News and Media Relations
National Donate Life Month: Heart Transplant Recipient Michael Blonigen raises flag over hospital – Wyoming Medical Center, Casper, WY
Wyoming is a giving and charitable state. To be neighborly and help others in need is the cowboy way, right? April is National Donate Life Month and the Wyoming Medical Center wanted to share some of the great things Wyoming citizens and families do for others.
Trees to be planted to honor organ donors – 9News, Denver, CO
To celebrate National Donate Life Month, which is April, trees will be planted across Colorado and Wyoming, in memory of organ, eye and tissue donors from the region. The trees will be planted and dedicated by transplant recipients honoring their donors. Families of donors are also memorializing their lost loved ones.
Coloradans count down to 2016 Transplant Games – 9News, Denver, CO
Coloradans who have donated and who have received donated organs gathered in Aurora to sign the flag that will fly at the opening ceremonies of the 2016 Transplant Games of America. Some participate to honor and remember a friend or a family member who passed away and donated organs. Others who actually donated organs themselves also play a part. Transplant patients participate too.
National Donor Day – 9News, Denver Colorado
In celebration of National Donor Day, 9 News sits down with heart recipient Joe and his wife Pam to talk about the impact that his donation has had on his life.
One organ donor can save up to 8 lives, help 50 people – Grand Junction Sentinel, Grand Junction, CO
It’s a small red heart in the corner of a driver’s license. It’s one more box to check on a stack of papers at the Department of Motor Vehicles. For many, thinking about organ donation is a passing thought. But for thousands across the country, it’s a lifesaving difference.
Local woman rides in Rose Parade float – Fox 31, Denver, CO
Gail Gallagher from Monument represented Colorado on the Donate Life float in the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day. Gail was chosen because of how organ donation has impacted her life and fueled her passion to get more Coloradans involved. Gail’s daughter Kate was awaiting a liver transplant herself when she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and passed away. One of her kidneys went to a grandfather from western Colorado, the other went to a grandmother, and her heart went to a 12-year-old girl who had suffered a heart attack on the basketball court.
Organ donors make a difference – KCWY 13, Casper, WY
Jason Wynia found out he needed a heart transplant May of 2008. After having breathing troubles, doctors found Wynia’s heart working at 10%, while the normal heart works at 65%. After heart surgery, doctors installed a heart pump to keep him alive until a transplant become available. Wynia says he went through a sea of emotions during his heart transplant.
Monument mom honors daughter and lifesaving cause at 2016 Rose Parade – The Gazette, Colorado Springs, CO
Mark and Gail Gallagher’s 26-year-old daughter, Kate, was on the transplant list awaiting a donor liver when she suffered the cerebral hemorrhage that ended her life in March 2012. Despite the fact that Kate had liver disease and was on the waiting list herself, she saved three lives through the donation of both kidneys and her heart, which went to a 12-year-old girl. For her parents, continuing to share Kate’s story in the years after her death is about more than keeping memories alive.
Woman on organ transplant waitlist list becomes donor herself – 9News, Denver, CO
Organ donation is a sensitive subject. The end of someone’s life becomes a new beginning for someone else. Gail Gallagher didn’t think her daughter would be one of those people. Her daughter, Kate, suffered from a rare disease and needed a liver. She was originally put on the transplant list to receive the organ. However, she ended up being the organ donor herself.
Fort Collins woman sees brother give life in death – Coloradoan, Fort Collins, CO
Melanie Anderson knows her brother Dirk’s death in a 2013 car accident has enabled a young boy to see. She knows that a firefighter received a skin graft and several cancer patients have received bone marrow — all because her brother was an organ donor.
Transplant patient shares ‘miracle story’ – Englewood Herald, Englewood, CO
Wes Cook recalls vividly a motorcycle ride he took three years ago. It was to be his last. Cook, a Parker resident for 12 years, was also planning to get rid of his skis, because he was almost certain he would never use them again. Meanwhile, he was compiling notes in a book for his wife filled with details about finances and how to winterize the house.
Colorado mother meets late daughter’s kidney recipient – NBC 11 News, Grand Junction
Kate Gallagher’s kindness and compassion now live on through others. Her heart was transplanted into a 12-year-old in Denver and one of her kidneys was given to a woman in her 60’s outside Colorado. Her other kidney went to Tony Lobato of Nucla. For six years, he needed a new kidney.