SHAWNEE, Kan. — A 16-year-old boy’s day should be full of a lot of things: school, sports, guitar lessons, a part-time job to buy that first car.
But in the summer of 2003, much of Jordan Shaw’s day was spent hooked up to a dialysis machine.
Four days a week, Jordan would undergo three hours of dialysis before school. After school, he often went straight to bed, too exhausted for anything else. He missed 43 days of school that year, requiring him to attend summer school to keep up.
But all that changed on July 15, 2003, at UNMC’s hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, when Shaw received the kidney of Tom Falsey, a 48-year-old man he had never met.
On that day, both donor’s and recipient’s lives were changed forever.
Shaw is now a healthy 21-year-old young man who has been given 3,000 hours of dialysis-free life in the past five years.
Falsey — the first anonymous kidney donor at The Nebraska Medical Center — has been given the gift of knowing that his kidney made Shaw’s current life possible. His life-changing experience inspired his wife and brother to become donors, as well. It also inspired him to spread the word about the critical importance of organ donation.
In “Giving Life: Inspirational Stories of Hope for Organ Donors and Recipients,”
Falsey has assembled a moving collection of personal accounts by families, friends and even strangers who have experienced both sides of transplantation.
Readers will be drawn in by the heartbreaking stories of young lives suddenly
cut short and the heartwarming glimpses into the lives of those who were saved
in the wake of tragedy.
Each account is accompanied by a beautiful pencil sketch by James Jackson whose artwork succeeds in putting a face to the practice of transplantation. His engaging illustrations poignantly capture the life of the donors and recipients alike.
Using charts and data from the United Network for Organ Sharing and The National Kidney Foundation, Falsey illustrates how the shortage of organ donors is rapidly becoming a public health crisis. Helpful guidelines empower the reader to ensure that his or her final wishes are carried out to enhance the lives of up to 50 people through organ and tissue donation.
The book will be officially released on Friday but is available now through the publisher, Crystal Vision Books. Starting on Friday, the book can be purchased from Amazon.com.
Falsey’s passion for organ donor awareness is evidenced by his service on several boards and committees, including the United Network for Organ Sharing, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, and the National Kidney Foundation of Kansas and Western Missouri.
He has been widely quoted in several national media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The CBS Early Show, People Magazine and The National Examiner.