I was honored to be a participant in the 2010 LifeCenter calendar. At that time, I had been a heart transplant recipient for 12 years, and today I have doubled that number. LifeCenter played a major role in my transplantation, therefore, I felt an obligation to pay them back through volunteer work. My wife, Jane, and I worked as a team to help them out. There were numerous mailings, health fairs, hospital visits, along with talks with staff at our area Department of Motor Vehicles locations. I also presented information on organ, eye and tissue donation at my church during the weekend of National Donor Sabbath in November. Since my last calendar photoshoot, I was able to see my son, Mike, get married and have the pleasure of being there for the birth of my twin grandsons. They live locally so Jane and I see them frequently. Obviously I couldn’t have been a part of their lives without my heart transplant. To those who are waiting for an organ transplant, I want to say that it is worth the wait because there is a lot more life in store for you. And once you receive your lifesaving transplant, you have to make sure to take care of the gift. I hope LifeCenter will be around for their next 40 years doing what they do best, that is, encouraging others to consider becoming organ, eye and tissue donors, and facilitating the recovery of organ and tissue donations.
– Tony Mankus
