Driven To Save Lives
Stories of Donation
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Audrey Babcock, Age 6, Greenwood, IN
Teens Legacy: Life for Others
Wherever she went, little children flocked to sixteen-year-old Kelsey Mikel of Wakarusa, Indiana. They loved her and she loved them. Kelsey would have had great compassion for two-year-old Audrey Babcock who suffered from several disabilities including kidney failure.
Kelsey's parents and Audrey's parents faced their own worst nightmares one August weekend in 2004. Kelsey was fatally injured in a traffic accident a day after Audrey was put on the kidney transplant waiting list 150 miles away in Greenwood, Indiana.
Mark and Kathy Mikel knew their daughter had elected to be a potential organ donor when she got her driver's license and they honored her decision. Many people would benefit from the compassion of the Mikels, including Audrey. One of Kelsey's kidneys saved Audrey's life that night.
The Mikels met Audrey and her parents, Adrian and Lisa, three years later. It was an emotional meeting but the Mikels said they would like to meet others who received the gift of life from Kelsey.
Carl Drury
Heart Felt Gratitude
Self-proclaimed Type A personality Carl Drury thought he could save himself from a death sentence. He was a successful businessman and was in denial when told he needed a heart transplant at age 40 even though an uncle and a 26-year-old cousin had both received new hearts.
His whole life changed when he was hospitalized and given an artificial heart to sustain his life until a donor heart became available. While unconscious, he had a vision when he said God told him four things:
- he would get a new heart;
- he was to marry his girlfriend, Bobbi;
- he was to make a video about his heart transplant; and
- he was to spend the rest of his life working to spread the news that "God approves and blesses organ transplantation."
Carl began fulfilling the vision almost immediately. He and his pastor made the video in his hospital room and he and Bobbi were married in the hospital chapel the night before he received his new heart.
Today he’s a dedicated IOPO volunteer speaker and he made a career change to work for an organization that counsels the wealthy on good stewardship of their time, talents and treasures.
Jose Garcia
Paving the Way for Others
Jose Garcia was the first person in the world to receive a double lung/pancreas transplant. Kids don’t like to be different and while growing up Jose never told his classmates he suffered from Cystic Fibrosis. He loved to work on cars and took auto shop in high school. After graduation he worked full time driving a city bus for three years.
By then, the CF had ravaged his lungs and he went on oxygen around the clock. He had to give up his job and when the disease also affected his pancreas he had to make a life or death decision. A surgeon proposed not just a double lung transplant but a transplant that would also include a new pancreas. It would be a pioneering procedure and there were no guarantees that it would be successful. After considerable deliberation, Jose decided to "go for it" because, he rationalized, "if the new pancreas didn’t work, I could still get insulin." The 12-½ hour surgery was performed in 2006 when Jose was 25.
Jose had a bumpy recovery but soon enjoyed being outside with his nephew and nieces and walked along side them as they rode their bikes, something he thought he’d never be able to do. His brave decision paved the way for two more patients in their 20s to have the same surgery soon afterwards. All three met for the first time about one year after Jose’s history making transplant.
The King Family
Family Ties
The Jack King family of Lafayette, IN is one extraordinary example of a successful blending of two families. Married in 1996, Jack and Penny and their five children know it takes a lot of give and take. Jack’s daughters Christy, Julie and Melissa had left the nest by 1999 when their dad became very ill and was told he needed a kidney transplant. Penny was tested to see if she could give Jack one of her kidneys to spare him a long and uncertain wait. She was a good match. She and her children, David and Lindsey, voluntarily ate the restricted diet Jack had to follow while waiting for the surgery.
Penny recovered quickly from her donation but stayed in the hospital with Jack for six weeks while he fought off multiple complications. Her example of unselfish love and compassion convinced David he wanted to help Christy who also had a kidney transplant when she was 18 but had to go back on dialysis at 30 when the kidney began to fail. Though the two felt like brother and sister, they were not blood relatives and being a match for organ donation was a long shot. Christy protested his offer but was won over when he said, "Look at Mom." He was a match and the surgery went well for David and Christy.
