Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
WATERLOO, Iowa — You can be a hero, too.
With that in mind, the Iowa Firefighters Association and Iowa Donor Network introduced a campaign Thursday. They challenge each of the state’s 99 counties to register 100 people in 100 days.
“There’s an absolute need for organ donors across the nation, particularly here in Iowa,” Tony Hakes said during an event at Waterloo Fire Rescue’s main station in downtown Waterloo.
Hakes is public outreach manager for the Iowa Donor Network, the nonprofit organization that serves as the primary contact for organ, tissue and eye donation in the state.
April is national Donate Life Month. But given the ever-present need, the designation is actually something of a misnomer, according to Hakes.
“Really every month is donate life month,” he said.
At the moment, more than 600 people are on Iowa’s waiting list for organs, according to Hakes. About 80 percent need a kidney.
“That number is not going to go down unless we start using living donors,” Hakes added.
Thursday’s event featured two people familiar with both sides of the equation.
Jill Junk, 57, wife of Waterloo firefighter Joe Junk, spoke briefly to those gathered in the apparatus bays at the fire station. She is one of 19 Iowans waiting for a liver.
“So if you have one out there ... ,” Jill Junk quipped.
On the other side, Judy Rottinghaus, 56, of Nashua, talked about donating a kidney. She is a retired Waterloo firefighter and paramedic and in 2010 offered a piece of herself to someone she did not know and has never met.
A 52-year-old Minnesota man received one of Rottinghaus’ kidneys.
Her generosity proved important for her own health. Physicians examining Rottinghaus’ incision two years later subsequently discovered a spot on her pancreas. Rottinghaus’ mother died because of pancreatic cancer eight months earlier.
“It’s non-symptomatic, which is why we didn’t catch hers in time,” Rottinghaus said.
Joe Junk thanked the community and his fellow firefighters.
“They’ve been such support for us,” he said.
But Joe Junk also pointed out the need goes beyond his wife to many, many others.
“We have to all band together so we can help these families,” he said, urging Iowans to register as a donor.
“Good things will happen,” Joe Junk added.
The Iowa Firefighters Association is taking the lead with the 100-day challenge because of the example set by a past president, Brian Seymour. He was fire chief in Indianola for 16 years. He died March 12 after a fall.
Seymour was an organ and tissue donor and consequently touched 72 other lives after his own death, according to the Iowa Donor Network.
“There’s certainly a need for more heroes like Brian,” Hakes said.
Anyone can register as a donor, according to Hakes, but sometimes they don’t for the wrong reasons. They mistakenly believe they are either too old or too sick.
“People rule themselves out is the most common thread,” Hakes said.
Mike Moore, a battalion chief with Waterloo Fire Rescue, emphasized the bottom line.
“You don’t have to be a firefighter to save lives,” he said.
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