Allred Makes Plea for Organ Donations

David Prisbrey and Brandon Staples, both sponsored by Jim Coleman with a classification of Escrow were inducted into SGR today bringing our total membership to 72 which means "more Rotarians, more service!"

Our program featured Roger Allred, one of SGR’s newest members, shared his amazing experience as a heart transplant recipient.  In 1996, he was in excellent health when he climbed Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the “lower 48” at 14,505 feet at the summit, with one of his three sons.  Two years later, he experienced a TIA (transient ischemic attack) or mini-stroke, which doctors determined was the result of a heart which was not beating hard enough and allowing blood to puddle in the life-giving organ.  His doctor recommended a pacemaker which sent a small electronic impulse to his heart “when it needed it to stay in rhythm,” but his medical team soon found out “my heart constantly needed to be paced.”

Roger noted his life in 1998 was a continuous round of “work, church and sitting on the couch” suffering from extreme fatigue, caused by cardiomyopathy, a chronic disease of the heart muscle (literally “heart muscle disease”). Doctors implanted an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) which would shock his heart back into rhythm, similar to the paddles used in hospitals,  if he were to experience ventricular tachycardia or “sudden death syndrome.”  “But, it wasn’t just a simple shock … it was as if someone had picked up a baseball bat and hit my chest as hard as they could,” said Roger.  It happened 11 times, but “I never knew when it would happen so I lived with that anxiety for about 5 years.” 

In April 2011 he was told, “you’re dying” because the doctors had done everything they could with drugs and devices.  Roger’s name was then added to the national transplant program list managed by UNOS (which now includes over 100,000 waiting for an organ donation) while doctors at Cedars-Sinai Hospital worked to keep him alive until an organ became available.  Only 18 days later, he received the heart of a 22-year-old man killed in an accident in Northern California.  He left the hospital with 17 prescriptions, but is now taking only two immunosuppressant drugs.  He also undergoes an angiogram every year to monitor his health.  To celebrate his "brand new life" Roger and all three of his sons climbed Mt. Whitney only 16 months after the transplant.

He closed his presentation with a plea for organ donation to provide others with “a brand new life” who would otherwise live a compromised life or die from a variety of diseases.  Roger's daughter created a touching video to promote organ donation.  See it online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocr9q0kqmN8 or register to be an organ donor when renewing your driver’s license or by going to www.yesutah.org.