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Mountain Region Donor Services and other organizations offer no cost services to donor families and recipients. For more information about any of these services, please call Jennifer or Kim at MRDS toll-free 1-888-562-3774.
DREAM OF LOCAL DONOR QUILT GROWS By Kim Kennedy Seven
years ago I staffed one of our information booths during a health fair held at a
local mall. For this particularly large event, we had arranged to have the
National Kidney Foundation’s National Donor Quilt, “Patches of Love”,
displayed at our booth. It was the very first time I had seen it and it
took my breath away. Imagine 70 different quilt squares—each one
lovingly handmade in honor and memory of a hero who gave the gift of life; and
each one reminding us of the lives that person saved and improved through organ
and tissue donation. Tears escaped my eyes and a lump caught in my throat
as I slowly viewed each quilt square. From that moment on we have dreamed
of having a local Donor Quilt. Unfortunately, to date, we have only
received three quilt square submissions. Jennifer
Kilby and I have had many conversations about our dream—and how to help it
become reality. We have contacted other organ recovery organizations to
find out how they inform donor families about this beautiful opportunity to
memorialize their loved ones. We’ve got some concepts to work on, but
Jennifer kept coming back to the idea that maybe people thought, “I can’t
even sew on a button, I sure can’t make a quilt!” So, it is with those
of you who might think you aren’t creative (and even those who are) in mind,
that we share with you our first local Donor Quilt square. Jennifer had
told me that local craft stores sell all kinds of different charms, buttons and
miniature items and that these would be an easy way to embellish a quilt square.
My excitement about the project grew when we went shopping together and found a
host of little things that reminded me of my husband, Jim, who passed away and
was an organ and tissue donor in November. I poured through hundreds of pictures I had of Jim and selected many different kinds. I think that was the hardest part—finding an image that captured his unique spirit, wasn’t too formal or too casual, and might evoke a sense of “him” in strangers who would see Jim’s quilt square. I
had the picture scanned and used the computer to create a layout of words that
described Jim. Then I reversed the image (so the words would print
backward) and printed the layout on an iron-on t-shirt transfer sheet that I
purchased at an office supply store. I ironed the transfer onto an 8”
square of cotton (muslin), making sure to keep the design within a 7” square
to allow it to be sewn to other squares (you iron on the backside of the
transfer sheet and this makes the words lay out correctly). Then I simply
sewed the little buttons and charms on. Someone with a bit of artistic
talent could have drawn the images and lettered the words with fabric markers
(I’m not that talented). Some
other ideas are:
We
invite you to join us in remembering our loved ones who have given the gift of
life through our local quilt. Call Kim toll-free at 1-888-562-3774 or
e-mail at kkennedy@dcids.org to request
instructions on making a quilt square. Let your imagination and love flow!
To Remember Me The day will come when my
body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress
located in a hospital busily occupied with the living and the dying. At a
certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and
that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped. When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don’t call this my
deathbed. Let it be called the Bed of Life, and let my body be taken from
it to help others lead fuller lives. Give my sight to the man who has
never seen a sunrise, a baby’s face or love in the eyes of a woman. Give
my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless pain.
Give my blood to a teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that
he might live to see his grandchildren play. Give my kidneys to one who
depends on a machine to exist from week to week. Take my bones, every muscle,
every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.
Explore every corner of my brain. Take my cells, if necessary, and let
them grow so that, someday, a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat
and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her window. Burn what is left of me and
scatter the ashes to the wind to help the flowers grow. If you must bury
something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses and all prejudice against my
fellow man. Give my sins to the devil, give my soul to God. If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever. by Robert N. Test
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Regional Offices Golden State Donor Services 1.916.567.1600 Referrals 1.800.762.8819 Fax 1.916.567.8300 Mountain Region Donor Services 1.423.915.0808 Referrals 1.888.562.3774 Fax 1.423.915.1170 New Mexico Donor Services 1.505.843.7672 Referrals 1.800.843.7672 Fax 1.505.343.1828 Sierra Eye and Tissue Donor Services 1.916.569.0200 Referrals 1.800.762.8819 Distribution 1.800.435.5780 Fax 1.916.569.0300 Tennessee Donor Services Nashville 1.615.234.5251 1.888.234.4440 Referrals 1.800.969.4438 Fax 1.615.320.1655 Tennessee Donor Services Chattanooga 1.423.756.5736 Fax 1.423.756.5904 Tennessee Donor Services Knoxville 1.865.588.1031 Fax 1.865.588.5903 Tennessee Donor Services Jackson 1.731.425.6393 Our Corporate Office DCIDS Organ Services 1.888.234.4440 DCIDS Tissue Services 1.888.234.4399 DCIDS Tissue Orders 1.888.216.0319
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