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Petoskey News-Review
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 8:55 AM EDT
The film about moving goodness forward, “Pay It Forward,” the idea was to not pay back a goodness to the person who gave it, but to “pay it forward” to three new people. Which is the idea with the Alliance for Paired Donation, where family and friends of someone who had an organ donation then donate their organs to someone at random. Matt Jones of Petoskey donate a kidney to a woman in Arizona a year ago, and because of the Alliance for Paired Donation, the 13th person is about to receive an organ because of Matt’s initial effort. What a wonderful idea! Dr. Michael Rees, founder of the Alliance for Paired Donation and transplant surgeon at the University of Toledo Medical Center, came up with the idea for the Never Ending Altruistic Donor Chain. One person from each family who received an organ donation will be donating an organ to another random person. You really, really have to be altruistic to give up an organ. Jones didn’t just donate and move on, he checked with the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan about the U.S. Transplant Games. Organ recipients compete, of course, but the games also honor those who donated organs. Jones and his new wife, Meghan, are celebrating their honeymoon this week at the games in Pittsburgh. “I have received a ton of media attention, which has allowed me to raise awareness to the need of living donors,” Jones added. “Not to mention the fact that my kids think I’m a hero, and what dad doesn’t want to be a hero to his kids?” Jones hopes to inspire others to do something for someone they don’t know. “God is always asking us to do his work, when we listen and respond amazing things can happen,” he said. And amazing people step forward to make it happen. To learn more about the U.S. Transplant Games, organ donation or the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan, call (800) 482-1455.
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