Chesapeake Regional, during Donate Life Month, honors generosity of organ donors who save lives
A gentle breeze unfurled the Donate Life flag as it rose up the flagpole outside Chesapeake Regional Medical Center on Wednesday morning.
“In our sorrows let us also find joy and peace,” said Reese Jackson, president and CEO of Chesapeake Regional Healthcare.
Jackson showed the heart symbol on his driver’s license signifying that he is an organ donor and encouraged others to talk to five people every day this month about organ donation. A ceremony inside the hospital lobby celebrated Donate Life Month in April and honored donors, their families and recipients. It concluded with the flag-raising.
More than 103,000 Americans are currently in need of organ transplant with the waiting list growing daily, said Amber Egyud, the hospital’s chief operating and nursing officer.
Just over 89,000 patients await a kidney, according to the Health Resources & Services Administration. The greatest needs after a kidney in order are for a liver, heart, kidney/pancreas, lung and pancreas.
“Every eight minutes, a new patient gets added to the transplant list,” she said about nationwide statistics. “And 17 patients every day lose their lives waiting for transplants.”
Leslie Fraser of Chesapeake reflected on the six years he spent on dialysis, juggling his former two-decades-long career as a longshoreman while caring for his wife and three children.
“I felt like a prisoner trapped in my own body,” he said.
But after two years on the transplant waiting list for a kidney, the long-awaited call came. Fraser underwent transplant surgery on Mother’s Day in 2018 — almost as if it was an answer to his late mother’s prayers.
He can’t help but feel sadness for the mother of the 27-year-old man killed in a car accident, he said. Yet, he is thankful for the stranger who changed his life. It is his kidney that now keeps Fraser alive — and off dialysis.
“I was given a second chance,” Fraser said.
Joanna Colasito of Chesapeake knows both the deep pain of losing a spouse and the sheer miracle of organ donation.
The director of patient experience at Chesapeake Regional lost her 51-year-old husband, Joey, suddenly in November 2021 after he suffered a hemorrhagic stroke. An entrepreneur and agency owner with World Financial Group, her husband had registered as an organ donor through the Department of Motor Vehicles.
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“We may never fully comprehend the reasons for his early departure, but we’re going to find solace in knowing that the decision that we did to donate his organs has brought hope to so many people,” she said.
While her heart continues to ache for the absence of her spouse, Colasito said she chooses not to dwell on the pain. Instead, she takes comfort in knowing that his kind and compassionate spirit lives on through the lives of the six people he helped to live.
Since 2014, Chesapeake Regional reported the health system has saved 83 lives through its collaboration with LifeNet Health, a Virginia Beach-based organization that facilitates organ donation in Virginia.
To learn more about becoming an organ donor, visit Donate Life Virginia at donatelifevirginia.org.
Sandra J. Pennecke, 757-652-5836, sandra.pennecke@pilotonline.com
By the numbers
Chesapeake Regional’s reported 2023 organ donation statistics:
19 lives saved
8 organ donors
22 organs gifted
15 tissue donors
795 referrals for potential organ, tissue or eye donors
