4.5.2024 - Organ Donation Month Press Event

happy Friday in the Glorious city of Fall River mayor thank you so much for hosting us to celebrate April spring but April as organ donation month not only uh on the United States Joe Biden has proclaimed that a couple days ago on Wednesday the governor has proclaimed April as Donate Life month as well and then the mayor is going to wonderfully declare it here today to celebrate organ

donation in to encourage people to check the yes box and register as an organ and tissue donor when they get or renew their driver's license ID or real ID my name is Matt Boger I have the wonderful privilege of representing the federally designated Oregon procurement organization New England donor Services it is our job each and every day to help save and enhance lives through what I

call the miracle of organ donation this story is about saving lives our motto which is proclaimed here is Donate Life we don't want anyone to pass away we are about life period having someone die to save someone else's life is a zero sum game but there's an opportunity to help save someone else's life through the gift of organ transplantation I will say that you're more likely to need a transplant than to

become an organ donor and we're here to hear the stories of people who've been personally touched I'm so glad to introduce Hal who've got a wonderful story him and a good friend are going to share their story H if you don't mind very much you're GNA be right here thank you uh good morning everybody and and thank you Mr Mayor for having us here appreciate you coming when Matt said uh

I was going to speak at the mayor's office I said well well where he said Fall River and I said Fall River well that's the the best place in the world because you have battle Battleship Cove so that's one of you know my favorite places to go but uh I just want to be brief and say that you know as somebody who received their heart transplant in 2016 you know prior to that I was a very

active person uh you know for 10 years I worked for the uh District Attorney's Office up in Springfield Prosecuting people who hurt women and children then the next 10 years I ran the local State Police Academy where I TR police officers and then I practiced law uh for another 10 years so when I got sick it was really a life-changing experience and when I say sick I'm talking about

being so sick that you couldn't take care of yourself so it was very very shocking and fortunately you know I was lucky enough to receive a heart transplant and what I want to encourage people to do is to become donors because this is a problem that we can solve if we were able to increase the amount of people who became donors more people would be allowed to live and that's how

easy it is and the second thing when you don't decide to become a donor and you pass these valuable organs are just going to go to waste and a lot of people say well I want to come into the I want to go out of the world with the same equipment that I brought in well we lose teeth all the time and we also have our gallbladder out and our tonsils so

there's no divine plan to come into the world and leave with the same equipment now the last thing I'm going to say is this journey of a heart transplant has allowed me to meet the donor and not the donor but the donor family and this gentleman to my right who his son was so nice to become a donor and I have his heart we have become great friends so this is an opportunity to expand

the definition of family and I love this man I call he's from Plymouth and I call him my Plymouth cousins and he's going to tell you about my donor and you're going to tell you about a side benefit that this wonderful experience of becoming a donor can give you we now we not related Helen we are related yes yes we are behind

you thank you all for having me thank you Mr Mayor thank you state representative um I I I come today for my son jack also for my family and also for all of us here today uh my name is Richard Tian I'm a single father with four grown sons their names are Colin Ross Jack and James I'll begin with a little history of the Tean family I was born to two marvelous

parents Jack and darthy I am one of 10 children of a proud Irish family we're raised with great values of Love loyalty honesty trust and most importantly faith we were taught to be to be positive and respectful to all I in turn instilled in my four Sons these same virtues they are all special young men they are truly men for others my sons and I are are organ donors and very proud to be our life

choices prolong the lives of many so that they can live longer and love longer together with their families my third son Jack's Life Choices were proudly honored by his three brothers and me we would absolutely Grant his final wishes this is exactly what Jack was all about helping those in need Jack now carries on within you Hal Jack is a true hero and a warrior which we have always known

I'm extremely proud as Jack's father to write this tribute in honor of my beautiful and beloved Son Jack's number one love in his life was his family he would greet you with open arms and give you a great warm hug he would bring joy and bright any day with just a smile he was very charismatic and personable Jack loved movies listening to music and reading books Jack loved animals he

loved hiking and nature trails in New Hampshire's White Mountains he found peace there Jack loved Sports his entire life he was a gifted and talented athlete who captained many of his teams Jack loved attending Boston College football games with his brothers and me in conclusion Jack tenan lived a quality life he was a trusting faithful and and respectful the true definition of a

