Speaker 1: Elvis drand presents Off Air Show Scary Jones and Greg
Speaker 1: Tea Episode nine. Yeah it is, it's the Off Fair Show.
Speaker 1: I'm scary. That's Greg Tea here. Now you are hyper man, well,
Speaker 1: you know, but I usually am very hype and I
Speaker 1: am and that's a little That's as much as you're
Speaker 1: gonna get today, because today we're gonna do something a
Speaker 1: little different. Yeah, we're gonna change it up, you know,
Speaker 1: the Off Fair Show. We've learned over the last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks. It can be many different things. Oh, yes,
Speaker 1: we want to experiment. We're gonna experiment throughout the summer.
Speaker 1: It doesn't have to necessarily be crazy off the wall stuff.
Speaker 1: It could be some of that like we had yesterday. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it could be like some love advice stuff when shares
Speaker 1: here with chair Nose. It could be whatever. Whatever. We
Speaker 1: could be public service. We're transitioning. We're trying to figure
Speaker 1: out exactly where the show goes. Yeah, because, by the way,
Speaker 1: but I don't the rumors. Don't believe the rumors. The
Speaker 1: show's not going away. It just might be reinvented. We
Speaker 1: might change the title. I wouldn't even say, Mike, I'm
Speaker 1: saying that it's going to be reinvented. Okay, we are
Speaker 1: gonna Okay, we we might be changing the titles. You're transitioning.
Speaker 1: We might be bringing newcast, math and members on God
Speaker 1: Bless whatever. We might split into two or three different podcasts.
Speaker 1: Sounds good to me. But the point is the Affair Show,
Speaker 1: Scary Jones and Greg T will be here on the
Speaker 1: podcast in some way, shape or form. We are the
Speaker 1: We are the pillars that holds up the colosseum. You've
Speaker 1: always say that you we are the tent poles of
Speaker 1: the morning. We are You're you are a pole because
Speaker 1: you are Polish. Where would the show be without Scary
Speaker 1: Jones and Greg T. I don't know where. Would it
Speaker 1: be in a better shape than it is today? Elvis
Speaker 1: would say it would be, but I would I would
Speaker 1: beg to differ. All Right, you want to take the
Speaker 1: task on that we can play back to audio anyway.
Speaker 1: So where I was going with that was today we
Speaker 1: want to do something serious. We're gonna throw our format
Speaker 1: out the window, and again in coming days we might
Speaker 1: do other things. We might have fun interviews, we might
Speaker 1: have more bands up. We're just gonna open ourselves up
Speaker 1: this podcast is going to be everything that's right. Just
Speaker 1: when you thought we were focusing in on one theme,
Speaker 1: it's not. We're gonna be several different shows as to
Speaker 1: as the days and weeks and months go by, and
Speaker 1: if there's something that we talked about today that you
Speaker 1: can really relate to, we'd love to hear about this,
Speaker 1: so scary tell them right exactly, go to email email
Speaker 1: us at the Affair Show at gmail dot com. We
Speaker 1: always want your feedback. You can tweet us at the
Speaker 1: fair Show or email us uh Instagram all of it
Speaker 1: at the fair Show Facebook page two. Although someday it
Speaker 1: might not be called the Afair Show, then we're gonna
Speaker 1: have a real problem. But really think about that part.
Speaker 1: If we changed the logo and we changed the name.
Speaker 1: So as what I was leading up to is the
Speaker 1: fact that today we're gonna do something completely different, something
Speaker 1: we've never done an off fair show, and that's due
Speaker 1: like a public service. This is not a public service announcement.
Speaker 1: It's more of like a public so if we want
Speaker 1: kind of like an in the no informative thing, we
Speaker 1: did something similar to this when Dr Fatlawis came up
Speaker 1: that time. But now we have our friends from the
Speaker 1: New Jersey Sharing Network. It's correct, and today will be
Speaker 1: just about that. We're not going to try and do
Speaker 1: the usual wacky stuff you're normally here here on the
Speaker 1: affair show. So great t Since you brought this to
Speaker 1: my attention, why don't you take it away and introduce
Speaker 1: me and all the listeners to our friends here. Okay,
Speaker 1: So about six years ago I was introduced to this
Speaker 1: really great charity and uh it's called, like you said,
Speaker 1: the New Jersey Sharing Network And you can check them
Speaker 1: out at NJ Sharing Network dot org and get more
Speaker 1: information on what exactly they do or you might be
Speaker 1: interested in, but we'll let you know today. So what
Speaker 1: they what they specialize in is uh donating and sharing
Speaker 1: organs and tissue donating. Am I right there? John? All right?
Speaker 1: So that's John sitting to the left of me is
Speaker 1: John Valentine from the New Jersey Sharing Network and he's
Speaker 1: their marketing at communications manager. And I've known John now
Speaker 1: for I guess about four or five years, four years
Speaker 1: I think four years. And um, you know, the New
Speaker 1: Jersey Sharing Network is very active within the community, um
Speaker 1: and and they do so many great charity events and
Speaker 1: the events that I partake in is their national kickoff event,
Speaker 1: and then also all of their five k run walks
Speaker 1: that I always host and I run and I do
Speaker 1: those things. Tell us a little bit about the New
Speaker 1: Jersey Sharing Network, how it came to be and your
Speaker 1: main mission statement. Yeah. Sure. So at New Jersey Sharing Network,
Speaker 1: we save lives through organiz tissue donation. As Greg mentioned
Speaker 1: um on my technique a break So anyway, so we
Speaker 1: save lives through organ and tissue donation, and what that
Speaker 1: means is we actually work with and comfort the families
Speaker 1: at the time that donation is possible. So when someone
Speaker 1: has the potential to be an organ and tissue downer,
Speaker 1: we step in and we make that gift happen. For
Speaker 1: transplant recipients. Um, right now, there are over a hundred
Speaker 1: twenty people in the country waiting for a life saving
Speaker 1: organ transplant, and so we work every day to make
Speaker 1: sure that those people get that gift that they're waiting for.
Speaker 1: That's pretty heavy, I mean, honestly, it's it's it's um
Speaker 1: it's tough for someone to actually go and register themselves,
Speaker 1: you know, to to think about that. You know, do
Speaker 1: I want to be a donor? You know, that's a
Speaker 1: tough thing to want to do. Is this similar to
Speaker 1: when I get a new driver's license. I signed the
Speaker 1: back that says I'm going to be an organ donor
Speaker 1: because I've signed mine, and I think that means that
Speaker 1: if and when I pass well, we will pass all
Speaker 1: of us, right, they get to donate my You don't
Speaker 1: think that is that? What that is is as similar?
Speaker 1: Is it tied in with that when you register on
Speaker 1: your license or online at our website, there's a national
Speaker 1: register you can register register with online. That means that
Speaker 1: if you pass away and you are healthy enough that
Speaker 1: you can give organs or tissue to someone else that
Speaker 1: you would like to do that. So that is um,
Speaker 1: you saying, this is my wish when I pass away.
