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Three Inspiring Transplant Stories for SID&T Subscribers
The life-giving miracle of organ donation and transplantation is what sustains all of us in this work. Nobody becomes a transplant surgeon or goes to work with donor families at an OPO because they love politics or look forward to fighting with private equity over the future of our field. We got into this work, and we stay in this work because it gives us a sense of purpose and deepens our appreciation for life. We also love being part of a larger community comprised of others who have walked this path and have navigated the high and low moments.
So, while SID&T keeps fighting as always to advocate for evidence-based practices and policies within the donation and transplant community and to ensure that metrics and measures are grounded in the science of saving lives rather serving the interests of private equity, we also want to reflect the joy, passion and success of this field by spotlighting some of the anecdotal good news, the wonderful outcomes and the powerful healing that organ donation and transplantation brings to the families and communities of donors and recipients.
The life-giving miracle of organ donation and transplantation is what sustains all of us in this work. Nobody becomes a transplant surgeon or goes to work with donor families at an OPO because they love politics or look forward to fighting with private equity over the future of our field. We got into this work, and we stay in this work because it gives us a sense of purpose and deepens our appreciation for life. We also love being part of a larger community comprised of others who have walked this path and have navigated the high and low moments.
So, while SID&T keeps fighting as always to advocate for evidence-based practices and policies within the donation and transplant community and to ensure that metrics and measures are grounded in the science of saving lives rather serving the interests of private equity, we also want to reflect the joy, passion and success of this field by spotlighting some of the anecdotal good news, the wonderful outcomes and the powerful healing that organ donation and transplantation brings to the families and communities of donors and recipients.
Brady Allen Heiling and Hallie Helgeson
According to Jan Heiling, her son Brady decided he would register as an organ donor on his 16th birthday when getting his drivers’ license. According to the Pine Journal of Duluth, Minnesota, this was how Jan recalled their conversation:
He asked (Jan) if she was an organ donor and if he, too, should become a donor:
“Well, dude, so my thought is, if I’m no longer here and can’t use my organs, but someone can use my organs, I am happy to be that person. I’m happy to give that gift,” Jen recalled saying to Brady.
Tragically, Brady Heiling, who was 19 and his girlfriend Hallie Helgeson, 18 died last month in Dane County, Wisconsin after the car Helgeson was driving was struck by an alleged drunk driver as they were returning home to Minnesota from a Coldplay concert. Helgeson died at the scene, but Heiling survived for five days before succumbing to his injuries.
The New York Post posted photos of Brady, covered with a Donate Life blanket and his breathing provided by a ventilator, being wheeled through a hallway so his family could say goodbye, before transplant surgeons removed his organs for donation. Helgeson also was a donor and reportedly enabled 75 patients to receive her organs and tissue. The number of patients helped by Brady has yet to be counted.
More from the Pine Journal:
Brady had a rare blood type — AB positive — which matches only about 2% of the population.
“We were told patients with his blood type don’t often find donors, so this will be a very, very amazing gift to give and I pray that he may save as many lives as humanly possible with his young, strong, beautiful body,” Jen wrote on his CaringBridge site.
All organs but his damaged lungs were able to be transplanted. His lungs were donated for educational research and development, according to Jen.
Up until the morning of the transplant surgery on July 26, it was unclear whether he would be able to donate his heart because only hearts that are working at 55% can be transplanted, she said. Right after the accident, Brady’s heart was working at 30% and had improved only to 40% the day before the surgery.
“We prayed and prayed, and we put it out on CaringBridge to pray that there was some miracle done. … In the morning, his heart team called me and said that they had done the last test, and he was at 55%,” Jen said.
Alec Johnson-Heath and Valance Sams Sr.
NBC Nightly News and other outlets covered a truly heartwarming story, following up a rare triple-organ transplant received by Los Angeles resident Valance Sams Sr., capturing his first meeting with the Alabama-based mother of his donor Alec Johnson-Heath, two years to the day after Sams’ surgery.
In 2023, after undergoing 20 hours of surgery at Cedars-Sinai hospital, Sams woke up with a new heart, liver and kidney, all from the same donor. The rare triple-organ transplant was his only chance at survival, according to a member of Sams’ surgery team, Nicholas Nissen, MD.
According to CBS News Los Angeles, Sams had been diagnosed ten years earlier with sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease that “created a build-up of scar tissue on his heart.” Since that diagnosis, his health steeply declined and by the time of his surgery, he could barely sleep and couldn’t walk without needing to stop and catch his breath. Nearing death, Sams checked into the hospital, but his future was uncertain. According to another surgeon, Dr. Tyler Gunn, “Without this transplant in a timely manner, he likely would not have survived.” The surgery was “very much a miracle” according to Dr. Nissen, “an event that happens two or three times per year.”