Gentleman Jack was able to nurture the best qualities in every life he touched we are all blessed that he was a huge part of our lives and always will be until we meet again Jack has redeemed God's promise of everlasting life and peace Jack's story does not end with death his story carries on with life and light and truth and hope and love the definition of a hero is a person who is admired for courage outstanding

achievements are noble qualities our Jack Tian certainly qualifies as a true American herrow thank you very much for your time thank you thank you wonderful Richard thank you so much for uh sharing that really appreciate it that I I will note that Richard you and I are the same height and I'm noticing your wonderful shoes I was wondering how high you got the other thing I will say is that Jack was a magnificent

individual my son right now is in Virginia wrestling for um the US uh national team um uh tournament and your son was a champion himself so I take great pride in that uh and hearing these amazing stories of Jack living on through someone else is is is great um we we're here to celebrate organ donation we're here to also Identify some facts about organ donation there is no age limit to registering as an organ

and tissue donor 50 60 70 80 and yes even 90 we encourage you to register there is no age limit for age limit for it in fact we had an individual who is in our 80s who is a recent uh Kidney donor um I'm so honored to work with uh many colleagues we are 315 people strong representing all of New England we have people on call 24 hours a day to help

save a life one of the great after Care Specialists uh is a great colleague who does wonderful work and has a personal story to share as well Rachel thank you so much thank you Matt and hello everyone and thank you so much for joining us in celebration of Donate Life month this is celebration that I am honored to be able to attend as I am a very grateful liver transplant recipient when I was born I

had a disease called biliary at treia that severely impacted my liver and limited the amount of time that I had left to live that would be seven days to be exact as my parents first child they were told I had only seven days to live until my incredible donor family said yes to donation it is not lost on me that amidst likely the worst days of their lives I received one of the world's

greatest gifts which was a second chance at life I think of my donor and his family every single day as I would not be here without their generosity my transplant happened 29 almost 30 years ago in June of 1994 I was 14 months old and not only my life but my family's life was positively impacted by donation when someone gives the gift of life it affects not only the direct

recipient but all of those who love and care for them it truly is a ripple effect without my transplant I would not have been able to graduate college get married or purchase my first home I cannot wait to see what my future holds and the ways that I can continue to participate in the Donate Life Community this month is all about celebrating our donor Heroes that gave the gift of Life those individuals who

checked yes at the registry registered online and those families that in the time of great distress thinking they think to give to strangers and give the gift of Life all of the people involved in this community are among the most special and the most appreciative thank you again for allowing me to share my story and if you have not please consider and check yes at the registry thank

you awesome job Rachel and received a transplant under the age of two yes we're not going to say how old you are but uh we can do a little bit of math how long have you had that um almost this will be 30 years 30 years I mean that's part of the miracle I will say that Massachusetts is among the Forefront of transplantation and this kind of stuff is truly uh amazing we've

got a few more stories mayor if that's okay I know you're a very busy guy I really do appreciate that um I am so glad to have uh Jean here where's Jean and his family who's been personally connected to organ or Nation so we're here for a couple reasons mostly to really give gratitude to the RMV because 98% of all people who register do so at the RMV play they play a significant

role in the organ donation process not only here in Massachusetts but every state in the United States is required to present the question would you like to register as an organ and tissue uh donor um I do want to thank the Massachusetts Department of Health putting on a great campaign right over here mass.gov back organd donor mass.gov organd donor you can register as an organ and tissue donor but the RMV DMV

or BMV in all states is the major form that people do that getting this heart on your license means that you have a heart and could give I do again want to make sure it's clear organ donation is very very rare only 5% of all deaths happen in a manner where one can become an organ donor and in fact you're more likely to need a transplant than to become an organ donor so this sign says

I'm here thanks to my my hero the hero Act is registering as an organ donor we don't want anyone to pass away but life can be produced from that Jean thank you so much for coming bring your family up and share the story thank you hi my name is Judy reposer I'm actually I work here um in the Fall River water department didn't realize that I would be speaking so if you hear

a lot of um ums I'm sorry first um I my late husband is Jean's first cousin and their daughter had a kidney disease what's the name of the disease that she had Alpa alport disease uh she need come to find out she needed a uh a kidney I knew that I had O negative blood so I knew that part was out of the way so I became a a donor and

