https://livingdonorsonline.org/donor-experiences/donation-anniversaries/
It's National Donor Day as I write this, and I sincerely hope you're all well and reflecting on our relationship to this recognition for all of us who give of ourselves for others, blood, plasma, platelets, marrow, and organ donors, living and deceased. So many of us again this month, Robin for Keith thirty-four years ago, Jeffrey for his step-father twenty-five years ago, and Stevie for an unknown person two years ago, just a few among us.
February is when we also remember Rita's passing twenty-two years ago now. Rita had donated for her mother twenty-six years ago, and spent the next four years struggling with complications as well as advocating for systemic improvements for the benefit of all of us who've donated since. My motivation to seek my initial service on the board of directors of the Organ Procurement Transplant Network twenty-one years ago as the first official living donor representative was significantly influenced by Rita's issues, actions, and correspondence. Her memory and example remain in mind as I serve agin now. The world, policy, and practice have all changed greatly in the intervening years. Improvement in policy and practice is still possible, appropriate, and needed. The media's incredulity the Jesse Eisenberg would choose to be a non-directed kidney donor is one example of how far we still need to come.
Best wishes all! Happy anniversary and happy national donor day!
Thirty-fourth anniversary:
Robin Neill Payne donated a kidney to her father, Keith, on February 5th, 1992
Thirty-third anniversary:
Christopher B. Walker donated a kidney to his son, Brandon, on February 5th, 1993
Thirty-first anniversary:
Mae Menard donated a kidney to her daughter on February 15th, 1995
Twenty-seventh anniversary:
Pete Whitfield donated a kidney to his brother on February 2nd, 1999
Janet Troiano donated a kidney to her sister on February 17th, 1999
Twenty-fifth anniversary:
Jeffrey Looman donated a kidney to his step-father on February 18th, 2001
Twenty-fourth anniversary:
Chris Mason donated a kidney to his father on February 5th, 2002
Lea King donated a kidney to her mother on February 6th, 2002
Linda Bartalot donated a kidney to her mother on February 15th, 2002
Father Patrick Sullivan donated a kidney to a stranger on February 20th, 2002
Lana Schupbach donated a kidney to her mother on February 20th, 2002
Twenty-third anniversary:
Teddie Anderson was a non-directed kidney donor to Janet Grier on February 10th, 2003
Raoul Gomez, Jr., donated part of his liver to his father on February 27th, 2003
Twenty-second anniversary:
Rita Kocian, a living kidney donor to her mother in August 2000, died on February 12th, 2004
Joyce Trivett donated a kidney to a friend on February 13th, 2004
Darcie Bjorgo donated a kidney to her mother, Judy Bjorgo, on February 23rd, 2004
Chris Dickenson donated a kidney to her sister on February 24th, 2004
James Muscat donated a kidney to his brother-in-law, David Vella, on February 25th, 2004
Twenty-first anniversary:
Jaime L. Smith donated a kidney to her aunt on February 10th, 2005
Iris M. Saltiel donated a kidney to her sister on February 15th, 2005
Steve Natalie donated a kidney to a friend on February 22nd, 2005
Jeffrey Padilla donated a kidney to his brother-in-law on February 25th, 2005
Twentieth anniversary:
Patrick Goldon donated a kidney to his sister on February 2nd, 2006
Linda Shaffer donated a kidney to her father on February 15th, 2006
Shannon Irwin donated a kidney to her father on February 20th, 2006
Corry Rausch donated a kidney to her daughter on February 28th, 2006
Nineteenth anniversary:
Audra Burgess donated a kidney to her sister-in-law on February 15th, 2007
Eighteenth anniversary:
Sue Kosiorek donated part of her liver to her brother on February 5th, 2008
Terry Brown donated a kidney to a friend's husband on February 8th, 2008
Sara Anderson donated a kidney to her Dad on February 14th, 2008
Maureen Corcoran donated a kidney to her cousin, Mary Jane DiPaolo, on February 19th, 2008
Seventeenth anniversary:
Nicole Skelly donated a kidney to her friend, Julie, on February 4th, 2009
Carol Stangel donated a kidney to her daughter, Katie, on February 10th, 2009
Wendy Switzer donated a kidney to her hubby on February 18th, 2009
Sixteenth anniversary:
Stacy Rushton donated a kidney to her husband on February 3rd, 2010
Timothy Joyce donated a kidney to his sister, Mary Bridget Collins, on February, 8th, 2010
Ebony Vallance donated a kidney to her Dad on February 9th, 2010
Sandy Benning donated a kidney on February 10th, 2010
Neal Orsbon donated a kidney to his younger sister on February 12th, 2010
Patricia Childers donated a kidney to her brother-in-law, David Elrod, on February 12th, 2010
Ronda Peterson donated a kidney on February 15th, 2010
Todd Welden donated a kidney to Robbie Moore on February 17th, 2010
Cindy donated a kidney to her brother on February 22nd, 2010
Fifteenth anniversary:
Roger Ernest donated a kidney to his daughter's partner, Gary Bourton, on February 8th, 2011
Fourteenth anniversary:
Luis G. Rivera donated a kidney to his brother, Ruben A. Rivera, on February 17th, 2012
Faith Bryant donated a kidney to Blaze Pagliarini, a stranger, on February 19th, 2012
Julian Cook donated a kidney to a total stranger, Mary Tompkins, on February 20th, 2012
Morgan Bush donated a kidney to her brother, Scott Briggs, on February 21st, 2012
Lauri Passeri donated a kidney to her friend, Kevin Beam, on February 24th, 2012
Bob Minteer donated a kidney to his friend, Jim, on February 28th, 2012
Jennifer MacIntyre made an unrelated kidney donation on February 28th, 2012
Thirteenth anniversary:
Itty Beck donated a kidney to an unknown person on February 12th, 2013
Pauline donated a kidney to her spouse, Ken, on February 13th, 2013
Virginia Compton donated a kidney to her sister-in-law, Pam, on February 18th, 2013
Cori McManemon donated a kidney to Judy Mogel on February 19th, 2013
Mary Beth Wilkinson donated her left kidney to Donald Mark Lindsay, a complete stranger three states away, on February 20th, 2013 in memory of her twin brother who passed away from cancer
Lorie Swanky donated a kidney to her sister, Tammy Swanky, on February 25th, 2013
Twelfth anniversary:
Danny Walker donated a kidney to his brother, Jimmy, on February 4th, 2014
Heather Hunt donated a kidney to her sister, Kristin Hunt Wolff, on February 26th, 2014
Eleventh anniversary:
Phillip Gay donated a kidney to his daughter, Charlotte Archer Gay, on February 17th, 2015
Tenth anniversary:
Kristin Bramblett donate a kidney to her friend, Keith Kozel, on February 19th, 2016
Micki Stanley donated a kidney to his sister, Patricia Kopp, on February 19th, 2016
Pamela Woodward donated a kidney to her spouse, John, on February 25th, 2016
Ninth anniversary:
Marilyn Hulslander donated a kidney to her husband, Ralph, on February 7th, 2017
Sixth anniversary:
Ruth Esteban-Muir was a non-directed bridge donor on February 19th 2020
Second anniversary:
Stevie Von Flue made a non-directed kidney donation on February 27th, 2024