The family has grown to include sons-in-law and grandchildren and the Kings treasure frequent family gatherings because they realize without donation and transplantation Jack and Christy would not be in the family picture.
David Peck, Age 7, Kennard, IN
The First Child in Indiana to Receive an Intestinal Transplant
Ask second grader David Peck what he wants to be when he grows up and he will tell you racecar driver or doctor. He has friends in both professions. He already demonstrates at least two of the qualities that make his role models tops in their fields: courage and discipline.
He met NASCAR champion Tony Stewart at a hospital fundraiser and has spent most of his life in the care of some of the best doctors in medicine. David was the first pediatric intestinal transplant recipient in Indiana. He was only two years old.
Today he can walk you through the medications he takes daily to ward off infection and organ rejection. His mother, Traci, says he walks to the OR with his doctor for his semi-annual colonoscopies that are necessary to monitor the health of his transplanted organ (he only has one fourth of his own colon) and he doesn’t complain about essential blood work every two months.
David is an avid sports fan and does his best to keep up with two older brothers. He plays baseball, basketball and looks forward to third grade when he’ll even be able to play football.
Ken Randle
Faith, Hope and Love
High school coach and teacher Ken Randle credits a strong marriage and a solid relationship with God for his positive attitude in the face of two major health crises. He had love and support from hundreds of friends, family and former students but he said he could not have made it without his wife, Linda, and his faith.
Ken had lived a normal life until chronic colitis severely damaged his liver. He received a liver soon after being placed on the transplant waiting list and went back to teaching and coaching after a long recovery. Two years later, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor.
After surgery and another long recovery, early retirement has given him time to develop his 'softer' side. The life-long athlete has found outlets for his creativity singing solos at church and in other venues and he especially enjoys modeling for impressionist photography with a professional photographer as his mentor. He continues to enjoy contact with young people at church and at the school where he taught. You’ll see him at school on Career Day surrounded by many young friends.
Lauren Seiders, Age 2
Up for the Challenge
"Bob!" "Bob!" shouted little Lauren Seiders during her birthday party. The two-year-old is captivated by the children’s video character "Bob the Builder." Greatly influenced by her twin brother, Owen, and described as determined by her mother, it may not be too far out to imagine this miracle child growing up to be a heavy equipment operator some day.
The Seiders twins’ birthday party was much more than a celebration of life; it was a celebration of triumph over adversity. Lauren spent her first 18 months fighting for life, virtually in limbo, while her twin flourished. Born with a malfunctioning liver, the tiny tot was in and out of the hospital continually and endured numerous surgeries including two liver transplants. A year after her successful transplant, she’s proven she’s up to the challenge of catching up with her healthy and rambunctious brother.
Cheryl Weaver, Newburgh, IN
Creating Hope
Too often those on the waiting list for a new organ don’t get a match in time to save their lives. Cheryl Weaver, Newburgh, Indiana, knows that only too well. Several doctors and diagnostic tests were never able to put a label on the fast acting disease that attacked her sister’s liver and ran its course, taking her life, in only four weeks.
Dawn Bauer, 37, was a vibrant and active wife, mother, volunteer and businesswoman. Cheryl’s resolve to not let Dawn’s death be in vain, has given IOPO one of its most dedicated volunteers. A regular visitor to her local Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Cheryl keeps the branch stocked with IOPO brochures, talks to persons waiting in line about organ donation and reminds employees of the importance of asking drivers if they want the organ donor heart icon on their new license. Cheryl is a frequent speaker to various groups including the women in the county extension and at career fairs for teens who want to be doctors.
Seven years after Dawn’s death, Cheryl’s daughter-in-law experienced the pain of losing her 18-year-old sister in a traffic accident. Shocked and grieving, her parents elected to donate her organs. Cheryl believes Dawn’s story had a great influence on their decision.
