Staff Sgt. Erik Tofte honored his best friend by carrying a Donate Life Flag with him on tours of the Middle East, Africa and Thailand.

This article was originally published in the Q1 issue of Gift of Hope’s Connections Newsletter

Cameron Chana and Staff Sgt. Erik Tofte first met in 2006 when they pledged for the Sigma Pi fraternity at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill. Chana, of Clarendon Hills, Ill., was entering his sophomore year and eager to continue his college pursuits while serving as a member of Sigma Pi. Tofte, of Roscoe, Ill., also a sophomore but three years older than Chana, had a year of community college under his belt after coming off active duty as a member of the U.S. Army’s famed 1st Cavalry Division. They were accepted into the fraternity, and for the next three years they were college roommates and worked closely together in their various roles within the Sigma Pi fraternity house. They became brothers.

Cameron Chana

“Cameron was easily the most memorable person I met during my time at Eastern,” Tofte recalled. “He was one-of-a-kind, and there aren’t enough positive words in any language to describe just how remarkable of a person he was. I have been half-way around the world with my Army travels and have met all kinds of people from all walks of life, and it’s no exaggeration to say Cameron was easily among the best of them. He was warm, kind, funny, loving, smart and helpful.”

The trait that radiated from Chana most — the part everyone fell in love with — was his genuine caring attitude, Tofte added. “It didn’t matter if you had known him for years or just met him 10 minutes ago. He wanted to get to know you better. It was why so many people considered him their best friend and why there was, and there remains, such a strong reaction among his friends and fellow students to his loss.”

It was late May 2009, three weeks after Chana had graduated from EIU. He had decided to pursue an MBA at EIU, so he stayed there after graduation with plans to start graduate school in the fall. He and about 50 others, mostly EIU students, were returning to campus on a rented double-decker bus with an open-air top after a day of boating at Lake Shelbyville, a popular central Illinois recreational area. Chana, who stood about 6-foot-3, and another man were facing backward when the bus headed under the Interstate Highway 57 overpass on Illinois Highway 16 in Mattoon, just west of the EIU campus. Chana and the other man both were killed instantly when their heads struck the overpass.

Quick-thinking students gave both men CPR until first responders arrived. The students didn’t know both men were beyond saving at that point. But their actions proved to be lifesaving nonetheless.

Erik, a Humvee and the Donate Life flag

That’s because Chana was a registered organ and tissue donor. Chana’s parents, Rob and Lori, didn’t know about their son’s decision to be a donor. That fact surfaced when they heard the devastating news that Cameron was brain-dead. Even in death, Cameron’s caring attitude emerged, Rob said. “Cameron had taken all appropriate steps to be an organ and tissue donor. He knew the decision to donate would be a difficult one for us, and he didn’t want us to have to make that decision if we were ever faced with it. That was Cameron.”

Surgeons recovered Chana’s heart, liver, lungs and two kidneys, and those gifts saved five people’s lives. And his tissue gifts have resulted in more than 50 transplants to date. Cameron’s impact on other people’s lives through his decision to be an organ and tissue donor is his legacy, Tofte said. “It was only a matter of time until he made a mark on the world. We all expected that to happen in life. In his case, he has made his mark in death.”

Tofte has dedicated himself to ensuring that Chana’s mark leaves a very large footprint. Since 2009, he has been a member of the Texas Army National Guard and has been deployed to several locations, including Africa, the Mideast and Thailand. During those deployments, Tofte took several steps to make sure the areas he visited felt his best friend’s presence and learned about the importance of organ and tissue donation.

For example, he carried a Donate Life flag with him, and, taking a “roaming gnome” approach, he had photographs taken of himself holding the Donate Life flag throughout his travels. He also created Donate Life and C.L.C. (Chana’s initials) nameplates for his uniform and wore them over his regulation insignia when possible and appropriate and took more photographs of him wearing the nameplates. And he had pro-donation T-shirts made and wore one in many other photographs. He compiled many of these photographs into a photo book.

Erik with the Donate Life flag in Djibouti.