Speaker 1: If it's possible, please make this happen. If somebody doesn't register,
Speaker 1: then it's up to their family to decide. Ok. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a very good point. It's up to your family.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing for me. So my wife and I,
Speaker 1: so Trice and I were just home one day and
Speaker 1: we had gotten married, and see, she had to change
Speaker 1: her driver's license because we lived in New Jersey now
Speaker 1: and she's from New York. It's all of us, and
Speaker 1: she comes on it k New York, give us the
Speaker 1: Brooklyn scary Come on, We're not gonna do Brooklyn giving
Speaker 1: the Beastie Boys from Brooklyn. I got better, something bad.
Speaker 1: Are you gonna mentioned Brooklyn without saying Beastie Boys? Come on? Now,
Speaker 1: that's something better than this is what we do to
Speaker 1: our first show, Johnny. What we do is all of
Speaker 1: a sudden break, So yeah, I'm going from Brooklyn to
Speaker 1: New Jersey. Was was tragic as it was for me,
Speaker 1: and I had to get rid of my license. So
Speaker 1: as you you're gonna play the Beastie Boys when you
Speaker 1: say Brooklyn, you gotta play the Beastie Boys today? Oh
Speaker 1: my god, anyway, continue with you. We we all we
Speaker 1: do is get sidetracked here. That's what it's part of
Speaker 1: our party, thinks I have add I just don't want
Speaker 1: going to have this kind of show today. We weren't
Speaker 1: opposed to, but I mean, before he went on, were like,
Speaker 1: we're gonna do very serious, We're gonna do something totally different.
Speaker 1: We are gonna be serious. But all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: the out anyway comes home and she goes, hey, just
Speaker 1: so you know, I'm now an organ donor and I
Speaker 1: go what. So she's like yeah, and I said, well,
Speaker 1: this is this something we should talk about, like we
Speaker 1: should discuss this, and she's like, no, this is my
Speaker 1: body is what I want to do. And I said
Speaker 1: I know. But now we both said I do. And
Speaker 1: now I have to know these things. All of a sudden,
Speaker 1: something could tragically happen. You know, I need to tell
Speaker 1: your mom and dad, like, what's going on here? You
Speaker 1: know why? Uh? You know they're doing the things they're doing.
Speaker 1: So anyway, so trish Um talked to me about after
Speaker 1: the fact, and now I was so intrigued that now
Speaker 1: I too am a part of being an organ donor,
Speaker 1: which is good. That doesn't mean you take my arms. Though,
Speaker 1: if I could just interrupt here for a second, I
Speaker 1: was going to say, that's something really important that you
Speaker 1: just said. So we tell people to register all the time,
Speaker 1: but you have to take that extra step and actually
Speaker 1: let your family know that that's what you did. And
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a surprise at that moment. But wait
Speaker 1: when they see your license. You see you sign that's
Speaker 1: an that like an official document, it is, but you
Speaker 1: don't want to surprise um your family. Let's say something
Speaker 1: does happen and they find out at that moment as
Speaker 1: opposed to knowing for years, might well could you imagine
Speaker 1: of Also, the doctor goes, oh, and by the way,
Speaker 1: so she's a donor. So we're we've now called New
Speaker 1: Jersey Sharing Network to let them know. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: what are you talking about? Like, I mean that could
Speaker 1: you imagine? Because here I am now going to try
Speaker 1: to cope with the loss. But now all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: on top of it, I think I I've just found
Speaker 1: out that you know, we're we're donating organs and tissue.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm like, you're the kidding, Not that I
Speaker 1: wouldn't want that, because now I've learned so much. So
Speaker 1: continuing on, you know, you the New Jersey Sharing Network
Speaker 1: and what you guys do with with the organs and
Speaker 1: the tissues. It goes to people who really need it.
Speaker 1: And how do how does one sign up to be
Speaker 1: an applicant to be qualified for somebody else's So when
Speaker 1: someone is in a certain medical condition that they need
Speaker 1: a transport, they get for organs. Yeah, they get listed
Speaker 1: at a transplant center. God, and so they're put on
Speaker 1: the national waiting list. And when an organ becomes available.
Speaker 1: Let's say a heart. Organizations like ours, look at the
Speaker 1: list and UM it determines based on how long someone's
Speaker 1: been waiting, their current medical condition, and UM the location
Speaker 1: they are in relations to UM the available. So there's
Speaker 1: a different list for each organ. What's the number one
Speaker 1: organ that people need right now? Lungs? No, give me,
Speaker 1: give me the come on man, nothing for a contest.
Speaker 1: We're not playing this game today. They got to have
Speaker 1: some sound effects. Ready, I have the sound effects. Ready,
Speaker 1: let's start again. Ready, what's the number one organ needed? Gets?
Speaker 1: Say it again? Lungs, give me? Give me another one?
Speaker 1: Um heart, come on, hold on, wait, um liver, give
Speaker 1: me come on, hold on, hold on? How about this
Speaker 1: is three? Or ready? Three structs around? One more? One more?
Speaker 1: You can't even think of different? Brain? Brain, try again, seriously,
Speaker 1: that's the kind of answer. Well, after working very close
Speaker 1: to the New Jersey Sharing Network again, go to information,
Speaker 1: go to NJ Sharing Network dot org, and you two
Speaker 1: can find out the number one organ is a kidney. Yes,
Speaker 1: you are right? How about that? And at anything point
Speaker 1: the big kidney at heart at any I like that joke.
Speaker 1: That's pretty funny. I'm a kidney use it for your
Speaker 1: next commercial. And at any kind of point, anybody can
Speaker 1: just go to their doctor, right and they could sign
Speaker 1: themselves up get tested and they can donate an order
Speaker 1: donate a kidney at any time, right right, So someone
Speaker 1: can just sign up to be a living donor to
Speaker 1: someone else. Sometimes it's family members, friends, and sometimes people
Speaker 1: just step forward and say, I want to give a
Speaker 1: kidney to a stranger. How about that? Because you know
Speaker 1: you have two and you really don't need to know.
Speaker 1: I understand that you could operate on one. Why don't
Speaker 1: you get one next week? Just don't neate a kidney? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Why do you live a happy, successful, healthy life? We
Speaker 1: just don't any peop do. Yeah, people are so scared,
Speaker 1: like you think you can't do it and if that
Speaker 1: one goes bad late in life. Actually, no, it's funny
Speaker 1: you bring that up. What happens to this? And so
Speaker 1: if you are a living donor to someone else, um,
Speaker 1: and you do somehow down the road need a kidney,
Speaker 1: you will go to the top of the list or yeah,
Speaker 1: but they don't have enough, so it doesn't matter the
Speaker 1: top of listening. You still might not get one. Wow,
Speaker 1: that has to be a perfect match. Right or kidneys right.
Speaker 1: So they do that. So it's more than UM just
Speaker 1: blood type. It's UM something called h l A typing
Speaker 1: so UM. I don't remember what h l A stand.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but there's a lot of letters. Man.
