Lifeline Blog

Real stories about what is possible when you #SayYES.

Peanut Butter for Thanksgiving (and other Blessings)

By Kelly Vance / November 21, 2016

It was the day before Thanksgiving when the Hedricks got “The Call.” The Washington Regional Transplant Community (WRTC) had recovered a heart that would save 15-year-old Jennifer Hedrick’s life. “It was an absolute perfect match,” her father Steve remembers. Jennifer was only 8 years old when she was first diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition…

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We Said YES: Still Donors After All These Years

By Kelly Vance / November 14, 2016

Ask Chris and Elizabeth Vance how they met and they will tell you a vivid story about a chance encounter at a party at Virginia Tech in 1973. Chris remembers Elizabeth wearing a purple scarf in her hair. Elizabeth remembers the tuna fish sandwich and the copy of Stranger in a Strange Land that Chris gave…

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Imam Johari Abdul-Malik and the Change of Muslim Heart towards Organ Donation

By Kelly Vance / November 10, 2016

Last year, an important connection was made that will have ripples throughout U.S. Muslim community—and the scientific community—for generations. The Washington Regional Transplant Community (WRTC) had been struggling to find a way to help D.C.’s growing Muslim population accept and embrace the idea of organ donation. Doctors throughout the region were starting to hear “It’s…

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Hindu Physician Finds Spiritual Connection in Organ Donation

By Kelly Vance / November 9, 2016

Death is inevitable – the mental suffering surrounding it is not. Dr. Naresh Pathak has been bringing that message to doctors in Florida since 1989 and last month, he brought it to Virginia as well at the “Life, Death, and Donation” summit. Speaking to other faith leaders in Virginia Beach, Pathak shared his thoughts on…

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From Forbidden to Mitzvah: The Jewish Perspective on Organ Donation

By Kelly Vance / November 7, 2016

When Jeffrey Arnowitz was “a newly minted rabbi,” as he calls it, he had a congregant who was waiting for a heart. Rabbi Arnowitz visited this congregant, Michael, as he was in and out of hospitals, having heart attacks so frequently that he began to refer to them nonchalantly as “episodes.” When a heart finally…

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Checking your status could change 75 lives

Did you know organ donation can save 8 people, and improve life for 75 more? Check your status right now, and sign up to help others have longer, stronger lives.