Betsy, living kidney donor
Betsy Walsh, J.D., M.P.H., 2015-16 president of the OPTN/UNOS Board of Directors, has a personal connection to donation. In 1995, she donated a kidney to her older sister.
Ben, heart recipient
In December 2011, 4-week-old Benjamin Hillenburg developed what his parents, Joseph and Stacy, thought was the flu. Their pediatrician was concerned about some symptoms that didn’t quite fit the flu and had Benjamin admitted to a local hospital for tests. An echocardiogram revealed that his heart was dangerously large, and within hours he was airlifted to Children’s Memorial Hospital, now Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
Sarah, heart recipient
A lot of times, when you hear the words heart failure, you think of the elderly. As a healthy 25 year old, never did I expect to hear those two words. And never did I ever expect to heart those two words while pregnant with my second.