Speaker 1: This is where the doctors come in and I get
Speaker 1: out out. I don't know either. That is so our
Speaker 1: lab actually um at our organization does the matching for that,
Speaker 1: so we do the actual testing between transplant recipient and
Speaker 1: the available This is this is actually very fascinating. Now,
Speaker 1: but wait, if you're if if you two are fascinating,
Speaker 1: remember you can always drop us an email to first
Speaker 1: show at Gmail have a plugging their website. I did
Speaker 1: a felly times already, John, how many times if I
Speaker 1: set and just sharing? Okay, come on the thing. The
Speaker 1: thing is a hole. On the second them to our
Speaker 1: email address. I'm just saying we don't have the answers.
Speaker 1: What I'm saying. If something relates that with them that
Speaker 1: we're talking about, any of our off air heads, can
Speaker 1: you know, can drop us in the email word, tweet
Speaker 1: us and let us know. You know, you never know.
Speaker 1: I have to redeem myself here with the lab staff.
Speaker 1: If they're listening human Lucasite and antigen gonna throw it
Speaker 1: out there. I don't want to hear it later. I
Speaker 1: didn't even say in his pocket. So you have some
Speaker 1: guests here with you, we do. So the reason why
Speaker 1: John is here from the New Jerseys Sharing Network and
Speaker 1: get jay sharing Network dot organ You too can figure
Speaker 1: it all out five times, thank you very much. Um.
Speaker 1: So John has brought with us a a friend that
Speaker 1: is literally a walking miracle. So this is Tom. You
Speaker 1: gotta help me. Your name is it? Is it Eliza
Speaker 1: eli Liaiser, Tom Eliaser, And with much respect that we are,
Speaker 1: we should really at the name right, Tom Iliaser. And
Speaker 1: Tom is from Little Falls, New Jersey, and he's here
Speaker 1: with his wife. Solely right, I'm getting them. I'm getting
Speaker 1: everything correct now, coating there, slowly getting solely correct, slowly
Speaker 1: getting I'm trying to rhyme. His wife's fair. He's trying
Speaker 1: to call her Sally, but I don't know why. If
Speaker 1: you say it slowly, he'll come up with solely slowly,
Speaker 1: solely I got that, And you don't even know because
Speaker 1: they're longfellows, hio. So so what he's a walking miracle?
Speaker 1: Tom's a walking Why don't you tell your story? Explain
Speaker 1: why what you have in common with the New Jersey
Speaker 1: sharing network and how everything came to be and how
Speaker 1: you've benefited from them. Okay, Um, I'm gonna give you
Speaker 1: the short version because I don't want to be here
Speaker 1: all day. Guys, here all day, all fairheads. They hate
Speaker 1: it when we cut short. They want longer. They want
Speaker 1: to listen for an hour and a half. Phil Jeany
Speaker 1: dookey House of Music. Scre give us some operating music,
Speaker 1: give us something I have, graces, anatomies, guess that hospital.
Speaker 1: Here we go, Tom, that's for you. I was born short,
Speaker 1: fact class. I won't quite that back. Okay, all right, Um.
Speaker 1: I had a major heart attack and that was the
Speaker 1: start of my of my heart situation. Uh that was
Speaker 1: May soon after that, playing this This is good? Yes,
Speaker 1: this is good. You continue. Hey, do you have a deflibrillator?
Speaker 1: I don't have a defibulator. And it's a cla Clair.
Speaker 1: Come on, Clair, Sorry all of you, sorry about this.
Speaker 1: Used to have that thing that he said, okay, you
Speaker 1: have any heartbeat? We do. I didn't get to that.
Speaker 1: He was helping that. Let Tom tell a story, all right, Tom,
Speaker 1: get ahead, Okay, Yeah, So I had a major heart
Speaker 1: attack in that caused extensive damage and that was the
Speaker 1: start of my heart issues. Um. Six months after that
Speaker 1: at heart figure, they had to put in a defibrillator
Speaker 1: like you said before. Yeah, and uh that didn't work
Speaker 1: so well. They had to put in a defibrillator pacemaker
Speaker 1: to kind of keep my heart going. And uh, soon
Speaker 1: after that, I had a mitro valve replaced because my
Speaker 1: heart was so weak. And this is all within eight
Speaker 1: months of each other, and uh or year actually, and
Speaker 1: after the mitro valve open heart surgery, I was in
Speaker 1: I was in hospital for about ten days. I had
Speaker 1: my heart kept failing and kept getting weaker and weaker,
Speaker 1: to the point where my cardiologist said there was nothing
Speaker 1: they could do and I had to go to Nork
Speaker 1: and get on the heart transplant list. And actually it
Speaker 1: was a test that I took in a hospital called
Speaker 1: I think it was an echo slowly was it the
Speaker 1: echo echo? And and my injection fraction, which is the
Speaker 1: amount your heart volume humps, was that ten ten, ten
Speaker 1: to twelve, which is real it should be fifty. At
Speaker 1: that point they said, you know, I went right to
Speaker 1: Beth Israel, where they did a work up on me
Speaker 1: and they and they actually kept me there because I
Speaker 1: was that bad. I was not tom you know. You
Speaker 1: know it doesn't just happen overnight, am I right? I
Speaker 1: mean there's gotta be signs. There's gonna be something that
Speaker 1: leads you up to where you're at. And I mean,
Speaker 1: is it is it just like that? I mean, did
Speaker 1: something terrible happen to you? You know what? Condition? You
Speaker 1: know what? I can't blame my heart disease on anybody,
Speaker 1: but you know myself, I guess, but it's in my family.
Speaker 1: Prior to my heart attack, I didn't have any signs
Speaker 1: that was healthy guy, working like an animal. Um, live
Speaker 1: in life, you know. And I and I had a
Speaker 1: major heart attack that in a lot of cases kills people.
Speaker 1: You know. My main arty was blo, oh my god. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I was just you know, I U I lasted,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, I got treated, um, not the
Speaker 1: most timely fashion. But and that caused a lot of damage.
Speaker 1: You know. Um, my original heart attack caused a lot
Speaker 1: of damage to my heart. And h I wasn't taking
Speaker 1: care of abruptly like it like it should have been.
Speaker 1: That's a different story. Um. And from that point on.
Speaker 1: I had a series of things that led to the
Speaker 1: fact that I needed a heart, you know, And when
Speaker 1: I went to Beth Israel, I was what they could
Speaker 1: consider like the Toyota camera of hearts. I was typed
Speaker 1: a positive blood pounds. It was in February, which the
Speaker 1: spring was coming, where there's a lot of motorcycle accidents,
Speaker 1: a lot of car accidents. I was supposed to get
Speaker 1: a heart right away, but I had to wait for
Speaker 1: a heart three and a half months in Beth Israel,
Speaker 1: and uh I went through three pumps. I was on
Speaker 1: my third pump and my health was failing so bad
Speaker 1: that they're going to do an open heart surgery on me.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. I went through what they called balloon
Speaker 1: pump than have entrifical pump with actually I had a
Speaker 1: defibulate on this side. They actually went into my chest
Speaker 1: on the right side, went into my heart and put
Speaker 1: a turbine kind of pump to spin just to keep
Speaker 1: it breach, just to keep me alive. And and and
Speaker 1: the doctor said, this is gonna be your pump that's
Speaker 1: going to bridge the gap before a transplant, you know,
Speaker 1: before a heart comes in. They said, it's your last
Speaker 1: thirty days, well, twenty eight days after they put it in,
Speaker 1: my numbers plummeted, and I was feeling awful, and I
Speaker 1: never forgot I'm getting chill, was talking about it. I
Speaker 1: woke up and I was in tears. And you know
Speaker 1: what I always thought when I went to the hospital
Speaker 1: and I was waiting for a heart, I always thought
Speaker 1: everything was gonna be okay. And then that last day,
Speaker 1: I didn't feel that way anymore. Tom, take me to this.
