By Brian Day, Staff Writer
Posted: 04/05/2009 07:05:17 AM PDT
Two and a half-year-old Vinnie Dodd, who was born with posterior urethral valve (PUV) and went on dialysis during the first year of his life, is recovering in his Azusa home Thursday, March 5, 2009 after a kidney transplant a month earlier. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz)
Alice Lopez of West Valinda has become a staunch advocate of organ donation since her son, Richard Lopez, was murdered by gang members in his own neighborhood on Easter Sunday of last year. His organs saved the lives of four other people, she said.
"To me, my son was a hero," Alice Lopez said. "His life was taken, but by his life being taken, he saved four. To me, that makes him a hero."
As nearly 100,000 people nation-wide wait for vitally needed transplant organs, officials and local residents effected by organ donation wish to remind the public that April is National Donate Life Month.
National Donate Life Month is an awareness campaign to inform the public of the desperate need for donor organs, encourage people to register as organ and tissue donors and celebrate those who have donated life-saving organs, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
All four patients who received Richard Lopez's organs are doing well, his mother said.
April is also special for her because her son loved jokes and April Fool's Day was one of his favorite days of the year, Alice Lopez said.
In Azusa, Mary Dodd become a dedicated advocate of organ donation after her 2-year-old son, Vincent, received a kidney transplant from a 14-year-old boy in early February.
Vincent, or "Vinnie," was born with a defect that prevented his kidneys from developing properly, his mother said.
Though he was originally expected to survive for only a week after birth, Vinnie surprised his doctors and and responded very well to treatment.
After almost a year spending 10 hours per day hooked up to a dialysis machine, Vinnie became the smallest child ever to receive a kidney transplant at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, hospital officials said.
"When I think of organ donation, I think of the chance it's giving my son to live a normal life," Dodd said.
"Organ donation is an amazing gift of life," she added. "It's the most unselfish act of kindness."
Dodd said she was so moved by her experience with organ donation that she has decided to become a living donor next year, once Vinnie is fully recovered from his transplant. She will have a kidney removed in order to give it to a stranger.
"It's my way of paying it forward," she said. "I can give another mother the feeling that I got."
Both Alice Lopez and Dodd said they plan to join thousands of other people at the Donate Life Run/Walk on April 25 at Cal State Fullerton to raise money for the cause of organ donation.
More than 98,000 people are in need of an organ for transplants nation-wide, according to federal data.
About 77 people receive transplants every day, while about 18 people die each day waiting for a transplant, officials said.
Dodd and Alice Lopez said they encourage the community to register as organ donors, both on their driver's licenses and with a state registry, such as Donate Life California. Also, they said, donors should be sure to tell their family members of their wishes.
National Donate Life Month was established in 2003. For more information on how to become an organ and tissue donor, or for more information on the Donate Life Run/Walk, visit www.donatelifecalifornia.org.
brian.day@sgvn.com
(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2718
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