Knowing he would return to the states in November 2012, Tofte arranged to visit the Chana family to present them with three surprise gifts: the Donate Life flag he carried with him, the photo book and a T-shirt he wore at his various landing points. He also brought a certificate of authenticity from his base commander in Djibouti verifying that the Donate Life flag flew over Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, on August 6, 2012, “as a symbol and constant reminder of the importance of the Donate Life program and the impact donors have on our great nation.”

In December 2012, Tofte visited the Chanas at their Clarendon Hills home to present them with his gifts. “We had no idea he was doing it,” said Lori Chana. “It was an amazing tribute. We were really touched by it.”

Presenting those gifts was the least he could do to honor the legacy of a dear friend who made the lives of so many people better — in life and in death, Tofte said. “Cameron was the kind of person the world so desperately needs more of. It’s also what makes his participation in organ and tissue donation so fitting. It’s as beautiful as it is tragic.”

See more photos of Erik, Cameron and the Donate Life flag at GiftofHope.org.

Wyatt with his brothers and sisters on graduation day.

Today, September 17^th, would have been Wyatt’s (my son) 20th birthday. It is the first birthday since he was taken from us last October. 

Wyatt’s final gift to others was through organ and tissue donation. In his passing, he saved the lives of three people and gave sight to two others. His decision to be an organ and tissue donor has impacted countless lives.

Wyatt

So, in honor of my son and his decision to save lives, I am asking you to share Wyatt’s story and to pledge to do one thing to positively impact your community.  I hope to encourage 20 people — one for each wondrous year I had with my son — to take action by helping someone else.

Nothing is insignificant when it comes to uplifting the life of another.

Personally, I will volunteer at a women’s shelter and a senior living complex. I will pay for someone else’s meal. And, I will pledge my time and energy to a local charity. At the end of the day, I will visit my son and tell him that I live each day to honor him and his many gifts.

If you have not yet considered organ donation I urge you to visit www.GiftofHope.org and become an organ donor.  It would be remarkable to inspire 20 people to honor Wyatt by registering as organ and tissue donors. 

Thank you all for your love and support.

Krista Jones

Shawn Miller on his bike.

Shawn Miller had a big personality. Most people around his small town loved him and he, of course, loved them right back. His brother, Nathan, says that, “All you had to do was call and Shawn was there.” Nathan continues, “He would go out of his way to help his friends and make sure they were happy.”

It was only natural that when Nathan told Shawn about organ donation, his response was, “Well duh. I have no use for my organs once I’m gone. Why the heck wouldn’t I be donor?”

That discussion became relevant earlier this year when Shawn was fatally injured doing what he loved – riding his ATV.  “I was so proud of him for making this decision,” says Nathan. “Knowing that he lives on and helped five others in need is amazing. Shawn is my role model.”

On Saturday, September 6^th, the friends and family of Shawn Miller are hosting inaugural Shawn Miller Memorial Run to honor him and his gifts of life through organ and tissue donation. The event will kick-off at 11:00am at Manny’s Pizza in Savanna, Illinois. All proceeds from the event will be donated to Gift of Hope.

To learn more about the event, visit the Shawn Miller Memorial Run Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/1uvqyH8. Inquiries about the event should be sent to Nathan Schnitzler at nschnitzler30@gmail.com.

Walter Pineda received a lifesaving liver transplant that transformed his life in so many ways.

Walter Pineda has many people to thank for getting him to where he is today.

“There have been several angels in my life,” said Walter, a Gift of Hope Advocate and liver recipient. “Some of them tried to help me and I turned away and some persisted until I found my way.”

Walter had a very rough life. He was raised by his grandparents and became homeless as a teenager after they died. Even before that he was drinking and “hanging out with the wrong crowd.”

“I was feeling sick but I didn’t do anything about it,” he said. “Fortunately, there were people who wanted to help me.” The first was a woman who owned a restaurant and offered him a job and food if he would change his life. Then there was the priest who helped after an incident with a gang when Walter was forced to run for his life. Even though he promised God he would change if his life was spared, he still couldn’t stop drinking.