Speaker 1: You sit down with your doctor, right and he says
Speaker 1: to you, I gotta put you on a list. There's
Speaker 1: nothing else I could do. Yeah, take me if you
Speaker 1: can take me to that spot. When you hear the
Speaker 1: words what goes what goes through somebody's head? I can't.
Speaker 1: You know. Sometimes people will say something, oh yeah, I understand,
Speaker 1: I understand. This is one of those situations. I can't say,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, yeah, I know, I can imagine. I can't imagine.
Speaker 1: Take me to that spot. And I don't mean to
Speaker 1: bring you there. But let's be real. Let's I mean,
Speaker 1: the one thing for the All Fair Show is that
Speaker 1: we really try to get real. So I want to
Speaker 1: ask you what goes through your mind when the doctor
Speaker 1: says to you, there's nothing else I could do. Well,
Speaker 1: you know what. First of all, I want to thank
Speaker 1: you for asking me, because you know this is this
Speaker 1: is good stuff. Believe you want to tell you. I
Speaker 1: was nervous asking the question I had. I had my
Speaker 1: stomach gotten not ask him. When should I not know?
Speaker 1: You could ask? You could speak to me about anything.
Speaker 1: My wife will vouch for that. You know, you could
Speaker 1: talk to me about anything. And I do want to
Speaker 1: mention I want to talk to your wife as well
Speaker 1: about like what goes through her mind? When where is
Speaker 1: she at this whole thing? But but please tell me
Speaker 1: what goes through your mind. Originally, when my cardiologist said it,
Speaker 1: I didn't react to it. I waited. I waited because
Speaker 1: I was saying, my wife's we gotta go, you know that.
Speaker 1: I said, it's gonna be okay. I'm not at that
Speaker 1: point yet. You know, it's heart transplant. Is there's a
Speaker 1: lot to swallow? Yeah, And uh, I said, I'm not
Speaker 1: at that point yet. I didn't think I was that
Speaker 1: bad and I didn't want to believe. It was almost denial,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And it got to the
Speaker 1: point where my health was so bad walking was it chore,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And uh, it got to
Speaker 1: the point where I had no choice. And you know
Speaker 1: what people said to me, You're the strongest human being
Speaker 1: I've ever met for what you've been through, you know.
Speaker 1: And I don't mean to to sound vain or anything
Speaker 1: like that, but I'm not the strongest person. The will
Speaker 1: to live for most people is so strong. And I
Speaker 1: had two little babies, So how I felt really was
Speaker 1: do what you gotta do, you know, do what you
Speaker 1: gotta do because I want to if I want to
Speaker 1: see my kids get older. And I was an older father.
Speaker 1: I had kids at forty two and forty four years old,
Speaker 1: and uh, they're the most important thing. My wife and
Speaker 1: children are the most important thing to me. So you're there,
Speaker 1: you're married. Now you're what happens there? Your husband's you
Speaker 1: sit right next to him and doctor says this, what
Speaker 1: do you what do you say to your husband? Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, I was eight months pregnant when he
Speaker 1: had eight months at the time when I had the
Speaker 1: heart attack. When he called me and he said he
Speaker 1: thought he was having a heart attack, and he said
Speaker 1: he was actually near Jersey City. Yeah, he was gonna
Speaker 1: go to um Jersey City to Christ's Hospital, and I
Speaker 1: started yelling at him, saying, why don't you go to Hackensack.
Speaker 1: That's still far away. I have the baby with Both
Speaker 1: my kids are born in Hackensack. You know, I said
Speaker 1: to us, So I won't last at Hackensack. I won't
Speaker 1: be alive by tell my attack. WO. I thought, what came?
Speaker 1: I was in WO. By the time I went to
Speaker 1: Christ's hospital, he actually didn't look much alive. He had
Speaker 1: a great color to his face. He wasn't really aware,
Speaker 1: and actually I won't get into details, but he wasn't
Speaker 1: being taken care of hospital, and we long story shore
Speaker 1: we ended up getting him transferred to New York Carthicil,
Speaker 1: where he did get kath Rise and they actually ended
Speaker 1: up saving his life and he actually made it within minutes.
Speaker 1: But because like he said before, he had sustained so
Speaker 1: much damage to his heart, his heart was only upgrading
Speaker 1: from then on. He he just went down here. So
Speaker 1: now we're here with a new born baby. After that,
Speaker 1: and she's talked a start of this war. You know,
Speaker 1: we have a new bern baby and a two year old,
Speaker 1: and he was mostly in hospitals, probably seventeen times eighteen
Speaker 1: times throughout the time before he got listed at New
Speaker 1: York Carthicral and that day, going back to that day,
Speaker 1: it was um, three days before Valentine's Day. Um, we
Speaker 1: went uh February eleventh, I remember, and I left the
Speaker 1: babies with their grandma, like with it this morning. Now
Speaker 1: babies they're five and three now. Um. But um, it
Speaker 1: was just a routine checkup that I took him to.
Speaker 1: And when he I was waiting in the waiting room
Speaker 1: for the procedure, and once he was in recovery, I
Speaker 1: want to go see how he was doing. I requested
Speaker 1: to speak to the doctors to see how the procedure went.
Speaker 1: And I'm thinking, you know, he's gonna be in recovery
Speaker 1: for a couple of hours, will go home. When the
Speaker 1: doctor came in and told me he has to stay
Speaker 1: here because his condition is so poor that he won't
Speaker 1: make it through the weekend. And I said, but how long?
Speaker 1: And he said, he's better get on the list and
Speaker 1: it could be three weeks, three months, six months, We
Speaker 1: don't know which is where John Valentine from New Jersey,
Speaker 1: Sherry never comes in three days before all the time's day,
Speaker 1: We're on the list, correct, at this point. You were
Speaker 1: on day of the thirty day expiration of the pump
Speaker 1: in February, the only twenty eight days at this point
Speaker 1: he actually got listed. Um, it took about three weeks
Speaker 1: or process to listen, because they have to test them,
Speaker 1: find out what blood type, they have to find out
Speaker 1: how your other organisation you just can't put any And
Speaker 1: this is just just so people, don't you know, people
Speaker 1: listening understand you have to have as John you were
Speaker 1: saying before, the right blood type has to be the
Speaker 1: you know. And by the way you said you were
Speaker 1: the Toyota camera that what you were saying was in
Speaker 1: essence you with a perfect candidate, you know, because you
Speaker 1: know you weren't like some rare blood type or some
Speaker 1: rare like type of weight or height. So you actually
Speaker 1: had the perfect heart that was about to be do
Speaker 1: we stay installed or harvested? Right? But and then and
Speaker 1: then the Toyota cameras for everybody right exactly, But then
Speaker 1: that went a way, that opportunity went away, correct, It
Speaker 1: just took along, took a long time for the right
Speaker 1: the right match. And if you're in New Jersey you
Speaker 1: can stop by Sands and Auto. Of course they've got
Speaker 1: your Toyota camera right there. Just go on in and
Speaker 1: check out the brand new lead models camera, Sands and
Speaker 1: Auto right there on Root one and would Bridge New
Speaker 1: Jersey's clients, Yeah, they'd be happy to hear this. Matt
Speaker 1: mentioned rolled up in the New Jersey Sharing Network public service.
