal was denied because plasmaphersis was an experimental procedure at the time. In 2007, after working since the age of 14, my mom was forced to retire because of end-stage renal disease. She was evaluated by University Hospital, which placed her name on the United Network for Organ Sharing waiting list for a life-saving kidney transplant.

Recently, I took some time off as a full-time criminal and immigration defense attorney practicing in both federal and state court to become my mother’s caretaker after she was hospitalized in critical condition with high blood pressure. She no longer can live alone or enjoy taking care of her grandchildren.

As a daughter, my wish is to see my mother enjoy a healthy life and watch her grandchildren grow up. The many years of waiting for a donated kidney have taken a toll on my mother. The most heart-wrenching experience is to witness her health deteriorate right before my eyes and to feel helplessness. I would do anything to save my mother’s life, but at this point there is nothing I can do but watch her get weaker and weaker every single day.

Although I thank God for the days I have been able to share with my mother, to watch her ill and weak and so limited in what she can and cannot do is truly excruciating pain for me and my family. You see, my mother was the strongest, most hardworking woman I have ever known in my life. My goal as a child was one day to grow up and prosper to be at least half the woman she is – if I could become half the woman she is, I felt that I would be able to survive in this world. So to watch this once strong, hardworking, independent woman become fragile, weak and now dependent is sometimes too much for a daughter’s heart to accept. I have faith that one day she will have a beautiful pink pulsating kidney and will be that strong independent woman that raised me.

Like the many other children of a parent who is listed on the national waiting list for a life-saving transplant, I live with hope and pray for the time when a suitable donor will save my mother’s life.

Brigitte Garza Kidney Recipient Daughter

Friends for life... the value of giving back.

The more than 107,000 men, women and children on the national waiting list continue to be inspired by what is being done by individuals, communities and the donation and transplant centers to build awareness for organ, eye and tissue donation.

Donor education is the vehicle to our community’s understanding about the critical shortage and need for donors. To date, a lot has been done by many people who care. Yet, more volunteers are needed to teach others what more can be done in our home, workplace, place of worship and community to save lives.

There are many individuals doing incredible work. Together, we share ideas and implement public awareness programs and activities. As the national organ transplant waiting list shoots above 107,000, we must continue to increase donor awareness in our community.

For more information about becoming a Friends for Life volunteer, call TOSA Donor Family and Volunteer Services at (210) 614-7030 or toll-free at 1-866-685-0277.

Upcoming Events and Important Dates August 1: National Minority Donor Awareness Day 28: TOSA “Lights of Life Candle-Lighting Ceremony,” Mission, TX September Sept. 15 – Oct. 15: National Hispanic Heritage Month October 23 – 30: “Lone Star Circle of Life Bike Tour,” TX

December 6: “Angel of Hope Candle-Lighting Vigil,” University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX February 14: National Donor Day April National Donate Life Month “Del Rio Organ Sharing Awareness 5K Walk,” Del Rio, TX

23: TOSA “Lights of Life Candle-Lighting Ceremony,” Austin, TX

“Vital Alliance Tree-Planting Ceremony,” San Antonio, TX

November 12 – 14: National Donor Sabbath

Laredo Medical Center “Rose Garden Ceremony,” Laredo, TX

14: TOSA “Lights of Life Candle-Lighting Ceremony,” San Antonio, TX

July HRSA “National Donor Recognition Ceremony and Workshop,” Washington, DC

“Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan Del Valle National Shrine Via Cruxes,” San Juan, TX Valley Regional Medical Center “Gift of Life Garden Dedication,” Brownsville, TX 20: “Vital Alliance 13th Annual Donate Life Run/Walk,” Brackenridge Park – Joskes Pavilion, San Antonio, TX

Doctors Hospital “Garden of Hope Ceremony,” Laredo, TX

Please contact TOSA at (210) 614-7030 or toll free at 1-866-685-0277 for further information about these and other upcoming events.

Everyday millions of Americans reach out to help their fellow neighbor. They reach out by contributing time to build better lives and stronger communities. – Anonymous

Contact TOSA if you would like to: Enroll in the new Glenda Dawson Donate Life – Texas Registry.

Obtain organ, eye and tissue donation information.

Request speakers for schools, churches, civic organizations or health fairs.

Become a volunteer and help raise awareness of donation!

CENTRAL REGION HOME OFFICE 8122 Datapoint Drive, Suite 200 San Antonio, Texas 78229 Phone: (210) 614-7030 Fax: (210) 614-2129

NORTHERN REGION

SOUTHERN REGION

7000 North Mopac, Suite 325 Austin, Texas 78731

1400 N. McColl Road, Suite 104A McAllen, Texas 78501

Phone: (512) 459-4848 Fax: (512) 459-7794

Phone: (956) 630-0884 Fax: (956) 687-7185

TEXAS ORGAN SHARING ALLIANCE www.txorgansharing.org Donor Information Line: (866) 685-0277

GLENDA DAWSON DONATE LIFE – TEXAS REGISTRY www.donatelifetexas.org www.donevidatexas.org