I went through the best physical you could ever go through because in order to give to your recipient you have to be healthy to do it uh she is married now she has one child and um I really couldn't have done it without my parents they were so um dedicated to make sure that we help people as much as we can I can't think of anything am I missing anything no years tell about 17

years oh that's right it's 17 years and because of the fact that my our donation went so well my sister became a donor herself um she became an anonymous donor but she ended up meeting her recipient it's actually it's an amazing process process I I can't tell you enough to please if you can donate say that you're a donor it is it's a miracle to watch somebody who was so gray that morning to

see how pink she was after it and she still is and we also have another daughter our youngest daughter um she has the same disease as my as Michelle and I kind of had an idea of of the just the symptoms that she was going through we never seen it with Michelle because we didn't know nothing about it and the education that they gave us as parents totally helped us out so now we

had to go and look for another donor because of course Judy couldn't do it anymore I would have I know you would have so we ended up and unfortunate fortunately we were so lucky that she is a paramedic in the city of Far River so we had abundance of people going to try to see if they could donate where it was so much that the hospital called Bethany and told Bethany could you please stop sending people

here so she ended up again getting a kidney that we've known her donor since she was a little kid and she surprised us cuz she kept saying I didn't get any mo I didn't get any notification and we were at a fundraiser and they called Bethany up and they called us up and and her donor and I'm like telling my husband oh my God they're going to give her money to help us with her her um

medical well that's when Rachel her Dona came out and said that she was a perfect match and that was 5 years ago so I cannot till my dying day thank Judy and Rachel for giving our daughter's life so just go and sign that check that box off thank you the idea of life is amazing and this gift is trumps everything else so right now there's over aund 3,000 individuals waiting for a life-saving transplant 80%

of that is waiting for a kidney transplant so the opportunity to help save someone else's life is magnificent uh we don't have enough organs to go around in fact 13 people die every nine minutes because of the lack of organs to do that so finding a living donor is wonderful are organizations responsible after someone passes away but we encourage people to consider that it's an amazing step to be a living donor

it's a much easier step to just register as an organ but these are great stories I do want to thank the uh the uh the elected officials here for giving us this time I've got one more story to share with someone who is um fantastic individual and has spent a lot of her career um helping the United States with uh um the VA uh so Cheryl thank you so much for for coming here I'm putting you

on the spot I apologize but uh would' love to have you say a few words sure I'll keep it short since I am short right hi I'm Cheryl andreid um I'm actually from for River originally um PR graduate of BMC dery High School yes 1985 a good year um at the age of 52 found myself needing um sorry choke up um found myself needing a liver transplant out of the blue literally out

of the blue woke up one morning went to the emergency room cuz I looked a little yellow and gotten a little nervous and found out that day that my liver was not going to make it um so that was quite the eye opener um so anyways on a positive note I am here today simply because a 24 year old girl from New Hampshire checked off the Box didn't realize she was going to be a

donor so soon obviously at 24 she passed away from an annu ism um but as a result of that I get to live and appreciate every day of my life and not just my life but everything around me the people around me the the support that I got from the doctors from the nurses from just everybody in my life that came together to help me get to that point that I could be able enough to receive

the liver because I was so sick I was in achon hospital for about a year um bouncing I lost Consciousness not would not know who I was what was around me for two weeks at a time um basically they told me I would have roughly three weeks to live if I didn't get a liver and on April 14th yes April and not a good Friday for if it means anything to

anybody but to me it does um it mean a lot to me um my surgeon walked in and said do you remember me and I said yes can I go home I I just wanted to go home I was so sick of being in the hospital and she said what about a liver today and I said what what are you talking about and she said I have a liver for you today and that was on

April 14th 2014 I'm sorry 2019 and she came in and she said we'll have a liver in You by 400 a.m. this morning and here I am and I cannot say enough about what it means to be be a donor I never thought I would be in that position but by the grace of God a 24 year-old girl checked off that box and I've had contact with the family I have not met

the family but the family was very um pleased to hear that she was able to give to seven other people so the the thought of that is just miraculous and um I will be in contact with them this morning month on my anniversary to let them know that I'm still going strong she has not forgotten I think of her all the time good moments bad moments she's with me and um thank

you that's it have a good day giving appreciation to uh the donor is what it's all about again we don't want anyone to pass away but we could not do this without the collaboration of both the state and federal government New England donor services does work 24 hours a day to help save lives communicating with the Department of Public Health and the RMV and all the hospitals in the region um

representative thank you so much for being uh such a wonderful supporter we did an event similar to this multiple years ago before a thing called covid and uh your connection with your constituents your passion to bring attention for something that's important that can truly help save a life uh is inspiring so thank you so much for saying a few words and appreciate all that you do up on Beacon Hill thank you

