Wall Honors Organ Donors

Washington Regional Medical Center Dedicates Display

Jordan Curtis, from left, with Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency, talks Wednesday with Trista Cravens, Jeri Williams and Nicki Pitts, after the unveiling of Washington Regional Medical Center’s Organ Donor Memorial Wall at the Fayetteville hospital in Fayetteville. The wall features the names of people who have donated organs at the hospital. Curtis is the in-house organ coordinator at Washington Regional, and the other three are the sisters and mother of Trenton Williams who donated his organs after his death. The event featured staff of the hospital, families of donors and recipients.
Jordan Curtis, from left, with Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency, talks Wednesday with Trista Cravens, Jeri Williams and Nicki Pitts, after the unveiling of Washington Regional Medical Center’s Organ Donor Memorial Wall at the Fayetteville hospital in Fayetteville. The wall features the names of people who have donated organs at the hospital. Curtis is the in-house organ coordinator at Washington Regional, and the other three are the sisters and mother of Trenton Williams who donated his organs after his death. The event featured staff of the hospital, families of donors and recipients.

Organ donation is a quick yes or no box checked on a driver’s license application for most people.

It’s a matter of life or death for the 275 Arkansans waiting for an organ transplant.

And it’s a way to find a bit of hope in a time of tragedy for donor families.

“There are just a lot of emotions tied to organ donation,” said Jeff Clardy, heart transplant recipient. “From tremendous joy to sadness. You are alive but someone else is not.”

Fast Facts

Organ Transplant

• More than 115,000 people in the U.S. are on the waiting list for a lifesaving organ transplant.

• Another name is added to the transplant list every 12 minutes.

• On average, 18 people die every day from the lack of available organs for transplant.

• Seven percent of people on the waiting list die before they are able to receive a transplant.

• One deceased donor can save up to eight lives through organ donation.

Source: American Transplant Foundation

Washington Regional Medical Center dedicated an Organ Donor Wall of Honor on Wednesday to spotlight donors. The wall, paid for by the hospital’s auxiliary and the Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency, or ARORA, displays 24 names of people who donated organs from the hospital between 2002 and 2012. New names will be added annually.

April is National Transplant Month.

Mark Bever, Washington Regional hospital administrator, said more than 50 donors gave organs to 125 people over the past decade through the hospital. The wall, in the waiting room of the Critical Care Units on the hospital’s second floor, contains the names of donors whose families agreed to be listed. This is the first hospital in the ARORA network to have a donor wall.

“We hope this donor wall not only honors donors and their families, but also inspires others,” said Sheryl Davis, the hospital director of surgical services.

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services reports there were 161 transplants in Arkansas last year with 139 of the organs coming from deceased donors. Some organs, such as kidneys, and tissues, including corneas and skin, can be used from live donors.

The state had 89 organ donors, 67 were deceased, in 2012.

There are 275 Arkansans on the United Network for Organ Sharing waiting list. Two-hundred and twenty-nine are on this waiting list for a kidney transplant. Twenty-five need hearts and 21 are in need of livers. UNOS manages the country’s organ transplant system.

Only three hospitals in Arkansas perform organ transplants and all are in Little Rock: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center, Arkansas Children’s Hospital and Baptist Medical Center.

Donated organs come from medical facilities across the state. ARORA reports 55 organs came from Northwest Arkansas medical facilities in 2012.

Nationally, almost 118,000 people are waiting for an organ, and 18 people die each day waiting.

One organ donor can save up to eight lives.

Giving and Receiving

Aaron Webster and Robbie Sisemore are two names on the donor wall.

Webster, a junior at the University of Arkansas, died over Labor Day weekend in 2009 after a car accident. His mother, Teena Webster, traveled from her home in San Diego to be part of Wednesday’s dedication ceremony.

“When Aaron gave his gifts to strangers, I didn’t realize the gifts I would get back,” she said.

Aaron Webster donated eight organs and Teena Webster said she has met four of the recipients and corresponded with the other four.

She said her son’s heart went to a man in Texas and she was able to put her hand on the recipient’s chest and feel the heart beat.

“That made me smile,” she said.

Tammy Sisemore learned about organ donation after her 14-year-old son, Robbie, died in 2002 after a single-vehicle accident. Robbie Sisemore sustained head injuries and was in a coma for four months.

The Farmington woman said she and her teenage son discussed organ donation when he was just 12 years old after watching a television show on the topic.

“That’s unusual because people usually don’t just discuss this with their kids,” she said. “But he said he wanted to be a donor.”

Knowing her son’s wishes did not make the process any easier at first, but Sisemore said she quickly learned how far reaching organ donation can be.

Robbie’s liver, heart valves, small intestines and both kidneys were transplanted.

“It was a wonderful opportunity for Robbie’s legacy to live on,” Tammy Sisemore said.

Clardy’s donor experience comes from the other side. The Fayetteville man underwent a heart transplant on Jan. 25, 2010. He was 47.

He went to the doctor in mid-2009 for what he thought was a lung infection. He learned he had congestive heart failure that required a quadruple bypass surgery.

“I was not aware of it at all,” he said. “I was not a smoker. Not a drinker. Not overweight. I didn’t believe it.”

Even after surgery his heart was weak and not pumping enough blood. Transplant was the only viable option, but Clardy was not convinced.

Clardy said he did not like the idea of being on medication the rest of his life, and was concerned about the costs.

“There were these huge things that I didn’t want to deal with,” he said. “Why have the transplant and have to deal with all these side effects?”

After a lot of prayer, he decided to go through with the operation and said it was the best decision he could have made.

Increased Education

Sisemore and Clardy quickly became organ donor advocates, hoping to help educate the public.

Both are volunteer speakers for ARORA. Sisemore is also chairman of the Arkansas Donor Family Council, a support and awareness group.

ARORA is a nonprofit, independent organ procurement agency headquartered in Little Rock with an office in Fayetteville. The agency is one of 57 organ procurement groups in the state and deals with organ and tissue transplants in deceased patients.

Audrey Brown, ARORA director of public education, said education is key in developing organ donors.

Approximately 55 percent of Arkansans aged 18 and over are registered organ donors. Brown said that’s not a bad percentage, but she will not be happy until it hits 100 percent.

“We are actually doing pretty good, but even out of those people registered only a few will be eligible to donate,” she said.

Brown said the “ideal” organ donation candidate is someone who has been declared brain dead and is still connected to a ventilator.

“Organs start deteriorating immediately once the blood stops flowing,” she said.

Only 1 percent of deaths qualify for organ donation.

ARORA estimates that more than 25,000 Americans die each year under circumstances that would allow them to become organ donors, but an average of only about 5,000 a year actually donate.

“We need to keep focusing on dispelling myths about organ donation,” Brown said.

Two of the biggest myths about organ donation is that a doctor will not give a patient as much care if they see they’re an organ donor on their driver’s license and that organs go to wealthy people first.

“There is so much misinformation out there,” Clardy said. “It’s important to get the word out. It’s more than just a question on your driver’s license form. It affects people’s lives.”

Upcoming Events