Corlyn Voorhees

The process of organ donation can be more complicated than most people realize.

By Georgeanne Oliver, Christine Rowley and Corlyn Voorhees

We talked to experts involved in the donation and transplant process, as well as two men with personal ties to organ donation — one who is waiting for a kidney, versus one who is learning to live with new arms.

How Organ Donation Works

When it comes to organ donation, the numbers tell a difficult story.

An average of 20 people die each day waiting for a life-saving organ, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

As the director of cardiac transplantation at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Dr. David Denofrio has seen this kind of loss firsthand. But with more in need than organs available, his options are often limited.

New England Donor Services works with hospitals to shrink that number. Kevin Kiely, the organization’s in-house coordinator, helps families make the decision to donate the organs of dying loved one. With only 62 percent of families agreeing to the donation, it’s a job that involves hearing “no” a lot. But Kiely finds families that do decide on donation often find comfort in the positive impact they have made

For the Coach

John Snoonian is in need of a kidney — and fast.

A father of four and the former coach for the Nashoba Valley Youth Football Team, Snoonian had to step down from the position this season when his kidneys started to fail.

Due to an insufficient number of organ donors, Snoonian could be waiting years for a kidney. His best bet is to find a living donor.

Thus saveourcoach.org, a campaign to find Snoonian a donor, was born.

John’s wife, Susan Unger, said that people have already offered to be tested. The main problem is that the testing process is slow, which has been frustrating.

“A lot of it is phone tag with the people who are trying to be donors, some of it is the medical intake form, some of it’s insurance-driven because they’ll only pay for one person [to be tested] at a time,” she said.

The family has yet to find a match, but they haven’t lost hope.

“As long as I work through [the tough times] and stick with the doctors’ advice, I’ll be okay ultimately in the end,” said Snoonian.

Documenting Donation

For Will Lautzenheiser, filmmaking was his life. But in 2011, that life was abruptly altered when he contracted a life-threatening bacterial infection that forced doctors to amputate both his legs and arms.

“Just trying to regain any bit of independence was a challenge,” Lautzenheiser said.

With intensive physical therapy Lautzenheiser was eventually able to use prosthetics to attain greater mobility. However, when the opportunity for a double arm transplant arose in 2014, Lautzenheiser knew he needed to take it, despite the numerous risks involved. This would be the third double-arm transplant ever performed at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

The feature-length documentary STUMPED chronicles Lautzenheiser’s journey though his recovery after his amputations, his decision to undergo a double-arm transplantation, and his ability to use comedy throughout the immensely difficult process.