Matt wow um have you run out yet and gone online and registered for that heart on your driver's license if you haven't please do so um in the darkest of days for one family brings such light and uh and Life to another and that's what this is about and uh but for those people who check the box um you and you would not be standing here and your daughters would not be here and I

remember she spoke a few years ago here at that of at event your daughter who's an em EMS um many of my colleagues at the State House have a direct relationship to transplants um my family I have a niece who was uh through a living donors had two transplants and uh without that selfless act uh and as has been pointed out by Matt a very simple act uh because um clearly you don't know what you're

doing when it's happening but boy uh the impact is transformative so I'm here to support uh what the people from the wiland Oregon Bank do uh in Massachusetts thank the RMV because that takes a lot of work to make sure all of this gets processed and the Department of Public Health please consider saving a life by checking that box and being an organ donor thank you thank you thank you so

much represent really do appreciate all the wonderful du and mayor before I call you up I I do want to recognize uh one of the foremost leaders in organ donation research uh just became a colleague of ours Jim Jim if you don't mind just saying a few brief words would love that because this is such an impactful thing we look at data to make sure that we're being as efficient as possible not only here in Massachusetts

but honestly New England donor service is a national leader we're at the Forefront we want to educate people about this but Jim saying a few words would be great thank you thank you Matt uh Jim rodri with New England donor Services I want to share that in Massachusetts we have over 4,000 people uh waiting for their gift of Life currently last year thanks to the great work of my colleagues at New England

donor Services 1,200 people in Massachusetts received received their transplant their gift of life unfortunately 250 people waiting died uh while waiting they didn't make it to that transplant Finish Line we here in the Commonwealth are very very giving people if somebody is in need we help them we don't even ask questions we just do what we need to do to help them I encourage you to help your neighbors

your friends people you don't know uh who are waiting for a transplant it's as simple as everyone has said before me simply check the box you will give the gift of Hope to all of those who are waiting thank you thank you so much Jim and Jim is responsible for I I don't know the number because I've worked on them but seven or eight federal grants specifically working with this state and state agencies to help support

organization here locally and nationally and honestly even worldwide mayor I know how busy you are if you want to get a drink of water or you know I know there's a cough here's A's a life saer for you um Yep this is your you know this is your house you can do what you want but thank you so much for spending uh your uh morning with us I know that you're a very busy person but

hearing people some of which who've been educated in this very town there we go there go I'm not even going to get into the age thing but mayor thank you so much for helping celebrate this and appreciate your time obviously this is a very special event in Fall River it's it it's really it really cracks me up I thought Richard was getting the symbol of a finger to put me my head when I was

talking number one there you go number one uh and then then I'm talking to Rachel before this starts and I I said are you a recipient she goes yes I was I said how long ago she goes 30 I said three years ago she said no 30 she looks about 20 I'm saying H I know they have advanced surgery but I was like how the heck did that work but very very nice so we're gonna we're

GNA acknowledge this very very special day this very very important activity that saves lives this is this is hands on on on the chest boots on the ground helping people to live longer so we're going to have a proclamation from the city of Fall River and it's going to read like this whereas there are more than 103,000 Americans with more than 6,000 in New England currently waiting for a life-saving

organ transplant and whereas there are over 1 million life enhancing tissue transplants each year that are made possible by the Gen generous donation of corneas Bones skin or other tissue and whereas we can all help to save someone's life and benefit up to 50 recipients by signing up to become an organ and tissue donor by enrolling in the Massachusetts donor registry when we apply for or renew our driver's license

by registering online through mass.gov organ donor or registerme.org and whereas 98% of all the people in Massachusetts who register become a donor do so at the registry of the motor vehicles it is fitting that Massachusetts surpasses the national goal of signing up 50% of our driving po population to become donors and is dedicated to making it fast and easy to sign up to Save a Life through this

Registry of Motor Vehicles program whereas this observance pids tribute to organ and tissue donors and their families whose decision to donate life enables others to receive life-saving organs and tissues for transplant so therefore I Paul Coogan Mayor of the city of Fall River to hereby Proclaim April organ donation month have a heart give a heart Give a Heart Day encourage residents to

register as organ doners it is very very important and from the panel that you heard talk easier they they are saving lives every day I want to acknowledge this to Matt and his whole crew where is he is he behind yes sir thank you so much really appreciate no thank you sir thank you for bringing all oh no fed it out these are and and what you do is so important uh lastly I want to thank

everyone speaking here representative know how busy you are mayor I know how extremely busy you are I do want to do a picture at the end much like a a a wedding I do want to thank I do want to thank the media for being here there's a phrase if a tree falls in the forest does it does it make a sound it does if there's someone to capture it and share these wonderful

stories uh so greatly appreciate that it's an important thing to educate people that's one of the things we do help educate people and share these stories so uh uh thanks a lot