Tag Archives: organ donation

Giving Someone the Gift of Life

Monday Morning

There were 12 members and one guest present at the Monday meeting. Paul Osterholm. Bonnie did the grace. Sharon was our greeter. Happy dollars, John was happy for wedding of Linda’s son Kris. Harry won the Super Bowl Pool. Jan has a wedding this year.  Bonnie was happy for the great robotics turn out. Mark and Pete were also happy. Pete had the humor. Dan announced that “Souped Up” is February 7th this year 11 – 7:00. Dan is also the chef for all the soup. Pete is looking for a third delegate to the District Midwinter on Feb. 16th. Jan took six members to an interclub at the Nfdl Key Club Tuesday.  Gary was winner and loser. He picked the eight of Clubs. There are 45 cards left with a pot of $100.00. Remember that we have a Kiwanis web page and Facebook. If you are on Facebook, you can like our page.

Organ Donation, Paul Osterholm and Nicole Braatz

What do Paul and Nicole have in common? Nicole has Paul’s left kidney. Nicole was not able to make Monday’s meeting because of change in doctor’s appointment. On October 10th Paul gave Nicole his left kidney. It takes 5 – 7 years to find a kidney match. Since February, Nicole has been on dialysis. Paul had meet Nicole years ago but when he saw a post on Facebook, he answered the call to be tested. All of Nicole’s sisters (6) did not match. Not only did Paul match but he had four of six matching antigens. This means less chance of rejection by Nicole’s body.  Not only did the surgery go well but Paul got of the hospital in time to see his new granddaughter born. There are over three thousand people waiting for kidneys in Wisconsin. Be sure to sign your driver’s license and let your family know your wish to donate. Thanks Paul for a great Random Act of Kindness.

Keith Schmitz Discusses Tissue Donation

Monday Morning
We had 18 members and our guest speaker, Keith Schmitz, at our Monday morning meeting. Members were reminded to get any Pork Fest money still out to Marlin ASAP so we can wrap up the final accounting for this event. Gary Miller had a “Happy Buck” just because he was happy. Gary is also trying to pull together an InterClub to Kewaskum next Monday evening, (10/22). Their meeting is held upstairs at Woody’s Restaurant with fellowship at 5:30PM and dinner and the meeting starting at 6:00PM. Check your calendar and sign up to attend at Monday’s meeting. Dave Twohig was the 50/50 Raffle winner and he drew the Queen of Clubs, not a winner but darn close. Next week’s drawing will have 50 cards with nine pay cards and a pot of at least $37.

Keith Schmitz, American Tissue Service Foundation
Keith Schmitz, Office Manager from the Appleton office of the American Tissue Services Foundation, joined us on Monday to talk about tissue donation. American Tissue Services Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to caring for families and helping them heal from the death of their loved ones. Accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks, they provide a compassionate and knowl-edgeable team of education, recovery and quality systems professionals. They support healthcare agencies, coroners, medical examiners and funeral professionals through donation education and training. They partner with organizations dedicated to the innovative use of tissue in medical care and research. Tissue enhances—and sometimes saves—lives through procedures conducted thousands of times each year. It is their mission and honor to support donor families and recipients, and to help rebuild lives through the gift of tissue donation.
Tissues that can be donated include bone, heart valves, veins, skin, ligaments and tendons. These tissues can be recovered up to 24 hours after a death has occurred. Tissue donation is not the same as organ donation. Organs are kidneys, lungs and intestines, as well as the heart, pancreas and liver. One tissue donor may enhance the lives of more than 50 recipients.