The NBC story takes viewers to the wonderful moment when Sams travelled to Alabama and met his donor’s mother, April Johnson-Heath. From a Cedars-Sinai report:
Sams’ meeting with his donor’s family was two years in the making.
“The day I woke up from the surgery, it was like I had this aching yearn,” he told NBC Nightly News.
Johnson Heath felt the same. She had mailed letters to the three people who received her son, Alec’s, organs, hoping for a response.
“I was just like, ‘I just want to hear back from one of the recipients,’” she said, and she remembered thinking, “It would be really extra special if it’d be the one with his heart.”
Her hopes were fulfilled when Sams contacted her last summer. The two first spoke on what would have been Alec’s 23rd birthday. When they met in person on the second anniversary of Sams’ transplant surgery, Johnson Heath was eager to hear Alec’s heart beating in Sams’ chest.
“He just had a big heart,” she said of Alec, and then, nodding toward Sams, added, “Now he’s got a big heart.”
Sams told NBC Nightly News he intends to continue Alec’s legacy of generosity.
“All I can do is pay it forward,” he said. “I have a lot to live for and a lot to live up to.”
Wyatt Houppert And Dawn Rice
New York media, including the New York Post and 1010 WINS gave extensive coverage to how first-responding agencies like the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department and the Hauppauge Fire Department showed their support for 12-year-old kidney transplant recipient Wayne Houppert and his donor, Dawn Rice, who is married to an area law officer.
From the Post:
He asked (Jan) if she was an organ donor and if he, too, should become a donor:
“Wyatt, who dreams of being a first responder when he grows up, was allowed to jump in and sit behind the wheel of numerous police vehicles.
He was also given a K9 demonstration and a police escort home after the festivities ended.
“It’s very hard to get a smile out of him, so to see how much he is smiling tells me how happy he really is,” his mother Devan Houppert told The Post.
“His first word was literally ‘car,’ he just loves cars,” she added.
The ceremony took place days before he is scheduled to undergo life-saving kidney transplant surgery. Dennis A. Clark
His mother revealed that her son was born with just one kidney that deteriorated over time, leaving him on dialysis three days a week since February.
After sharing the news on Facebook, family friend Dawn Rice volunteered to be the very first person tested for a match. ll, dude, so my thought is, if I’m no longer here and can’t use my organs, but someone can use my organs, I am happy to be that person. I’m happy to give that gift,” Jen recalled saying to Brady.
1010 WINS has video of Wyatt riding up and down in the bucket as Rice watched. According to the reporter, Wyatt was born with only one kidney, and after contracting Lyme Disease, “that kidney began to fail.” Rice said it was because her father was on kidney dialysis for 21 years that she decided to become Wyatt’s living donor. “No 12-year-old should be on dialysis,” she said.
On August 4, the Hauppauge Fire Department posted this good news on Facebook:
We are very happy to report that 12-year-old Wyatt Houppert has been released from the hospital following successful kidney transplant surgery. He is home and, by all accounts, doing very well. A large tray of get-well cookies is on the way courtesy of the Hauppauge Fire Department.
The Importance of Positive Organ Transplant Stories
Good-news stories about organ transplants play a crucial role in promoting donation and supporting individuals involved in the process:
Raising awareness and education: These stories educate the public about the benefits of organ, eye, and tissue donation, addressing misconceptions and increasing understanding of the impact of donation.
Encouraging registration: Stories about successful transplants and the transformative impact of donation inspire people to register as organ donors.
Supporting donor families: Sharing positive stories demonstrates the healing that families have experienced through the donation legacy after the loss of their loved ones.
Providing hope for recipients and candidates: Good news and inspirational stories can provide hope and encouragement to patients awaiting transplants and their families.
Fostering community and connection: These narratives connect individuals within the transplant community, including recipients, donors, and their families, creating a sense of shared experience and support.
Building a positive image of organ donation: Highlighting the positive outcomes of transplantation can help shift public perception, counteracting negative biases and promoting a favorable view of organ donation.
Driving action and advocacy: Compelling stories can motivate people to become advocates for organ donation, spreading awareness and encouraging others to consider this life-saving act.
In essence, positive organ transplant stories personalize the issue, connecting people emotionally and demonstrating the profound impact of organ donation on individuals, families, and communities.