But the angels kept coming. Angel number three was a woman who helped him get into a program where he met a social worker. “She sent me to a wonderful doctor who was another angel in my life,” he explained.

The doctor — angel number five — told him he had to stay sober for six months before he could be considered for a liver transplant. When he relapsed, the social worker did something no one had ever done for him. “She put her job on the line and asked the director of the transplant unit to give me another chance,” Walter said. “That gave me the resolve to stop drinking.”

Walter was placed on the national transplant waiting list. On September 10, 2008, a match for a liver transplant was found. “I was scared and didn’t know if I could go through with the surgery,” Walter said. “That’s when my team of nurses started crying for me and encouraged me to accept this gift of life.”

Walter remembers that during the surgery he had a vision. “God talked to me,” he said. “He said he would close my wounds.” Amazingly, Walter explained that his scar looks like a cross.

The next angel in Walter’s life was Raiza Mendoza, Manager of Hispanic Affairs for Gift of Hope. “Raiza has given me a purpose in my life,” he said. “Today I’m leading a second life. I’m sharing my story and signing people up to save other lives through organ and tissue donation.”

Sonji Woods

Ten years ago, realtor and U.S. Army Reserve veteran Sonji Woods was planning her wedding. Business was great. “I was just starting my life,” she recalls.

That’s when her doctor told her that her kidneys would eventually fail. She didn’t feel or look sick. She went on with life and wedding plans. But in November 2007 she woke up one day with dizziness that only grew worse. She drove to the hospital and was immediately admitted. “I was told I had enough toxins in my body to kill a six-foot, 220-pound man,” says petite Sonji, who stands just 5’2.”

She was put on kidney dialysis the next day. “It was a shock because no one in our family had ever suffered from kidney disease,” she says. “I was always thin, I was active and I ate right most of the time. How could I be diagnosed with a life-threatening disease?”

Without other physical issues, Sonji was told she was an excellent candidate for a kidney transplant. But her heart sank at learning it might be years before a kidney donor became available. She wondered: “Could I be on dialysis that long and maintain a decent quality of life? Would I even live that long?”

Over the next four-and-a-half years, Sonji suffered multiple internal infections, severe fatigue and anemia. She endured extended hospital stays and allergies from the drugs required to treat her infections. Her appearance changed. “It was bad! It was just as hard on my family. My marriage took a hit. But my mom stepped in, and she has been phenomenal.”

In what felt like the nick of time, Sonji says, the telephone call came: A kidney donor was available. She underwent a kidney transplant, and today, “I have gone back to full-time real estate sales, and I am doing great!” she reports.

As an Advocates for Hope volunteer for Gift of Hope, Sonji spreads an important message. “We have to dispel the fears and negative moral stigmas attached to organ and tissue donation, especially in our minority communities,” says Woods, who is African-American. “Minorities make up the largest group of people needing organs, so we should be the largest group of donors.”

Even before she needed a kidney transplant, Sonji had “organ donor” on her driver’s license. “I knew I wanted someone else to have my organs. Six years is just too long to wait for a lifesaving organ.”

Deb (left) is an active Advocates for Hope volunteer.

“My son, Scott, was funny and crazy,” says Deb Juris. “He was a body-builder and a health nut. He read poetry. He stood guard over me at a Jimmy Buffet concert so I wouldn’t get stepped on. He was kind, warm-hearted, caring and a ‘help anybody’ kind of guy.”

But on February 14, 2004, came the phone call that every parent dreads. Scott had been in a horrible accident. “When we were told the extent of his injuries, we were in denial,” Deb says. The prognosis was worse than poor.

After 9/11, Scott decided to become a firefighter because he wanted to help people. “We spoke a lot about life and death, and he said he did not want to live on life support if anything ever happened,” she recalls. He also told her he wanted to be an organ donor. “Scott said that being an organ donor was sharing your love with others in need and this, of course, is what he was all about.”

