The need is great:
· 17 people die each day
waiting for a life saving organ transplant.
· According to LifeCenter Northwest, the
government licensed organization
that harvests the organs in the northwest, at
www.lcnw.org, More than 1200
people within the Northwest are on the organ transplant list.
Your decision to become a “transplant support partner” can
save or enhance the
chance for those people to be helped.
Letter to the Editor:
I am writing to ask you to PLEASE join us in our efforts.
I am making an impassioned plea for help. I have confidence that the
peoples in the Northwest communities, Washington, Oregon, Idaho,
Montana and Alaska, are a compassionate and giving people.
On March 16, 2003, I was given a wonderful gift, a double lung
transplant. I received my transplant at the University Of Washington
Medical Center in Seattle WA.
While in recovery, I made a commitment to do something to give back.
After evaluating the situation for patients in the lung transplant
program, the one area where the patients had little or no help was in
transportation and housing.
After returning home, I established a 501 (c) (3) non-profit
organization “NorthWest Lung, Inc.” to provide help for transplant
patients. The mission for NWL is to provide residence housing near the
UWMC.
The University of Washington Medical Center and Life Center Northwest,
Inc (the licensed organization that performs the organ harvesting), is
the only facility that does lung transplants in the northwest. Their
stated area of coverage is the 5 northwest states of WA, OR, ID, MT and
AK. As a prospective lung transplant patient, if you do not live within
a predetermined time line near the hospital, as determined by the lung
transplant team at the UWMC, you are required to relocate as a
condition of being placed on the transplant list. This is because it is
critical that you be able to reach the hospital quickly once a suitable
donor is found.
NorthWest Lung, Inc. is a grass roots, boot strap organization. We have
very little over head (paid for by Johnny’s NASCAR Gift Shop),
and, no paid employees. The funds we raise will go overwhelmingly to
directly help the people in need.
We currently have one, “Myrtle House”, one bedroom apartment residence
unit, funded again by Johnny’s
NASCAR Gift Shop. However, we need many more.
We are asking you to give. We are looking for those caring peoples of
the Northwest who will make a monthly commitment to helping those in
need. If you are a business owner, please give $100.00 per month. For
individuals, please give $10.00 per month. With one hundred businesses
and 1000 individuals throughout the northwest committed to giving, we
can fund over 20 units. That seems like a very small amount for 5
states. With your permission, we will list your name or business name
on a plaque that will be placed in “your” unit. However, I should warn
you, you may get a letter from the transplant patients thanking you.
They will usually bring tears. Tears of joy.
We ask for these amounts because we feel it is a small enough amount
that a business or individual can easily afford. For individuals, it
would mean they would have to forgo one visit to a fast food restaurant
and one latte each month. As for businesses, I know there must be some
place within each organization that they can cut expenses or readjust
expenditures to raise the funds. Your monthly donation can also be
given in one yearly payment.
We have made it easy to give; by going to our web site
www.northwest-lung.org you can send an e-mail to us at
support@northwest-lung.org , giving us your name, e-mail address and
your permission to send you a billing each month for your donation. Or
you can write to us, sending your check, at NorthWest Lung, Inc., 2802
W 10th Ave, Kennewick WA 99336.
You can also go to our web site and go to the “donation” section and
give via your credit card through our secure network. We will hold your
information in strict confidence.
For some, there will be some doubt as to our validity. For those who
question who we are and do we do what we say; please take the time and
effort to contact the following;
Dr Bendett MD, Pulmonary Dept, U.W.M.C.
Dr Mulligan MD, Surgeon, U.W.M.C.
Angela Wagner, Social Services, U.W.M.C.
These were my team members on the Lung Transplant Team during my stay
at University of Washington Medical Center. In addition, we can
provide, upon written request, proof in writing of our 501 (c) (3)
status and licensing in the state of Washington or, you can go on line
and look up our tax exempt status on the internet.
It should be said that we are not a part of, nor do we receive
assistance from, the UWMC.
