Jermayne Harris has been waiting for a heart transplant for four years now. "I think when you're first on the (transplant) list, you're always checking your phone," he says. "It's always in the back of your mind."

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Losing your child is a tragedy no parent should have to endure, but because Katie said yes to organ donation, her mother Gwen can find solace in the fact that Katie’s selflessness saved lives. Because Katie said yes to donation, she is remembered as a hero.

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Mary Collins was not thinking about her own mortality at 19 years old. But, she was left no choice but to confront it when her doctors told her she had severe kidney damage. She was told that she would be on medication for the rest of her life and that she should not have children.

But this diagnosis didn’t stop Mary from living her best life. She gave birth to 2 beautiful and healthy daughters, one of whom answered the phone the night the transplant center called. Mary can still remember her daughter shouting, “Mom, they have a kidney for you.”

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Oftentimes in stories of transplant recipients, we focus on the person in need of a transplant that we don’t recognize the struggle and hardship it puts on their caregiver.

In the story of Stan and India Harris, both agree that Stan needing a kidney transplant was harder on India than it was for her husband.

They recollect their ordeal as a shared experience and are both stronger because of it. Both Stan and India are now advocates for Lifeline of Ohio, for both of them understand the power of donation.

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For Bill Padden, being the recipient of a transplant is a bittersweet experience. You are confronted with the truth that in order for your life to go on, someone else’s life must come to an end.

There is no way Bill can control whose life ends and the gift he received because of it. But what he can control is how he uses his gift - the gift of time.

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Jenae McNichols touched the lives of everyone she met. Her radiance shined a light in even the darkest of corners.

On May 27th, 2013, an unimaginable tragedy struck the McNichols family. Jenae was on her way to teach a dance class when she was involved in a single car accident. After several days of fighting for her life in the ICU, Jenae left this earth.

Because she was under 18, her parents had to consent to organ donation. It was something Jenae would have wanted, for she expressed her desire to be a donor to her mom just weeks beforehand.

The impact she made on those around her during her short time on this Earth is still felt, and she lives on through her recipients.

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Rob didn’t know this at the time, but his decision to join Jack’s Pack was a part of a larger story that would eventually have him a part of a process that saved lives. In some ways, his selfless act now has him “paired for life.”

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Living kidney donation at OSU.

https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/transplant/living-kidney-donation

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Jack Joseph Kubu was born just two days before Thanksgiving in 2014, weighing 6 pounds, 14 ounces, 20 and a half inches long. Seven months later, his legacy became much bigger.

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