A new flag, raising awareness about the importance of organ donation, now flies with the U.S. and Illinois state flags at Carle BroMenn Medical Center in Normal.
On Wednesday, various speakers emphasized the importance of organ donation during the flag raising ceremony, held in partnership with Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network.
The ceremony was in celebration of National Donate Life Month.
“This topic is so important and one that we do not give enough attention to. I believe there is nothing more important and nothing more selfless that we can do than to sign on to be organ donors,” said Carle BroMenn Medical Center president Colleen Kannaday.
Gift of Hope is one of 54 organ procurement organizations in the country. Carle BroMenn’s Gift of Hope affiliation serves the northern three-quarters of Illinois and parts of Indiana, said Dr. Harry Wilkins, president and CEO of Gift of Hope.
“We take an entire month throughout the entire country to pause and honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice,” Wilkins said. “When you talk about serving others, that is the ultimate sacrifice — to think about others in your time of greatest grief. It is always so humbling to me to think about that as a surgeon myself.”
Wilkins said Gift of Hope works with coroners' offices, law enforcement agencies, funeral homes and hospitals. Last year, Carle BroMenn helped five patients from two organ donors.
Wilkins introduced Gift of Hope Ambassador and organ recipient Meghan Hand, saying no one "can tell the story of donation better than a donor family or a grateful recipient.”
“Picture this: East Peoria, Illinois, 1998 … I am a senior in high school trying to be a do-gooder and eagerly ready to donate blood. However, I get a letter back saying, ‘Sorry, we can’t take your donation. Your liver enzymes are too high and we’re going to have to send you to your physician,” Hand said.
Hand was diagnosed with primary biliary cirrhosis, which meant the bile ducts of her liver were beginning to corrode.
“My young adult mind as a 20-year-old thought, ‘How am I sick? I don’t feel sick, nobody says I look sick and my life doesn’t tell me I’m sick,'” said Hand, adding she felt fine for 10 years after her diagnosis.
After a decade, she began experiencing symptoms such as constant fatigue, swelling after walking, foot cramps and brain fog.
“Despite every symptom, despite every test that would come back saying I was getting worse, I refused to allow my disease to get in my way and run my life for me. It was not going to define who I was or how I lived,” Hand said.
She passed a liver transplant evaluation from Loyola University Chicago in late 2021, meaning she would be able to receive a new liver. The process was interrupted when her 19-year-old stepson and 20-year-old stepdaughter were in a car accident in 2022, resulting in a traumatic brain injury to her stepson, Aiden.
Hand said her family chose to let Aiden donate tissues after they were told he wouldn’t be able to care for himself without the assistance of machines. She said he always wanted to help people in any way he could.
“Gift of Hope [said], ‘Well, he’s registered as an organ donor. Do you guys want to honor his wishes?’ All eyes went to me and everyone said, ‘Absolutely,’ so we honored his wishes,” said, who received her new liver in August 2022.
“The process of being a donor family member was an eye opener; it was hard. You have a beautiful group of people who come to support you, to honor you and your family and your loved one who is making this donation, and there’s something that’s so special to that,” she said.
“I went into surgery, and six hours later I came out a liver recipient,” she said. “I always wondered what people felt like who had healthy livers and normal organs, and now that I know what that’s like, it’s weird. I feel very, very fortunate."
At Wednesday's event, nurse manager Kelly Yoder presented the Gift of Hope flag, which was raised following Hand’s speech.
“We gather today to remember and honor the life of all organ and tissue donors,” Yoder said. “As we raise this flag, we are reminded that donors give the ultimate gift. The flag is a beacon of hope — a reminder that there are compassionate and caring individuals [who] are willing to say yes to organ and tissue donation.”
