Organ, tissue donors help many

By Matt Conn

Marshfield News-Herald

April 15, 2005

One life ends, and for that reason another has a chance for better days ahead.

This might not happen unless an organ or tissue donor was involved.

Barb Budzinski of Thorp will tell you to get the sticker, put it on your drivers license and let others know you are a donor. She and her husband, Jack, have done so.

Their 25-year-old daughter, Stacy, became a donor after she died from an asthma attack in 2002.

"The people you could help and the number of people she helped is really great," Barb Budzinski said.

As of Thursday, more than 88,200 candidates were awaiting organ transplants in the nation, including about 1,560 in Wisconsin, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, which was established by Congress in 1984.

But donors also can provide tissue - which includes bone, skin, heart valves, connective tissue and veins. More will qualify for donating tissue rather than organs, and tissue donations can benefit multiple recipients, according to Madison-based RTI Donor Services, a nonprofit tissue recovery organization.

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Stacy Budzinski donated her bone, skin, heart valves, corneas and connective tissues, all recovered at Saint Joseph's Hospital, when her parents consented.

Organ donation is possible when a patient has suffered a traumatic brain injury and they are declared brain dead through strict criteria and tests, but their blood still is flowing because of life support, said Sonja Stephenson, chairwoman of Saint Joseph's Hospital's Donate Life team.

Then the family must consent to a donation, even if the patient has the donation sticker on their drivers license, she said.

If the patient is dead, he or she can donate tissues, but not organs.

At what can be a difficult time for family members, the focus is on their comfort, Stephenson said.

Hospital staff are legally required to ask next of kin to donate the organs and tissue of their loved ones, she said.

"Everything we do is for the patient and family," Stephenson said. "You want to help them through the process and the grieving." Barb Budzinski said she was approached right away. Her daughter's death was sudden, but friends had recalled that Stacy had said she wanted to be a donor.

"A lot of people don't really think about that," Stephenson said. "A 25-year-old person doesn't think about death, doesn't think about organ donation."
Though Budzinski said she was pleased her daughter helped others, she and her husband have not attempted to contact any of them.

"At this point in our lives, we've decided not to pursue it, because I think it's just painful," she said, as her voice trembled. "We more or less think about the people we have helped, and to meet them, I don't know at this point if I would be able to handle something like that."

Matt Conn can be reached at 384-3131 or 800-967-2087, ext. 328, or at mconn@marshfieldnewsherald.com. For more information go to marshfieldnewsherald.com and click on today's Web links.

This article posted May 15, 2005.

Organ, tissue donors help many

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