Documentary on Social Media features Utah Organ Donor

[Clark]

http://www.abc4.com/content/news/top_stories/story/Documentary-on-Social-Media-features-Utah-Organ/8G2dVesMKkK6dXIkNKVRXA.cspx

Documentary on Social Media features Utah Organ Donor
Reported by: Kim Johnson

HOLLADAY, Utah (ABC 4 News) - Social media does wonders when it comes to connecting people. That couldn't be truer for those looking for an organ donor. There's a new documentary in the works that explores this growing trend and it even features a Utah donor.

John Maw doesn't go a day without thinking about the gift his friend gave him that saved his life. “I think about it in everything I do every day,” he said. Tori Bergstrom said giving him one of her kidneys was a no brainer.

“My mom died from cancer when I was 16, she had a brain tumor and no one could do anything to help her,” she said.

Bergstrom and Maw's story is being featured in a documentary about organ donation and social media-- something that helped them raise $40,000 to cover the surgery.

“We started blogging through this Facebook group our experiences and we would have so many people come on there saying this impacted me hearing about your story,” said Bergstrom.

The two met the old fashion way. They're neighbors in Holladay. But more and more donors are being found through sites like Twitter.

“I saw the tweet and I said I’ll do it, I’ll donate my kidney, what do I have to do?” said Amy Donohue. Donohue, from Phoenix, is one of those selfless souls who saw a need and jumped at the chance to help after her friend tweeted about her sick mom needing transplant.

“The main reason I did it was my father had died at that time eight years ago of cancer, there was nothing we could do for him,” said Donohue. “It was a way of me helping my dad even though it wasn't direct.”

After donating, Donohue wanted to do more, so she came up with the documentary idea to raise awareness, calling it "Social Media Stole My Kidney”. Donohue, a comedian by trade, and her crewed packed up the car and are now on a cross-country mission to tell the stories of 14 other living donors.

You can find more information on the documentary, by clicking here. http://socialmediastolemykidney.wordpress.com/

[Clark]

http://www.azfamily.com/outbound-feeds/yahoo-news/One-Womans-Tweet-Saves-a-Life-and-Inspires-An-Upcoming-Movie-209238561.html

Woman's tweet saves a life, inspires documentary
by Yetta Gibson

PHOENIX -- Social media is great for a lot of things -- spreading news and information, catching up with old friends, making new ones. That ability to connect can changes lives in incredible ways. Case in point: A single tweet led to a life-saving organ transplant for a Valley woman and inspired a film called "Social Media Stole My Kidney: A Documentary About a Girl Who Lost Her Kidney on Twitter."
It all started in January 2011. It was just another Friday night for Amy Donohue, until she spotted a tweet by @diyamarketing. It said: “Help me save my mother’s life, help me find a kidney donor.”
"I have such an exciting life," Donohue recalled. "I was about to get in the tub, and I checked my Twitter feed. It said that her mom had agreed to go on the donor list. It’s very difficult for people to go on and ask for a kidney."
The person tweeting under the @diyamarketing handle was Kirti Dwivedi, who was watching her mom suffer and deteriorate, desperately in need of a kidney transplant. It was a life or death situation.
Dwivedi and Donohue were longtime Twitter and Facebook friends. They had been following each other on Twitter for a couple of years.
“When I saw [Kirti’s] tweet, my exact words were ‘I’ll do it I’ll donate my kidney. What do I have to do?’" Donohue said.
"I asked if I could call her and that’s when the conversation got real,” Dwivedi said.
The women firmed up details, and Donohue went through the needed tests and blood work.
True story. Twitter finds a kidney donor & saves a life. RT @diyamarketing: @thefabulousone is a MATCH for #tinymom!! Welcome to the family!
— Stacey Wacknov (@gritsnyc) February 4, 2011
The surgery happened in April. The rest, as they say, is history.
6 months ago today, @thefabulousone donated her kidney to #TinyMom!! Check out our FB page: ht.ly/72iKz Are you an #organ #donor?
— Kirti D. (@DiyaMarketing) October 19, 2011
How has social media affected your life? It helped us find a #kidney #donor for my mother! http://fb.me/UrLzHHoj
— Kirti D. (@DiyaMarketing) January 31, 2011
Dwivedi says Donohue did more than save her mother.
“Understatement. She saved my family. She filled a seat at the table that we didn’t know was empty,” she says.
Donohue’s tweet-turned-kidney-donation made national news. That was two years ago.
Today, Donohue, a hysterical standup comic, is now a one-kidney-havin' woman on a mission.
What she did saved Dwivedi's mothers life. And it changed hers.
#MentionADateYouWillNeverForget donating my kidney to TinyMom on 4/19/11 @diyamarketing #donor
— Amy Donohue (@TheFabulousOne) August 14, 2012
She now uses her voice not only to make people laugh, but also to educate them about living organ donations.
She spent the month traveling to different countries to interview donors for her documentary "Social Media Stole My Kidney!" Her hope is to dispel beliefs that donating organs changes a donor’s life in negative ways.
"We are filming other kidney donors who I met through social media who are living normal happy healthy lives,” Donohue said.
One tweet. One kidney. One plan.
“My plan is to change the world with this story," Donohue said. "There is an ignorance about organ donation. There are almost a 100,000 people right now waiting for an organs; 94 percent are waiting for a kidney.
Thanks to Donohue, Dwivedi’s mother is no longer waiting -- or suffering.
“It’s so hard when you are watching your loved one hold on, but I want people to know that we did find hope and my mother is healthy and alive, completely unexpected,” she said.
To learn more about Donohue's project or to make a contribution, check out SocialMediaStoleMyKidney.wordpress.com or Facebook.com/SocialMediaStoleMyKidney.
To learn more about organ donation or to register as an organ, eye and tissue donor, visit DonateLife.net.