The decision to let Scott go was the most difficult Deb ever had to make. “But, ultimately, it was the only decision because it was what he wanted. We let Scott go on February 18, 2004, and by his love for others he became an organ donor.”

Through their association with Gift of Hope, Deb and her family have met many wonderful recipients and learned their stories. “We are truly happy to hear how their lives were changed,” she says. “We pray that Scott’s recipients are doing well and living life to the fullest, just like Scott did.”

As an Advocates for Hope volunteer for Gift of Hope, Deb now shares Scott’s story with many people. “When someone says that one person cannot make a difference, we let them know that, yes, one person can,” she says. She urges her listeners to discuss with their families the benefits organ and tissue donation. “Through discussion there is education, through education there is knowledge and with knowledge comes the Gift of Hope for your fellow man.”

Melody with the Advocate Condell intensive care team that treated her during her wait for a heart transplant.

“Prayers do get answered,” says Melody Hickman McIntosh. On her 40^th birthday, she was “barely holding on to life,” and on her 41^st birthday she received the gift of life. “In a million years, who would expect someone to die on your birthday to allow you to receive a heart transplant?” she asks. “I can’t explain it. All I know is that prayers do get answered, and this was the best birthday gift ever!”

Melody with her LVAD just days before her transplant.

A year earlier, Melody had suffered a massive heart attack and was on life support. Before the heart attack, Melody was like any other woman. “I was healthy and living life to the fullest,” she says. “My husband and I were excited about starting a family.”

But then the unexpected happened with the heart attack and, afterward, she lay in a coma for nearly a month. “I was on 24-hour dialysis. Everything had shut down,” she says. The healthcare team at the hospital told her husband, Arthur, to gather the family and prepare to say good-bye.

Fortunately, the family did not have to say good-bye. Instead, Melody was transported to another hospital where a left ventricular assist device — a bridge to heart transplantation — was implanted, and she was placed on the heart transplant waiting list.

Melody and her husband Arthur

Melody was on the LVAD for nearly a year when the miracle happened. On her 41^st birthday. she received the birthday gift of a new heart. “I’m so thankful, so much so that I want to do something for someone else because someone gave me a second chance at life.”

Sonia and Ulises

In December 2012, Sonia Lara’s husband, Ulises, was diagnosed with kidney failure. The couple soon learned he was born with one kidney. And because it was failing, he needed a kidney transplant.

“My husband was 39 when he found out,” Sonia says. “Having grown up in Mexico City, without means, medical exams and medical testing that is more accessible here in the United States, he never had a chance to take care of the one kidney he had.”

When her husband was evaluated for possible transplant, Sonia was evaluated for potential compatibility as his living kidney donor. “I thought about my sons who were eight and six, one of whom has cerebral palsy,” she says. “This was a choice of love. This was a choice to give my sons a future with their father, who already had given them so much.”

A week later —“against all odds,” Sonia says — she learned she was a compatible donor for her husband. The next three months were a series of exams leading up to her kidney donation and her husband’s transplant.

“It came time to talk to our family about the situation,” Sonia says. “My mom couldn’t quite comprehend the process and the risks. I ended up taking her to our family physician of 30 years, who had diagnosed Ulises’ need for a transplant so he could explain to her that this was quite okay and that living donors’ risks are minimal.

“Miracles of miracles,” Sonia’s mother was okay with the surgery. “She was there throughout the surgery, she was there after it and she has been influential in my healing.”

Ulises was transplanted with Sonia’s donated kidney, and both are healthy today. Sonia says her mother talks about how her daughter saved a life. “She is proud to talk about it and relishes that she, too, is signed up to be an organ donor,” Sonia says. “I know we were lucky with our experience. There are so many others who aren’t as lucky.

According to the National Kidney Foundation, more than 120,000 people are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant in the United States. Of them, about 99,000 are waiting for kidneys.

“If I can urge you to do something today, it’s to make a difference in someone’s life,” Sonia says. “Sign up to be an organ and tissue donor. Thousands and thousands of people are depending on it. Give someone else a chance at life.”

