Organ donors, recipients celebrate years of happiness after transplants

Organ donors, recipients celebrate years of happiness after transplants

(Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)


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SALT LAKE CITY — When her diabetic daughter called from across the country asking for help, her kidneys failing following the birth of her third child, Renee Daines knew right away she would be the one who would match as a donor.

"No one can replace a mom, and she had three beautiful babies, and I just knew she would be the one to raise them," Daines said. "Now, she's had a chance to do that."

Her daughter, Holly Cooper, laughs about it now, but speaking on a panel Friday to wrap up National Organ Donor Month, Cooper said that phone call was the hardest she ever made.

"Never in my life did I think I would be calling home to see if anyone in my family would donate an organ. It's one thing to call and ask for a recipe, but a kidney? That was a little weird," Cooper joked, drawing an appreciative chuckle from the audience at the Salt Lake Main Library.

Together with a heart transplant recipient and the sister of a young man whose organs saved several lives after he was killed in a head-on crash, Cooper and Daines described the many vibrant years they have shared on both the giving and receiving ends of organ donation.

Alex McDonald, spokesman for Intermountain Donor Services, echoed the panel's plea for Utahns to "check yes" for organ donation on their drivers' licenses, and to consider becoming living donors for the estimated 550 people needing kidneys on the state's approximately 750-person transplant waiting list.

Friday's panel offered examples of health and longevity that transplant recipients and living donors can enjoy, McDonald said.

Diagnosed at age 12 with juvenile insulin-dependant diabetes, Cooper, now of Highland, said resources and technology for managing the condition were limited, and she slowly and steadily declined for the next dozen years until her mother gave her a second chance at life in July 1992.

"I have always said that my mom put her life on the line to get me here, to give birth to me, and then she put her life on the line to keep me here," Cooper said, thanking Daines.

Now, Cooper is months away from turning 50 — though her mother delights in pointing out that her kidney turns 79 this weekend — with an ambitious and healthy life. She loves to run and has completed a handful of long-distance races, is about to finish the college education she put on hold when her body was failing, and looks forward to many more years with her family.

"My life is good, and I feel incredibly lucky to have lived as long as I have and been able to experience all the joys and struggles that life brings," Cooper said of the past 25 years.

Daines, of Hoytsville, emphasized that organ donation does not just serve those who receive life-saving transplants, but also the wide circle of family and friends who surround them.

The kidney transplant, the mother and daughter say, gave Cooper a chance to raise her three children, take them to ballet recitals and lacrosse games, attend high school and college graduations, send them off and receive them home from missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, see two of them marry, and become a grandmother to two spunky little girls.

"Holly thinks the gift I gave her was my kidney," Daines told the audience. "Not so. The gift she gave me was her life. Her being the momma, her being the wife, her raising those children."

Holly Cooper and her mother, Renee Daines, attend a ceremony for National Donation Life Month at the Celebration of Life Donor Monument on Library Square in Salt Lake City on Friday, April 28, 2017. Daines donated one of her kidneys to Cooper. (Photo: Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
Holly Cooper and her mother, Renee Daines, attend a ceremony for National Donation Life Month at the Celebration of Life Donor Monument on Library Square in Salt Lake City on Friday, April 28, 2017. Daines donated one of her kidneys to Cooper. (Photo: Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)

Bailey Simons, wearing her crown as Miss Heart of Utah, shared a picture of her brother, Brady Simons, who died at 19 following a violent head-on crash as he was headed to work.

Her brother had indicated on his driver's license that he wanted his organs donated, Simons said, but the family didn't think much of it until several months later when letters arrived from the transplant recipients.

"I finally understood what organ donation is and what it meant to other people," she said during Friday's panel.

Simons described her brother as "the silliest boy you would ever meet" who dreamed of competing in BMX races. Raised in Manti, Brady Simons had decided he wanted to be a farmer, his sister said, and was unfailingly happy as he worked at ranches in the area.

Though Brady Simons' life ended at such a young age, his sister said she has been comforted since learning how his choice to donate his organs helped so many people.

"It's been bittersweet, but organ donation has made it even sweeter," Bailey Simons said. "I find hope, healing and joy through organ donations because the recipients, their lives have been changed forever. They have been saved. And even though I lost somebody, they have their life for longer."

Following the panel, she joined others in braving the weather to observe a moment of silence at the Celebration of Life Monument on Library Square, laying flowers at the spot where her brother's name is etched on the flowing ribbon of glass.

Joanne Davis, of Rigby, Idaho, was the mother of six young boys when she received her first heart transplant in 1991 on Mother's Day at University Hospital.

"It was the best Mother's Day present any mother could ever have," Davis said Friday. "Words cannot express the gratitude I feel toward the person who was so charitable to give their life for mine."

Heart transplant recipient Joanne Davis joins in a moment of silence for National Donation Life Month at the Celebration of Life Donor Monument on Library Square in Salt Lake City Library, in Salt Lake City on Friday, April 28, 2017. (Photo: Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
Heart transplant recipient Joanne Davis joins in a moment of silence for National Donation Life Month at the Celebration of Life Donor Monument on Library Square in Salt Lake City Library, in Salt Lake City on Friday, April 28, 2017. (Photo: Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)

After the heart transplant gave her a second chance, Davis said she chose to show her appreciation by living a happy and full life, raising all six of her sons to go on and graduate from college, traveling with her husband and serving others.

"It has been a marvelous life, and you just don't take things for granted like you used to because you know that you have been given a special gift," she said, "and you want to make sure you show that appreciation by living a good life."

Daines told those who heard her account and those of the others on the panel to carry on the conversation surrounding organ donation and tell even more people how impactful it can be.

"It's a beautiful story. It's a story of life and love and heartache and crisis," she said. "But it's a story that needs to be told."

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