MEDIA RELEASES
A Mother’s Holiday Wish Hinges on the Generosity of a Stranger
Sonja Powell Waits for Two Life-Saving Transplants
(Sacramento) Thirty-seven-year-old Sonja Powell of South Sacramento, a single mother of a six-year-old daughter,has only one request of Santa this year. She says the request is for her child, Precious.
“I want a life-saving heart and kidney transplant,” says Powell. “I want my transplant for the sake of my child – because I’m the only Mommy she has. I pray to God to let me raise her until she’s grown.”
Life for Sonja Powell has never been easy. She contracted strep throat when she was 10-years-old, damaging her kidneys and requiring her to go on dialysis. She ultimately received a kidney transplant at age 15.
“Since I was 10-years-old, I’ve been in and out of the hospital. I’ve been through so much. I missed high school, and had to get a home tutor.”
Powell’s first kidney didn’t last and in 1992, she required a second one – this one came from her brother – one of sixteen siblings. That kidney lasted nearly ten years, until Powell had her daughter, Precious in 2001. Complications during that pregnancy, damaged the second kidney and her heart. Now, Powell must undergo dialysis three times a week, four hours at a time, and her heart works at just 20 percent capacity. Her energy draining, she waits for the ultimate gift this holiday season, the gift of life.
She’s not alone, according to the Helen Nelson, Executive Director of Golden State Donor Services, the organ recovery agency serving the greater Sacramento area. “In our area, covering Sacramento and ten surrounding counties, more than 500 people wait for a life-saving transplant,” says Nelson. “The tragic fact is one in three of those people will die waiting, simply due to the critical shortage of organ
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Page Two - Waiting for Gift of Life - 916.567.1600
donations. This holiday season, we urge everyone to consider giving the gift of life, and sign up to become an organ and tissue donor at: www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org. It takes just minutes – and could mean years of life for people like Sonja Powell.
Nelson points out the Donate Life California Registry represents a new opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those who are waiting for valuable organs, tissues and corneas. The official online state donor registry was launched earlier this year in April, allowing anyone aged 13 or older to sign up so that there can be no possible doubt about their wishes. So far, nearly 200,000 Californians have signed up to give life.
Until the registry came online, drivers put the familiar pink dot on their licenses, thinking that was enough. But, all too often, no one else in their family knew about it. In the numbness of sudden death from accidents or violence, billfolds and wallets were often overlooked.
In October, Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill which will allow drivers to sign on to the new registry at the DMV as they apply for or renew a driver's license or ID card. That law, which will allow accessibility to all Californians, not just those who have Internet capability, goes into effect on July 1, 2006.
Sonja Powell hopes many more Californians will make the decision to sign up to give life. For now, she waits. “I know there’s hope out there, because I’ve had two transplants and it works. I know there’s a better life for us.”
This holiday season, Sonja will stay in town, in case a donation becomes available. She’ll be spending the holidays with many of her 16 siblings – who now have more than 30 children between them.
*GSDS is a private, nonprofit agency facilitating organ donation and transplantation in Sacramento and 10 surrounding counties, as well as Santa Rosa.acramento) Members of the Cooper family have both given and received the ultimate gift this year – the gift of life. Kathy Cooper of Arden Arcade, and Nancy Manly of Foothill Farms each gave a kidney in October to their siblings, Don Cooper of Stockton and Carol Clark of Wendell, North Carolina, respectively. The three local Coopers will come together on Thursday at Sutter Memorial Hospital* at 9:30 a.m. in the Transplant Department on the first floor – just eight weeks after the transplants – for an early holiday get-together.
“It was incredible to see my brother and sister come back to life after the kidney transplants,” says Nancy Manly. “Before the surgeries it was like a light that was dimming, the life was just draining from them. After surgery the light was back full force – it was beautiful to see… it’s an incredible gift.”
The two Cooper siblings who received the kidney transplants, both suffer from polycystic kidney disease. That same illness, which is hereditary, claimed their father’s life at age 47 and another sister’s life, at just 46-years-old.
Both Don, 50-years-old, and Carol, 47-years-old, who received the kidney transplants, say they didn’t expect to grow old… much less see this Christmas or the next.
“I took everyday as it was, thinking tomorrow might be the last day,” says Carol. “Before surgery I was sleeping 12 to 15 hours a day, I couldn’t focus mentally, and by the time I got to surgery, I wasn’t eating anymore. Now, I feel like a little kid celebrating Christmas for the first time again. I look at the Christmas lights and they fill me with joy. I have a renewed interest in life.”
Don adds, ”We’re much closer now – we haven’t done Christmas together for a long time. This year we’re going to my moms’ house and she’s grateful. It’s an emotional time for her – all four of her surviving kids were going through surgery just two months ago. It’s going to be a great Christmas.”
More than 500 others in the greater Sacramento area continue to wait for the ultimate gift this holiday season, according to Helen Nelson, Executive Director of Golden State Donor Services,** the organ recovery agency serving the greater Sacramento area. “The tragic fact is one in three of the 500+ people waiting, will die due to the critical shortage of organ donations. This holiday season, we urge everyone to consider giving the gift of life, and sign up to become an organ and tissue donor at: www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org. It takes just minutes.”
Nelson points out the Donate Life California Registry represents a new opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those who are waiting for valuable organs, tissues and corneas. The official online state donor registry was launched earlier this year in April, allowing anyone aged 13 or older to sign up so that there can be no possible doubt about their wishes. So far, nearly 200,000 Californians have signed up to give life.
Until the registry came online, drivers put the familiar pink dot on their licenses, thinking that was enough. But, all too often, no one else in their family knew about it. In the numbness of sudden death from accidents or violence, billfolds and wallets were often overlooked.
In October, Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill which will allow drivers to sign on to the new registry at the DMV as they apply for or renew a driver's license or ID card. That law, which will allow accessibility to all Californians, not just those who have Internet capability, goes into effect on July 1, 2006.
*Sutter Medical Center Sacramento has been providing kidney transplant services to patients throughout Northern California since 1986. The transplant team at SMCS has performed more than 480 kidney transplants.
**GSDS is a private, nonprofit agency facilitating organ donation and transplantation in Sacramento and 10 surrounding counties, as well as Santa Rosa.
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