Advocate Spotlight: Andrea Ogg

Donor Alliance volunteers and advocates are the heart and soul of our efforts to inspire and inform our community about the importance of signing up to be an organ, eye and tissue donor in Colorado and Wyoming. Each of our volunteers and advocates has their own unique and inspiring story to tell. In this advocate spotlight, meet Andrea Ogg, a heart recipient from Sedalia, CO. Andrea has been a dedicated Advocate for Life for just over a year.

Get to Know Andrea Ogg, a heart recipient, in this month’s Advocate Spotlight:

Why do you volunteer for Donor Alliance?

I volunteer for Donor Alliance as an expression of my gratitude for my own life-saving heart transplant. I am strongly compelled to pay this gift forward in every area of my life!

What is your favorite thing about volunteering with Donor Alliance? 

My favorite thing about volunteering with Donor Alliance is the beautiful community of donors, donor families, living donors, recipients and recipient families I have found there. As an organ recipient, it is easy to feel isolated and misunderstood. But at Donor Alliance functions, I am wrapped in the embrace of people who have been through it and truly “get it”.

If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do?

Probably scream and do a happy dance! Amusingly enough, my husband and I have talked this very situation through and come up with a strategy because as we say, I come from “The Planning Tribe”. We’d have some fun, make our loved ones happy and comfortable, and do a great deal of charitable giving.

If you could join any TV or movie family, which would you choose?  

As a kid, I always wished my family was like The Partridge Family (those rock star dreams die hard!)…but now I’d love to be a member of the Pritchetts from “Modern Family”. They’re hysterical and so loving and supportive of each other, even when they truly don’t understand each other at all.

What is the last book you read? Would you recommend it?

I’ll just go with recommending my all-time favorite book: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. Such a beautiful story, told through the eyes of a dog- I read it in a single day that ended with me on the floor hugging my dog, weeping and repeating “I love you!” over and over. And yes, to me, that’s a ringing endorsement!

What has been your favorite memory so far volunteering with Donor Alliance?

Randomly meeting a fellow Advocate while hiking Mt. Falcon. We passed each other on a trail and I was wearing a sign honoring my heart donor (I always wear it while hiking or running) and she stopped me to say hello. How wonderful that Donor Alliance has built such a robust community that we find each other out on the trails! 

What is your favorite season and why?

All Winter, I say it’s summer. And every summer, I say it’s Fall. I’m just happy to experience each season in such a beautiful place and so grateful to have my donor’s heart that allows me to enjoy each season outdoors. 

If you won an all expenses paid vacation, where would you go and who would you take with you? 

Derek and I would definitely go back to Kenya and likely add on multiple African countries for another photo safari.

What is your proudest accomplishment? 

When I awoke in the ICU after my transplant, I made a promise to my Donor to take exquisite care of this heart and to give it a life that any parent would want for their child. And that’s exactly what I’ve done. I am now the happiest, healthiest and most physically fit I’ve been in my entire life and that has allowed me to climb the mountains of Uganda to see the critically-endangered mountain gorillas and to run across the finish life of the world’s highest elevation half marathon. And it’s all because of my organ donor!

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Take care of your future self- physically, financially, emotionally. Your future self will never regret it. 

If you’re interested in volunteering with us we’d love to have you join our Advocates for Life program! Get started here.