Giving the Gift of Life ~ National Donor Day

National Donor Day, observed on Feb. 14, is a great time to register as an organ, eye, and tissue donor or to make an appointment to donate blood or platelets.

What could show more love on Valentine’s Day than the act of giving one’s body to help another?

Whether you are a living donor of blood products, stem cells, kidney or liver, register with your state as an organ donor, or make the decision for your loved one to be a donor, you are truly giving the gift of life.

Nationally, more than 119,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant, including 2,091 children.

That doesn’t include the number waiting for a bone marrow (stem cell) matched donor which is much more complicated to find.

Significant progress continues in the advancement of transplantation medicine with goals of lengthening life spans, restoring function, appearance, and quality of life.

But it still takes the generosity of donors and their loved ones to make a transplant possible.

Claudia Swigart of Pinehurst believes the true value of organ donation is the gift of time.

In her case, fifteen years with her husband Wendell that she, their five combined children, thirteen grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren may not have had.

Wendell and his three siblings all had Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), an inherited condition causing cysts to form in the kidney causing damage and kidney failure.

“Wendell worked in the mine here in the Valley,” shares Claudia.

“He found out he had Polycystic Kidney Disease when he was thirty-four and he was careful, he exercised, ate healthy and never smoked. He didn’t have any kidney problems until he was sixty-three and had to have open heart surgery.”

The surgery was hard on Wendell and his lungs collapsed, he nearly died and it put his kidneys in distress.

He started dialysis after that and was eventually put on the kidney transplant list to receive a transplant at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

The dialysis center in Pinehurst had not opened, so Claudia drove Wendell to Coeur d’Alene two times a week for three-hour treatments.

Claudia shared, “I am so thankful they opened a dialysis center here. It’s exhausting enough to be on dialysis without the traveling.”

But there is more to this story.

“We always liked telling everyone we could about what happened because we knew God had His hand in the plan,” explains Claudia.

They normally traveled to Arizona in their camper for the winter.

Wendell would arrange to have dialysis at the center in Arizona instead of Coeur d’Alene.

“Well, in 2001 we were planning on leaving so Wendell called to remove himself from the transplant list while we were gone. But, when he called to arrange dialysis at the center in Arizona, they were full!” said Claudia.

Since Wendell couldn’t have dialysis in Arizona, they were forced to stay home which meant he remained on the transplant list.

“Just a few weeks later we got the call!” Claudia exclaimed.

Wendell was told he had a matched kidney on the way from a donor in Alaska.

“Wendell was sixty-five at the time and he asked if there were any younger people waiting for transplants, anyone still raising young kids who needed it more than he did. His doctor knew he was that kind of man and firmly told him that it was Wendell’s kidney and he was taking it!”

Wendell’s kidney was such a good match he never experienced any problems or symptoms of rejection.

The transplant coordinators said that the Swigarts could write a letter to the donor’s family in Alaska if they wanted to have communication with them or thank them.

“We wrote a letter to the family two months later and Wendell told them he would take real good care of the kidney,” Claudia said.

Wendell did take great care of himself but unfortunately fought esophageal cancer unrelated to his kidneys and passed away in March of 2016 at the age of 80.

The donor’s family never wrote back, so they do not know the identity of the donor, but Claudia and Wendell were glad they sent the thank-you letter.

“We went back to Arizona the year after the transplant and didn’t have to worry about dialysis any more. We may never have gotten to do that and he sure wouldn’t have had the life he had without the generosity of the donor and their family.”

Wendell Swigart had 15 extra quality years with his bride and they celebrated their forty-sixth wedding anniversary before his passing.

Statistics say that only three out of 1,000 people who die are candidates for organ donation, and that’s if their families agree to donation.

Even if you register as a donor, it is still up to your family to make the final decision.

Making your family aware that you want to be a donor is the most important thing you can do. For more information visit www.donatelife.net or www.Organize.org.