Michelle and Brian

Michelle Bernstein says that organ donation was of utmost importance to her brother, Brian, and, now, to her family as well. “For Brian, donating his organs helped to bring him peace and purpose at the end of his life,” she explains. This is Brian’s story as told by Michelle:

Brian had a tragic car accident in summer 2009, just weeks before his 18^th birthday. The accident left him with a rare condition called “locked-in syndrome.” He was completely and permanently paralyzed from the neck down. He could not breathe, speak or swallow and depended on a ventilator and feeding tube to sustain him. Although paralyzed, he still suffered from constant pain. Yet, his cognitive abilities were fully intact. After much practice and patience, he learned to communicate by blinking his eyes and, later, mouthing words. Using these communication techniques, Brian conveyed his wishes to become an organ and tissue donor.

Brian was a fighter and persevered for nine months. However, realizing his situation would never change, Brian courageously decided that the time had come to be removed from life support in a way that his organs could be recovered for transplantation. Generously giving life to others was the one goal he could still achieve.

During his last days of life, Brian got two tattoos. He had the St. Michael the Archangel tattooed on his chest because he wished to be an archangel to those that he would be leaving behind. He also had the Donate Life logo tattooed on his right hand so that everyone paying final respects would see his silent message.

The night before Brian’s death, he consoled our mother saying, “Don’t cry, Mom. This is a good thing. I know what it’s like to suffer and lose hope. But tomorrow someone else will be getting good news.” Then in the hospital, when the organ compatibility tests were done and Brian learned who some of his likely recipients might be, he was pleased, but he responded, “I wish I could help them all.” That couldn’t be done, of course, but he saved and improved several lives by donating his organs and corneas.

In the end, Brian found a higher purpose that he expressed by giving life to strangers and inspiring those around him, while freeing himself from the torment of being trapped inside his own body. Our hearts are broken, and our lives are forever changed, but we will carry his mission forward and encourage those of you reading Brian’s story to do the same.

The Ehrenberg family

Terri Guzman is an Advocate for Hope volunteer with Gift of Hope because of the loss of her good friend, Jan Ehrenberg, 15 years ago. “Jan was a teacher, mother, daughter, sister and friend to so many,” Terri explains. And she was an ardent Chicago Cubs fan. In fact, she met her husband at Wrigley Field. But most important, Jan was an organ and tissue donor.

On April 11, 1999, Jan suffered a fatal head injury while playing a game of co-ed basketball. “She fought valiantly for four days, but on April 14^th the doctors knew she was not going to recover,” Terri says. That’s when Vince, Jan’s husband, said “yes” to the question of organ and tissue donation. “Please know that telling your family that you want to be an organ donor is showing your generosity to them,” Terri says. “You can give comfort to your family that even in your passing you live on.”

After Jan’s death, her friends and family established the Jan Ehrenberg Scholarship Foundation (JESF) to continue Jan’s legacy as a teacher. Raising funds brought Terri to an event where Chicago White Sox players were signing autographs. “I am a true-blue Cubs fan, just as Jan was, so this was a stretch for me,” Terri says. But she had a baseball to be signed for the benefit, so she stood in line holding some brochures for JESF.

Jan and her kids

That’s when she met Mike Papineau, who asked about the brochures. Terri told Mike about Jan, and Mike told Terri about his kidney transplant. They shared the information they knew about dates and donor/recipient details. “We both knew right there what had happened,” Terri says. “I had randomly met my friend’s kidney recipient.”

Mike’s family and Jan’s family met a few weeks later — a group of die-hard Cubs and White Sox fans together at a barbeque. “They joked about the irony of the Cubs/Sox connection,” Terri recalls. Later they made a friendly wager: If the Cubs won the cross-town series, Mike would wear a Cubs hat at the JESF Golf Outing, and, if the Sox won, Terri would wear a Sox hat. The Cubs won.

In 2005, after five years of Cubs outings, JESF decided to do a Sox game instead. “Mike brought lots of friends,” Terri says. And strangely, later that year, the Sox won the World Series. “I think Jan had something to do with that,’ Terri says.