We currently have one unit and would be happy to have any one who is
interested to go see the unit and, if the patient agrees, meet the
transplant recipient who is currently living there. She and her husband
moved in in early July and by mid July received her transplant. At last
contact, she is doing fine.
In fact, we encourage any one who wants to volunteer to do so in
addition to their monthly gift.
If you have given funds to large organizations and wondered if it
really helps people or just pays the mortgage and payroll, then please
consider us. We can prove to you that your gift will not be spent on
other things.
I just received a phone call (September 06) from a lady in central
Oregon asking about our organization and would we be able to help her.
She is 60 years old, on Social Security, currently paying $100 per
month rent and in need of a lung transplant. While she has medical
insurance to cover the operation and medicine expenses, for her, moving
to Seattle; well, she may as well be planning a trip to the moon.
I told her that we are working very hard to find funding and that we
would love to help if we can.
In the months since we established our organization, we have been
contacted by many.
Our first contact was a couple from the Lewiston ID area. We told them
that they would be our first resident. However, they had already made a
commitment to sell their home so that they could afford to move to an
apartment in Seattle. Sadly, we were not soon enough to help them keep
their home.
Our next contact was a family in Richland WA. They just wanted to have
me go by and speak to them. They were under the impression that one
could only expect to live for a year after surgery. At that time I was
3 years out from my surgery and I assured them that life existing much
longer than one year was very possible. (At the time of my transplant
17+ years was the record). I hope to break the record.
After I visited with them, they sent me an e-mail to say that my visit
had spurred him to seek a transplant and they were planning to go on
the list in late July, and could we help them with housing. Again we
did not have future funding in place.
On July 5th I received an e-mail from her to tell me that he had passed
away on July 2nd. She went on to say that she thanked me for my efforts
as it had given him a great deal of hope in his last days. And she was
grateful for that.
We currently have a lady in a Montana town who has been working on a
requirement from the UWMC to lose weight. She has contacted us several
times, keeping us informed as to her progress. She is also hoping we
will be able to provide her with housing. At this time, we do not have
funding in place for an additional unit.
Sadly, we had a lady from just outside Portland Or., who was to be our
“second” resident, that was rushed up to the UWMC and hospitalized upon
arrival. Her husband and sister went out to our “Myrtle House” unit and
were very pleased with where they would be living during their ordeal.
As her situation was extreme and urgent, the transplant team went
outside their normal area to locate a donor lung. She died before she
could benefit from a transplant.
As you can see, the need is GREAT. PLEASE HELP!!
In addition to knowing that you are doing something good, we do offer
services that your business can take advantage of. We conduct a stop
smoking clinic, for individuals, companies or organizations anywhere in
the Northwest. This is an ongoing part of our smoke shop program to
encourage smokers to stop. We council one or more customers daily,
encouraging them to stop. All we ask is that you cover our travel and
lodging and commit to our previously mentioned monthly gift. We also
have created an advertising program. The program offers advertising for
the businesses in your local community that incorporates creating fund
raising benefits to local groups in your town such as the boy scouts,
high school groups, youth groups etc. in addition to establishing
fundraising for NWL.
Lung transplantation covers a number of illnesses; Interstitial
Pneumanitis, Emphysema, Sarcoidoisis, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis,
Cystic Fibrosis, Pulmonary Hypertension, Bronchiactasis, C.O.P.D.,
Alpha 1 Immune Deficiency, Cancer (2 year remission).
Because I had C.O.P.D. from smoking, I want to do what I can to tell my
story in the hopes that it may help just one person; and then one more,
and then one more. However, lung transplantation provides help for
persons in many other areas.
Finally, when you see or hear a plea to help find a cure, remember us.
When a person has a lung disease and becomes eligible for a transplant,
it is like they have an instant cure. With us, YOUR GIFT CAN HELP SAVE
A LIFE……NOW!!
I thank you in advance and, those persons’ whose lives you may help
save thank you.
Breath – the gift of life.
John Lee
President
NorthWest Lung, Inc.
2802 W 10th Ave
Kennewick, WA 99336
509-727-7887
www.northwest-lung.org
support@northwest-lung.org