Speaker 1: You are a warped human being, grant you are warped
Speaker 1: just going over to Sands and Autoyta camera out there.
Speaker 1: So okay, so so, but for what are the odds?
Speaker 1: Twenty eight days February three days for Valentine? They mean
Speaker 1: John Valentine from the Seriously Shared Network. I mean, guess
Speaker 1: it's crazy. What are the odds? It's like the Twilight
Speaker 1: connect the dots here, but it was meant to happen.
Speaker 1: But what I want the listeners to understand is how
Speaker 1: someone like Tom links up with someone like you, John,
Speaker 1: and how how this came to be because obviously you're
Speaker 1: in here right now talking about it in the past tense,
Speaker 1: so you know, you know we have a whole history
Speaker 1: there too. I didn't I didn't know John, I didn't
Speaker 1: know anything about the Sharing network. Laying in the hospital.
Speaker 1: They're behind the scenes. These guys do all the work
Speaker 1: they're they're amazing. I was sitting there half dead waiting
Speaker 1: for a heart. That's all I knew. You know right
Speaker 1: what Tom just said. And I'm gonna let John fish,
Speaker 1: but he is so right. That's the one thing that
Speaker 1: people don't know. They don't understand how much work the
Speaker 1: New Jersey Sharing Network does. It is really fascinating. You know,
Speaker 1: I was able to get a tour of the place.
Speaker 1: I had no idea that they go and they retrieve
Speaker 1: the organs and tissues themselves, bring it to someone else themselves.
Speaker 1: I thought, like, you know, doctors just happening, So you
Speaker 1: don't outsourcing New Jersey never sharing Nework does everything themselves.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's radio. But the truth is is that
Speaker 1: is that I'm telling you right now that the State
Speaker 1: of New Jersey and I don't know these numbers. I
Speaker 1: don't get in the middle of all this, but I
Speaker 1: just and I've said it so many times, even even
Speaker 1: though the big boss is there, they need more resources,
Speaker 1: more money from the State of New Jersey. They need
Speaker 1: to help out the New Jersey Sharing Network more. They
Speaker 1: have to. And I look, I'm not gonna get into
Speaker 1: all the political game, but they need to focus more
Speaker 1: from what I saw as a regular person. It is
Speaker 1: unfair to see that how how little the New Jersey
Speaker 1: Sharing Network receives from the state of New Jersey. They
Speaker 1: need more, John, do you hear this? Governor Christie the kidding?
Speaker 1: This is for real? John, Please let me backtrack a
Speaker 1: little hair so you let me answer your question. So
Speaker 1: gets a little wound up right now, we sidetrack and
Speaker 1: side track and sidetrack. Thank you bring bringing some levity
Speaker 1: to this. Go right back to the question. That a
Speaker 1: very pointed question that I asked, very good question. So
Speaker 1: you asked how UM we are connected to transplant recipients
Speaker 1: and how it has up in so before he got unraveled. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they need more san Son Auto Right, So when someone
Speaker 1: passes away UM in a hospital in New Jersey, Uh,
Speaker 1: they contact us, They contact New Jersey Sharing Network and
Speaker 1: our staff goes into the hospital performs the test to
Speaker 1: determine if someone could be a donor. UM works with
Speaker 1: the family, provides them and any support they need, the
Speaker 1: comfort they need, and if that person can be a donor,
Speaker 1: then our staff You're right, Greg actually recovers the organs
Speaker 1: and tissue and UM we'll go with that organ then
Speaker 1: for the allocation for the transplant recipient. So um in
Speaker 1: this case, um, you know, to a transplant recipient like
Speaker 1: Tom and um. Just just to make it clear, I
Speaker 1: am not in the operating room. I am not a
Speaker 1: medical professional. But it takes a special special team, special
Speaker 1: kind of people to be able to do the work
Speaker 1: that we do, and our clinical team is the best
Speaker 1: of that. Hey, Tom, So now you have a you
Speaker 1: have a heart, your recipient, heart recipient. Do you know
Speaker 1: the family, do you know the donor? Do you know
Speaker 1: work comes from? Because sometimes people don't want to know,
Speaker 1: but I don't know your case, what happened. I really
Speaker 1: I want to incorporate the Sharing Network with how I
Speaker 1: met the family because when I was in the hospital
Speaker 1: waiting for a heart, there was a group of people
Speaker 1: called the Hearty Hearts. These are people that got transplants,
Speaker 1: and they used to come around and be encouraging and
Speaker 1: say everything's gonna be okay while I'm waiting there, you know,
Speaker 1: as sick as I was. And come to find out
Speaker 1: that many of them wrote letters to the Sharing Network
Speaker 1: to meet the donors. Because that's what's done, that's that's
Speaker 1: the process. You can't you can't right the family on
Speaker 1: your own. They have to do it through the Sharing network.
Speaker 1: And no one that I spoke to ever met the family. Really,
Speaker 1: it's very because I think everybody's got their own grieving
Speaker 1: process for the family. I don't know, to be honest
Speaker 1: with you, Uh, I'll tell you the story. I'll tell
Speaker 1: you that the three minute story of how the Sharing
Speaker 1: network and I met the family. I was in Get
Speaker 1: three talked for ten I was at the uh CVS.
Speaker 1: I was at CVS, and I received the call because
Speaker 1: I wrote a letter about maybe six months after I
Speaker 1: got the transplant to the Family Medication Needs or CVSS Farmers.
Speaker 1: It's like a Walgreens for those who don't have a
Speaker 1: CVS near that mosting to this national podcast. While I
Speaker 1: was there getting medicine, I realized I need to get
Speaker 1: in the milk. They got everything at CVS, CVS alright
Speaker 1: enough that I was So I'm at CVS and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden the phone rings and they said, I
Speaker 1: forget the woman's name from the sharing network. She said,
Speaker 1: this is so and so from Sharing Network, And I
Speaker 1: want you to know that the letter you wrote the
Speaker 1: donor's family received, And Uh, I'm getting okay with the
Speaker 1: goose bumps here, talk about it because it was very
Speaker 1: emotional for me. And she said the donor who was
Speaker 1: a woman, I have a woman's heart. Now, Um, the
Speaker 1: husband wants to talk to you. And I said, wow,
Speaker 1: it's amazing. I said, well, I said, I can't wait,
Speaker 1: you know. And uh, she said, well, the funny thing
Speaker 1: is he signed all the paperwork and you could speak
Speaker 1: to him now if you want, you know. So I
Speaker 1: said serious, and add the lady from the sharry Neckwar
Speaker 1: is crying. I'm getting choked up in CVS because I'm
Speaker 1: gonna meet, you know, and the ladies from the from
Speaker 1: the Sharring I was crying. So they exchange you know. Uh,
Speaker 1: I got the guy's number and I drive away. You know.
