Lives are saved every day because of organ donors. Donor Alliance says right now 68 percent of Coloradans have registered to be organ and tissue donors. Connor Randall is a two-time organ recipient who says the organization changed and saved his life. At three months old, Randall was different than so many infants his own age. “They listened to my heart and said something isn't right and that I should go to Children's,” said Randall. He had to have heart transplant surgery.“That heart came from a little boy from Texas,” Randall said. “His family was able to give me the gift of life through their tragedy.”
News and Media Relations
March 31, 2018
Hidden hearts have special message for National Donate Life Month – Fox 31 – Denver, CO
If you happen to find a hidden heart in the next month, it's a reminder that April is National Donate Life Month. Currently, more than 116,000 people are on a waiting list for a lifesaving organ transplant. The Donor Alliance hopes the hearts -- hidden all around the metro area -- help persuade more people to talk about organ donation and eventually sign up to be donors. One of those hiding hearts outside a library in Aurora was four-year-old Juniper Gelrod and her grandfather, Randy Schrantz.
March 31, 2018
April is National Donate Life Month and you can help save a life – ABC 7 – Denver, CO
April is National Donate Life Month. A time to bring awareness to those waiting for a transplant and to honor those who have given the Gift of Life. Donor Alliance's Andrea Smith and Advocate Stephanie Carlson Kelly joined ABC 7's Eric Lupher to share how you can #ShowYourHeart for National Donate Life Month.
March 31, 2018
April is National Donate Life Month and you can help save a life – KMGH 7 – Denver, CO
April is National Donate Life Month. Andrea Smith with Donor Alliance visited the Denver 7 studios to talk about awareness and how the public can help. Donor Alliance volunteer Stephanie Carlson Kelly also visited Denver 7 to tell her personal story as the daughter of a lung transplant recipient.
March 12, 2018
Organ Donation Task Force – KCWY 13 – Casper, WY
Wyoming lawmakers hope to save lives by creating an organ donation promotion task force.
February 14, 2018
The Gift of Life: Woman Shares Story of Son Donating His Organs – KREX – Grand Junction, CO
They say there's no greater gift, than the gift of life. "It's the beautiful thing that's come out of this tragedy, really it's the only good thing," said Allison McKissen, whose son donated his organs. On August 11, 2016 Allison McKissen lost her son Tanner in an auto accident. "He went too fast around a corner, over corrected and rolled. He was ejected from the vehicle," McKissen said. It was the hardest thing McKissen has ever had to go through. Despite all the pain, she says there's one thing that's gotten her through her darkest times. "It's wonderful knowing that he lives on through other people and that they're able to come home to their families," said McKissen.
February 14, 2018
Man’s life saved twice by organ donations – 9News – Denver, CO
February 13, 2018
National Donor Day is Wednesday – Fox 31 – Denver, CO
In Colorado, nearly 2,500 people are on the waiting list for a lifesaving transplant. Rod Clark was one of them. Back in 2011, the local law enforcement officer went to the doctor for what he thought was a lingering chest cold, but he was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, or scarring of the lungs, a condition that could be fatal in three to five years.
January 24, 2018
Heart recipients celebrate Donate Life Night with the Casper Coyotes – Casper Journal – Casper, WY
Anthony McCumber and Jason Wynia dropped the puck Jan. 20 celebrating Donate Life Night, and beginning the Casper Coyotes vs. Colorado Jr. Eagles Hockey Game, an honor earned after a difficult journey during which they each received a gift of life. Both are Wyoming heart transplant recipients.
January 22, 2018
Durango woman’s lungs donated to save another’s life – Durango Herald – Durango, CO
There’s a famous quote from author Ralph Waldo Emerson that many advocates and people forever changed by organ and tissue donations often cite, which says, “The only gift is a portion of thyself.” The line, taken from Emerson’s 1844 essay “Gifts,” is a reminder that the best gifts don’t cost any money. Instead, one’s time, compassion and kindness – truly one’s “self” – is the ultimate act of love. For former Durango resident and Park Elementary School teacher Beth Brunso, who died in December 2016, and the woman who would go on to receive her lungs, and subsequently, a second chance at life, the sentiment becomes even more literal and meaningful.
Read the story here.
December 27, 2017
Colorado man alive thanks to organ donors now devotes life to teaching others about donation – KMGH 7 News – Denver, CO
It's the season of giving and it's hard to imagine anything better than the gift of life. Right now, there are currently more than 2,500 Coloradans waiting for an organ transplant. Jeff Leone used to be one of them, as he's received a kidney transplant twice. The first time was from a 23-year-old who was killed in a car accident. That difficult experience has pushed Leone to become an advocate for Donate Life Colorado. He also teaches transplantation science classes to middle school and high school students.
December 5, 2017
Organ Recipient Dispels Misconceptions, Doesn’t ‘Waste The Gift’ – CBS 4 – Denver, CO
The former Denver Public Schools teacher will represent Colorado on the 15th annual Donate Life float in the Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif., in January. The float aims to inspire others to save and heal lives through organ, eye and tissue donation. Leone and his kidneys travel to teach the science behind donations and transplants to students across the state. He made a stop at the Denver Center for International Studies Tuesday morning.
November 29, 2017
Why I donated a kidney to a stranger – Denver Post, Your Hub – Denver, CO
By Jose Amezola Beltran, Living Kidney Donor - Right now, there are more than two thousand Coloradans waiting for a kidney transplant and more than 98 thousand people waiting nationwide. The average time a patient spends on the waiting list is 3-5 years. For me, it was an easy decision to help. After considering becoming a living kidney donor for some time—and after a bit of resistance from my loved ones—in 2013, I donated my left kidney to a woman I had never met in Sacramento, Calif.