{"id":152315,"date":"2024-08-01T09:07:32","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T13:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=152315"},"modified":"2024-08-01T09:12:41","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T13:12:41","slug":"the-science-and-humanity-behind-giving-the-gift-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2024\/08\/01\/the-science-and-humanity-behind-giving-the-gift-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The science and humanity behind giving the gift of life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>As sciences go, organ transplants are relatively new. The first kidney transplant was in 1954; the first liver, 1963; the first heart, 1967.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not an old science,\u201d Matthew Wadsworth said in reflection.<\/p>\n

Organ transplantation is Wadsworth\u2019s profession\u2014not as a doctor, but in a wider sense. The 2007 Wright State University biology graduate is chief executive officer of Life Connection of Ohio, a nonprofit based in Kettering that is the organ procurement organization for the northwest and west-central parts of the state.<\/p>\n

Life Connection promotes organ-donor registration, medically manages organ donors in hospitals\u2019 intensive care units, and approaches families of those who aren\u2019t registered but, because of their condition, are potential immediate donors. It began in 1989 with the merger of two other nonprofits that focused on kidney transplants.<\/p>\n

Since then, Life Connection\u2014and transplantation in general\u2014has widened its scope to include, as Wadsworth said, \u201clungs, pancreas, intestines, tissue, heart valves, bones, tendons.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said when he arrived in 2020 that Life Connection was ranked 48th among the 57 ODOs nationwide in donation and transplant rates. The most recent figures show that Life Connection is now No. 1.<\/p>\n

The rise in transplants is possible because of advances in immunosuppressants, anti-rejection drugs\u2014that prevent the body\u2019s immune system from fighting off the new organ. \u201cI would add that growth has occurred not only due to immunosuppression, but also adoption of pump technology and expansion of the organ donor pool into older patients,\u201d Wadsworth said.<\/p>\n

Attesting to that change is Liz Cridlin, Life Connection\u2019s development specialist and a 2013 Wright State graduate in biological sciences. Early in her time with the nonprofit, she was its procurement transplant coordinator. At that time, \u201cwe weren\u2019t recovering livers from people with hepatitis C,\u201d she said. \u201cNow, that\u2019s really common because we have come so far in medicine.\u201d Cridlin explained that a donor can be treated for the disease, or the recipient can be treated before receiving the liver and doesn\u2019t get the disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re able to recover more organs from a population we weren\u2019t before,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, there\u2019s a bigger pool of people who are able to donate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The human factor<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Liz Cridlin ’13<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cPeople\u201d is a key word, because, while transplanting organs is very much a science, the human factor is paramount.<\/p>\n

Life Connection cares for and supports the family of a donor, Wadsworth said. Registering as an organ donor \u201ctakes stress off the family to make a decision,\u201d he said. Or a family may not know that their loved one who has died or is on ventilator or mechanical support is a donor.<\/p>\n

\u201cOrgan donation can help a family heal,\u201d he said, \u201cknowing that a loved one saved a life, or many lives. This gives them comfort in such a terrible situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne person has the power to save eight lives through organ donation and heal 125 more through tissue donation,\u201d said Stephanie Burianek, Life Connection\u2019s community outreach coordinator and a 2008 Wright State graduate in mass communication.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery 10 minutes, another person is added to the national transplant waiting list,\u201d she said. Nationally, 20 people die each day waiting for an organ, she said.<\/p>\n

Cridlin develops and helps train Life Connection\u2019s staff of more than 100 to make the donor procedure go properly and smoothly. They\u2019re assembled into three groups, as she explained:<\/p>\n