Speaker 1: I drove out of the parking lot, and I was
Speaker 1: going to go home and tell my wife and and uh,
Speaker 1: you must be shaken and mother. Yeah, And I couldn't wait.
Speaker 1: I live right by CVS, but I had to do
Speaker 1: something else and I couldn't wait. So I pulled over
Speaker 1: and and I called him up. His names his name's Jerry, Jerry,
Speaker 1: Jerry Mead, and uh, I said, Jerry, this is Tom.
Speaker 1: I'm you know I'm the person that received Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: the person received your wife's heart. And me and him
Speaker 1: started crying on the phone, and he said, listen, it
Speaker 1: was a tragic action that happened in the house that
Speaker 1: that that made her pass. And he said, I want
Speaker 1: you to know more about the woman whose heart you
Speaker 1: have and how special she was. And the guy's bowling
Speaker 1: on the phone and I'm crying, and uh, just a
Speaker 1: backtrack for a second, because there was something I wanted
Speaker 1: to mention before about about becoming a donor and about
Speaker 1: telling your family members, because there may be an instance
Speaker 1: where a person's on life support and maybe in order
Speaker 1: to match the heart, they have to keep her alive
Speaker 1: for another hour to harvest those organs. And I think
Speaker 1: that's another reason why it'd be important to tell your
Speaker 1: family about that. But to going back to to what
Speaker 1: I was talking about, so Jerry and I were speaking,
Speaker 1: he said, you know, she was just bigger than life.
Speaker 1: And you know I have two sons, Justin and Brandon
Speaker 1: and once in college and Glassborow it's about two hours away,
Speaker 1: said there's a track. It was a tragic accident that
Speaker 1: corps her to pass. She fell down a flight of stairs,
Speaker 1: and I told him the story about the night that
Speaker 1: I got the call that my health was my my
Speaker 1: heart was failing and I was gonna need an open
Speaker 1: heart surgery. The night that I you know that I called,
Speaker 1: I mean the day I called my wife and my
Speaker 1: brother crying because my numbers plummeted and I was feeling
Speaker 1: so sick. I was crying. I says, I don't think
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make it. You know, I was in bad shape.
Speaker 1: And it was that day that hurt track and accident happened.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. So I'm in the hospital at Beth
Speaker 1: Israel and they said, we're gonna put elv that on you,
Speaker 1: which is an exterior pump, and send you home. I
Speaker 1: was there three and a half months. I said, no way.
Speaker 1: I say, is there anything that could keep me here?
Speaker 1: I don't want my kids to deal with this again.
Speaker 1: And they said, well, there's a center mag this big,
Speaker 1: ugly pump that's an exterior thing that has tubes that
Speaker 1: go out of your stomach. I said, that's the one
Speaker 1: I want, you know, that's the one I want, which
Speaker 1: was horrible. I couldn't have saw my kids, but it
Speaker 1: was gonna keep me in the hospital. So they scheduled
Speaker 1: that surgery. They scheduled that surgery. Uh, this is in
Speaker 1: the afternoon, early evening. They scheduled the surgery. Five minutes later,
Speaker 1: my wife comes in with watermelon and I'm gonna eat
Speaker 1: the watermelon. And the nurse comes in and says, you
Speaker 1: can't eat that. And I remember them saying, if a
Speaker 1: heart comes in, you can't eat, They're gonna tell you
Speaker 1: can't eat. So I said to the nurse, so, what
Speaker 1: do you mean I can't eat this? She says, you
Speaker 1: can't eat this. She goes, you have you have a
Speaker 1: procedure to do? You have test to do? I said, listen,
Speaker 1: I'm getting open heart surgery tomorrow morning to keep this
Speaker 1: to keep me alive. Don't tell me that I want
Speaker 1: to have this. I was nasty, right, and uh, sure enough.
Speaker 1: In Williamstown, New Jersey, a woman falls down a flight
Speaker 1: of stairs at the time where I'm arguing with his nurse,
Speaker 1: the heart became available, and five minutes later the doctors
Speaker 1: came in, two of the doctors that were helping me out,
Speaker 1: and they said, uh, they said they they walked in.
Speaker 1: I said, what's what's going on? Doctors? Dr Claudia Gadea
Speaker 1: and Dr Janice Peretti were part of the heart team
Speaker 1: at Beth Israel and they came in and I said,
Speaker 1: what's going on? And they said, will you tell me?
Speaker 1: You know everything? Because I was a smartass when I
Speaker 1: was in there, and uh, I said, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I said, am I getting this operation tomorrow morning? And
Speaker 1: they said no, they said, heart just came in for you.
Speaker 1: And uh. At that point, my brother and my wife
Speaker 1: started crying hysterically because this is happening, is happening. And
Speaker 1: as they're crying for joy, the meat families crying in
Speaker 1: tears because they had her hooked up and she was
Speaker 1: brain dead and you know, oh my god. And uh
Speaker 1: so that's how that's how this happened, you know, that's
Speaker 1: that's what was taking place. So that night, um, the
Speaker 1: heart came was about two hours away Williamstown from where
Speaker 1: I was. And uh, they went and looked at the
Speaker 1: heart and they said, you know, it's beautiful, it's perfect
Speaker 1: for you. You know, it's the right size, right blood type,
Speaker 1: it's a pristine heart. You know, it's a very strong heart.
Speaker 1: She hadn't And that's how it started. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: how the process of the transplant. Sorry, it happened that night,
Speaker 1: you know, and I missed that third open heart surgery.
Speaker 1: I was gonna have you know what I mean, he
Speaker 1: already had. They already cracked me open a few times,
Speaker 1: and they were getting ready to do it again. So
Speaker 1: it was almost it was almost surreal the way it
Speaker 1: happened after three and a half months, and it was
Speaker 1: even more surreal, is you know growing up? This is
Speaker 1: a little side piece growing up. I was very close
Speaker 1: with my grandmother. I grew up with my mother and
Speaker 1: my grandmother. It was her hundredth birthday that day. What
Speaker 1: the heart came in? I mean, she passed twenty years ago.
Speaker 1: But like my brother said, he goes if life is
Speaker 1: just you know Memi, we used to call me me
Speaker 1: mem He's gonna get you a heart on her birthday.
Speaker 1: Three and a half months later, odds, three and a
Speaker 1: half months later, I was on my third pump, getting
Speaker 1: ready to get my third pump, failing health wise. Um,
Speaker 1: and this is now You're the walking miracle. So now
Speaker 1: what how do you change your life? What do you
Speaker 1: do now? Are like you? What was that song? I
Speaker 1: went sky diving, rocky bound climbing. Obviously, with a new
Speaker 1: lease on life. You treat your your body differently now,
Speaker 1: right you diving? No, how have you made changes in
Speaker 1: your life? You know? I can't. I can't eat the sodium,
Speaker 1: you know, I have a I have to not eat
Speaker 1: meat as much. I have to try taking care of myself,
Speaker 1: exercise and you know, um, I have to live a
Speaker 1: cleaner life. I don't drink, I don't smoke. I don't.
