IFYOU HADTHE POWER to save eight lives, would you?
April is National Donate Life Month, a time for Life Connection of Ohio, the non-profit organization that serves families and saves lives through organ donation, to spread thewordthateveryonehasthepower to donate life. One person has the incredible ability to save eight lives through organ donation and heal 125 more through tissue donation!
April 5 is Donate Life Living Donor Day, which recognizes heroes like Sue Miller. Sue is a giver. In addition to volunteering for Life Connection of Ohio, she supports Honor Flight of Northwest Ohio, Sauder Woodworking Company’s Employee Emergency Relief Fund, First Lutheran Church’s vacation bible school and Sunday school programs, Lutheran World Relief, and Solid Rock International.
Sue wanted to take her generosity to the next level, so she was tested to see if she would be a match for her friend Nancy, who needed a kidney transplant. They were not compatible, but Nancy did receive a life-saving kidney transplant. “I saw how successful Nancy’s kidney transplant was—she had a new lease on life. I thought if I was willing to donate a kidney to Nancy, I could do it for someone else,” Sue said.
Sue started the process of becoming a living donor at The Ohio State University Transplant Center in January 2009. One evening, Sue and her husband, Lynn, were out to eat. The restaurant was packed, and they saw Lynn and Bonnez, a couple they hadn’t talked with in a long time, so they invited them to sit at their table. As the Lynns were talking, Sue remembered Bonnez had some health issues and asked how she was feeling. Bonnez said she was okay, but her sister Macel was very sick and waiting for a kidney transplant. (The sisters had polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder that causes multiple cysts to form on the kidneys, which become enlarged.)
“I had not been matched yet to donate a kidney because I was working on being in excellent health to be an anonymous donor, but I thought I should get tested,” Sue said. “I told Bonnez about the process I had been going through to be a donor and asked her what Macel’s blood type was, and we had the same blood type.”
Sue was a match for Macel. The transplant was set for May 28, 2010 at the University of Michigan Medical Center—something difficult for Sue, a diehard Ohio State University fan, to accept. A few days before that date, Sue and Macel were in the medical center’s lobby. Sue looked up and saw a woman in front of her who said, “You’re Sue, aren’t you?” That was the first time Sue and Macel met, and the reality of what Sue was about to do sunk in. Macel, who had been on the waiting list for a year and a half, was weak from dialysis and her lack of appetite, and her skin was discolored from her kidney failure.
“That’s when it dawned on my husband. He said, ‘You’re doing this for her. It has nothing to do with you.’ I still get choked up thinking about it,” Sue said.
On May 28, 2010, Sue saved Macel’s life. The transplant was on a Friday, and both ladies were healthy enough to be discharged the following Monday.
Macel is eternally grateful to Sue. “What do you say? I still struggle. Not too many people in the world would do something like that,” Macel said. “She is a wonderful person.”
She didn’t only change Macel’s life. Sue also saved the life of a 9-month-old girl when she donated a portion of her liver on April 4, 2012.
Sue wrote a letter to the little girl’s family, but she has not heard back. Sue said she is still very healthy, and her scars are the only physical reminders of her surgeries.
Modest Sue does not see herself as a hero. “God has blessed me with such good health, and he guided me through both of those transplants. It’s very rewarding and humbling to know that I helped two people,” Sue said. “I hope one person reads my story and says, ‘You know what, I can do that, too.’”
Sue volunteers for Life Connection of Ohio, the non-profit organization that serves families and saves lives through organ donation. To learn more about organ donation or to say “yes” to saving lives, visit lifeconnection.org. Kara Steele is Director of Community Services for Life Connection of Ohio. ✲
