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Registered organ donors can save lives when vital organs fail. Katja Fort Rhoden and Tim Heely are on the board of Donate Life Maryland, a nonprofit managing the Maryland Donor Registry. Fort Rhoden, a lung transplant recipient, advocates for organ donation, especially in minority communities. Heely, a heart transplant recipient, emphasizes the importance of organ donation in saving lives. Both share their stories to raise awareness and dispel myths about organ donation. They are grateful to their donors and work to encourage others to become donors. Heely testifies before the legislature to promote organ donation. They believe in paying it forward and making a positive impact. Organ donation can give people a second chance at life and bring hope to those in need. Visit Donate Life Maryland's website to learn more about organ donation.
By Andrea Blackstone
Registered organ donors can help save and improve lives, when vital organs, such as lungs or the heart fail in individuals with a grim prognosis.
Katja Fort Rhoden and Tim Heely both serve on Donate Life Maryland’s (DLM) board. DLM, the state-authorized nonprofit organization, is responsible for managing the Maryland Donor Registry. Fort Rhoden and Heely were given more time to do good deeds and live well because of their generous organ donors.
Anyone can unexpectedly need help someday in the future. When community leaders publicly and bravely decide to share pieces of their personal health stories, the impact of organ, eye, and tissue donation becomes real.
Katja Fort Rhoden
Fort Rhoden, an organ donation advocate and Howard County, Maryland-based mother, received a double lung transplant in 2018.
“I realized the positive impact that had on my life. I wanted to pay it forward and to volunteer my time to advance awareness and dispel myths about organ donation,” she said, explaining why she wanted to get involved with DLM.
After volunteering for DLM, Fort Rhoden was invited to serve on the board.
Organ donors of all ethnicities are needed. Fort Rhoden, who is biracial, explained that organ donation numbers in minority communities are lower. She also discovered that her son has the same rare disease that she does.
“While he is not listed for a transplant now, it’s very likely that my son could need a transplant when he becomes an adult. So, my motivation is not just my own experience, but knowing that my son, who is a young Black male, will also need a transplant someday,” she said.
Advocacy work and trying to heal the relationship between minorities and the medical community is extremely important, as well as dispelling myths about organ donation. Fort Rhoden reminded us that Black Americans hold a great deal of distrust for the medical system. Finding a match within your own community can become a life-or-death matter.
“I feel like the time that I have here on Earth, I just want to really pay it forward and make a positive impact. I don’t know who my donor was, but I feel like I’ve tried to honor them every day,” Fort Rhoden stated.
Photo credit: Cherie Heely
Rear Admiral Tim Heely, U.S. Navy (ret.)
Tim Heely, a Saint Mary’s County Maryland resident and retired Navy Admiral had a heart attack 13 years ago. He received a heart transplant 11 years ago. These days, the organ donor recipient feels “pretty good.”
“I have been an organ donor since I was 16. I never thought I’d be the recipient of an organ, but it made sense to donate,” Heely said. “Once, I did get the heart, I realized firsthand how important that was, and how important it was to get the information out [about organ donation].
He mentioned that people sometimes worry about matters such as taking a piece of their body away after they die, or if that makes a difference if they go to Heaven.
“I just want to try to help tell people that if you do donate an organ that you no longer need, you’re saving at least a half a dozen, if not more lives of other people,” Heely stated.
While giving speeches as a Navy retiree, Heely always mentions the importance of organ donation, because it saved his life and many others.
In Heely’s case, receiving another heart allowed him to witness children getting married and the birth of grandchildren.
Although the donor’s family did not choose to respond to a letter that he penned about the positive impact the organ donor made, Heely feels that he has a bond with his donor. He believes the donor was male.
“Every morning, I wake up and I think of my surgeons, my nurses, and my and the hospital staff…I don’t miss a day without thanking everyone involved for giving me this life,” Heely shared.
He stated that in his role as a DLM board member, he has testified a few times before the legislature in Annapolis, Maryland to try to get funding to spread the word about the importance of organ, eye, and tissue donation.
“We make it more human and get the emotional aspects of things that a professional can’t,” Heely said.
“I am grateful to my donor families, the professionals, God, and people that gave me the second chance,” Heely said.
Please visit Donate Life Maryland via https://www.donatelifemaryland.org/ to learn more about organ, eye, and tissue donation.