Speaker 1: You know. So you've seen a transformation. Yeah, and now
Speaker 1: you know now they have a woman's heart. Every twenty
Speaker 1: eight days, I get a little moody. What am I
Speaker 1: gonna do? I can't you know, I can't write? Yeah, hell,
Speaker 1: but you know I I could be a father to
Speaker 1: my kids right now. You know, I could be a
Speaker 1: husband to my to my wife. You know, it's just
Speaker 1: it's just it's just been a blessing, you know. And
Speaker 1: I was I was pretty close to a punching my card.
Speaker 1: I was pretty close to being at here, you know.
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, I think it's pretty amazing what
Speaker 1: the new jerky sharing network dude for people. And I
Speaker 1: hope that by hearing your story, Tom, that other people
Speaker 1: understand exactly what goes into it and You're right, it is,
Speaker 1: and it is so hard to grasp knowing that one
Speaker 1: family is losing someone their organs are helping others and
Speaker 1: somebody else's grieving and then they're crying that of joy.
Speaker 1: It is. It's such a weird roller coaster ride to
Speaker 1: be on and you're sitting there saying, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: ready to punch my card. This is the end of it.
Speaker 1: And now all of a sudden they're giving you life
Speaker 1: now as someone else, a mom has just passed. It
Speaker 1: is God that is on me. It's it's umble, and
Speaker 1: I know we're trying to bring some light here. I'm yelling,
Speaker 1: Scary to play Tim mcgrass song. I'm trying. It's not
Speaker 1: Live Like You're dyet. It's the craziest that's a song
Speaker 1: man has to play you rather play Doctor feel Good.
Speaker 1: It's just the whole thing is just it's hard to
Speaker 1: the doctors made him feel good. Yeah, I don't know
Speaker 1: doctor feel good. Live like You're dying. I think that
Speaker 1: you know about how to shave a life by the frank,
Speaker 1: Should I play that one? That's another good song. These
Speaker 1: are great songs when there's the promotion of song because
Speaker 1: you're playing paying that one. You gotta play live like
Speaker 1: you're dying at some point. I guess I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's a happy moment here, that's the happiest moment ever. No,
Speaker 1: it isn't. That song is about you. Gotta hear the
Speaker 1: words he's saying. When the doctor tells you and you
Speaker 1: don't how much time to live? You know? How do you?
Speaker 1: What do you do? You live your life? In your
Speaker 1: life by Rihanna. You play that to live your life? Anyway?
Speaker 1: What's the okay? Is this a song that Tom? When
Speaker 1: you hear you're like, that's my song. It's not the
Speaker 1: one you just said? What is your song? Tom? You
Speaker 1: know what? You can't? I need some kind to prepare
Speaker 1: my brain for this. I can't think of a song
Speaker 1: off off the top. There's got to be an emotion
Speaker 1: of feeling. There's gotta be a book something you read
Speaker 1: it said, that's my life. That's interesting. You don't have
Speaker 1: to wrap everything up with it's my You don't know,
Speaker 1: but the great Tea Now he's got to live his life. No, no,
Speaker 1: but he has to wrap everything up in his song.
Speaker 1: And not everything needs a song. You told. This story
Speaker 1: was very well put. It was pointed that you need
Speaker 1: not live my life. I did it my way, my way. Listen,
Speaker 1: can I tell you a song that? Yeah, the other
Speaker 1: day I was drying with my daughter and I put
Speaker 1: songs on YouTube. I put them through my car. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she wanted Katie Perry. Yeah, I said I got a
Speaker 1: song for you. Okay, I said, I'm gonna put a
Speaker 1: little black Sabbath Ozzy Osborne, iron Man, iron Man, I
Speaker 1: am iron Man. I get nervous. He just punched himself
Speaker 1: in the chest. You know I'd be scared right now.
Speaker 1: That's the song I'll play, Not that Tim Cross song.
Speaker 1: What do you mean that song says at all? No?
Speaker 1: One doesn't You don't want off fairheads? Why don't you
Speaker 1: drop us an email? You tell us who you think?
Speaker 1: Is it this song or Timergrow? It looked like you're
Speaker 1: this song Tom. I don't know, man, I happen to
Speaker 1: think that this one would be the best song. Looked
Speaker 1: like you're dying. You know. My oldest one loved this
Speaker 1: army and my youngest daughter loved the song. Exactly. Explain
Speaker 1: this cannot be the song song. So if there's something
Speaker 1: that you want to get across, this is the song.
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me behind I don't oh my Shine
Speaker 1: famous ut about the core song I've ever heard? Oh
Speaker 1: my God sign rocks and pus shut up Us play
Speaker 1: age played again. Yeah, Yeah, this is what we'll play
Speaker 1: for a man. It's just got a Heart Transplant iron
Speaker 1: Man by Ozzy Osa Sabbath. Okay, you know who's to say,
Speaker 1: you know he's got a heart. He guess he can
Speaker 1: call any song he wants exactly what the iron Heart
Speaker 1: and choose the music. So if this is a message,
Speaker 1: if there is one message you want to get across everybody,
Speaker 1: not even in closing, If it what's a message, Mr Valentine,
Speaker 1: Mr Hart himself, he's got it. By the way, this
Speaker 1: is one of those guys that has a job that
Speaker 1: matches his last name. Because you know, we have a friend.
Speaker 1: Her name is Zoe Hamburger. She's McDonald's corporate. It doesn't
Speaker 1: get any better than than Zoe Hamburger. That's her real name.
Speaker 1: We have a friend. Her name is Amy Freeze. That's
Speaker 1: her real last name. She does the weather for Channel seven.
Speaker 1: Stop it, Amy Freeze, that's a real last name. And
Speaker 1: John Valentin Valentine, hearts John. You can't make this stuff up.
Speaker 1: About Stormfield storm Field real name true. He was before
Speaker 1: Valentine's Day, Tom gets a heart exactly right. So talk
Speaker 1: about the New Jersey Sharing network? What do you what?
Speaker 1: What is the message people could come away with here?
Speaker 1: What do you need most when they go to New
Speaker 1: Jersey Sharing Network dot org. So there's a few things
Speaker 1: they can do, but most important of course is to
Speaker 1: register as a donor UM and then, like we said,
Speaker 1: tell your family that you're registered. Can you register at
Speaker 1: enjay Sharing Network dot org? Yeshi the seventh time I've
Speaker 1: now thrown that in there, right, and jay Sharing Network,
Speaker 1: So you can register there. Yes, you don't have to
Speaker 1: go to the d m V anymore. No, you can
Speaker 1: register right on our website UM with the National Donate
Speaker 1: Life Registry UM. Do it online. You have to just
Speaker 1: do it once and that's it and you're and you
Speaker 1: can drop a donation there as well. Right, people can
Speaker 1: make contributions and they can also because we need money. Yeah,
Speaker 1: try to do anything without money. Yeah, I just want
Speaker 1: to met you one one other things for another song
Speaker 1: request my dough. My donor helped like sixty people. Her
Speaker 1: liver went somewhere, her kidney went somewhere, her heart went somewhere,
Speaker 1: her eyes went somewhere, her tissue he went somewhere. So
Speaker 1: you're not just help on one person. And like I said,
Speaker 1: you don't You're not going to use them when you're dead.
Speaker 1: It's not only that, I also want to mention that
Speaker 1: it's it's not just a beautiful thing to become an
Speaker 1: organ doner. UM. Picture yourself just being a hero, not
Speaker 1: just in your life, UM, but after your life and
Speaker 1: saving other lives, saving families. UM. I can speak for
Speaker 1: myself that I was terrified to lose my husband close
Speaker 1: to the time when he received that transplant. He had
Speaker 1: gotten to a point where he was just skin and
Speaker 1: bones and I had to actually take it of him
Speaker 1: as a baby feeding wash him. He couldn't stand up, UM.
Speaker 1: And my children had to see their daddy like that.
Speaker 1: And you know, to know that somebody UM at their
Speaker 1: worst time in their life. Let's say the person is
Speaker 1: not an organ donor. UM. It should be a great
Speaker 1: thing for families also to consider UM to help other families. UM.
Speaker 1: It also amazing he helps with the grieving process, believe
Speaker 1: it or not, Because our donor's family, we are very
Speaker 1: close UM our donors UM family had a brother which
Speaker 1: is my brother now and I love him to death.
Speaker 1: We speak every day. His name is George. Her husband Jerry.
Speaker 1: It's like another dad to our daughters. Um, her two
Speaker 1: sons are like brothers to our girls. And it is
Speaker 1: a beautiful thing. I mean, all her friends are my
Speaker 1: friends now. We talk all the time when we get together,
Speaker 1: we go visit them very often, and it's like a
Speaker 1: whole big group of people that just love each other.
Speaker 1: We don't feel like we just came together now. We
Speaker 1: feel like we known each other for many many years.
Speaker 1: And that's the type of relationship that we have. And
Speaker 1: not only that, it helped her husband tremendously with his
Speaker 1: grieming process. UM, knowing that her heart went on and
Speaker 1: that UM, it helped our family the way it did.
Speaker 1: It helped him so much, uh to with her loss.
Speaker 1: UM so did for me as well meeting her family,
Speaker 1: because it is a conflict of emotion, believe it or not,
Speaker 1: to know that I have my husband, but somebody out
Speaker 1: there didn't have a family member that they love. But
Speaker 1: meeting them, they also told me how to cope with
Speaker 1: that conflict. So it is a beautiful thing. And you
Speaker 1: know your name, you are a good soul and your
Speaker 1: name are you guys? You are organ donors? Yes? Absolutely,
Speaker 1: Actually they threw us a party when we went down
Speaker 1: to meet them originally, and I actually bought a stethoscope
Speaker 1: and let the whole family here, let the husband here,
Speaker 1: the wife's heartbeat in my chest, and the kids, and
Speaker 1: it was just a really emotional thing. I want to
Speaker 1: say that too. It was a real emotional thing. I
Speaker 1: got you tearing up that I can't. I'm like, this
Speaker 1: last had this last half hour has just been so surreal,
Speaker 1: you clean. I was about to drop that. I was
Speaker 1: about to drop that on you guys. And he didn't
Speaker 1: even have to ask. I had it ready to go.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, by the way, long after you've passed, are
Speaker 1: you can this heart go on to another person? Now?
Speaker 1: Shut the music off because the heart won't go on.
Speaker 1: It's over there, that already is. You know. I think
Speaker 1: that's a great question, though, because you know, how how
Speaker 1: how how how far can it? How does donating works?
Speaker 1: Just one? It just got it, just one person right
Speaker 1: with one transpliter say okay, yeah, and there are people
Speaker 1: we know who have had a transplant for thirty plus years. Mom,
Speaker 1: So it depends every person. Every person is different. Now, Tom,
Speaker 1: you have to go to according cardiologist regularly. I would imagine, right,
Speaker 1: you're always getting checked constantly. I go to the team
Speaker 1: at Beth Israel. Mark Zucker runs runs the trick on
Speaker 1: Facebook as Mackerberg say, we're trying to keep you can
Speaker 1: all cut times. Stronghouse equally as important, if not more.
Speaker 1: Now I go to see that the heart transplant team
Speaker 1: at Beth Israel, and they're amazing. But they're amazing. I
Speaker 1: can't say how much I love those people and how
Speaker 1: amazing they are. So listen. Last, but not least, we
Speaker 1: do have to promote that this coming Sunday in New Providence,
Speaker 1: New Jersey, it is the New Jersey Sharing Networks final
Speaker 1: five k event of the year. So every year they
Speaker 1: have many more events. So there's other events that are
Speaker 1: going on, but this is the last five k run
Speaker 1: walk that will be doing UH and I will be
Speaker 1: there to host it as usual, I'll be there to run,
Speaker 1: so hosting just me and I just get on the
Speaker 1: microphone like you Scary and Hoboken, we can just go here.
Speaker 1: It comes down a lot of runner But I volunteer
Speaker 1: every year to do a party with purposes at five k.
Speaker 1: So I stand at the finish line, and hence I
Speaker 1: kicked the race off. And then I stand at the
Speaker 1: finish line and the street on the world's biggest cheerleader.
Speaker 1: You're helping something. He stands there while we're all like's
Speaker 1: gonna here they come, here's crag to finish, and then
Speaker 1: here we got the number five seventy four coming across. Okay, alright, great,
Speaker 1: So you're doing this this weekend? That's right. I run,
Speaker 1: I host with the microphone. I run alongside of him
Speaker 1: and I go, hey, what are you? What are you
Speaker 1: doing here? How you're running for? And then we run
Speaker 1: and talk at the same time. You're a more athletic.
Speaker 1: That's right, we do. So if you're my heart to
Speaker 1: go on right list, I'm not gonna run, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: stand Sunday. She needs to get himself and listen now.
Speaker 1: And that's what is it all at Burgers Easy this
Speaker 1: coming Sunday, June the fourth. Go to NJ Sharing Network
Speaker 1: dot org get all the information you need. If you
Speaker 1: can't make this, uh this five K run walk, maybe
Speaker 1: you can do something else in the future. There are
Speaker 1: so many events that you can go to to be
Speaker 1: a part of the New Jersey sharing network and I
Speaker 1: encourage everybody perfect alright, Soley John Valentine, Thank you guys.
Speaker 1: Are we love the story? Hey, give us some feedback
Speaker 1: on this kind of episode of Fakir Show at the
Speaker 1: Aufair Show at gmail dot com. This was heavy, bro,
Speaker 1: This was heavy, heaviest. Thank you guys. I wonder if
Speaker 1: all their heads can hang its very heavy heart. See
Speaker 1: jacklobe jacklog. It's a thing. Don't last, glast I guess
Speaker 1: this last