The Gift of Sight: Celebrating Eye Donation Month

The Gift of Sight: Celebrating Eye Donation Month

Alan Taylor, director of Tissue Services at Donor Network of Arizona (DNA), was in high school when he received the diagnosis that he was in early stages of keratoconus. Keratoconus occurs when your cornea becomes distorted, and in Taylor’s case, caused his vision in his left eye to eventually be nothing more than color and …

Breast Reconstruction Awareness (BRA) Day

When Cait Kelley found a lump in her breast, her doctor assured her it was “probably nothing,” she says. After trusting her gut and demanding a mammogram, that lump became “definitely something” in the span of a week. She was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer at 33, a diagnosis that often comes with a …

Donate Life Day at the Diamondbacks

Donor Network of Arizona (DNA) celebrated Donate Life Day at the Arizona Diamondbacks game on July 9, 2022. The event was a huge success with over 2,500 tickets sold in our sections at the game. We invited donor families and recipients to celebrate the life of their loved one or honor their donor. Donation Champions …

The Tummy Angel

Valen Krasnov Valen Krasnov was just 3 years old when his parents were told he was in liver failure and needed a transplant. The shocking news came after Valen and his father, Zaccarri, went on a camping trip and afterward noticed Valen’s eyes were almost completely yellow. He was admitted into the hospital in June …

LGBTQ+ community encouraged to register to save and heal lives

One of the many misconceptions about organ, eye and tissue donation is that members of the LGBTQ+ community are not able to register as organ donors, or receive a transplant. This is FALSE. Andrew Banacki, living kidney donor from Ohio, speaks on the misconceptions that come with organ donation and how his family’s life was …

Donate Life Month 2022 was Un-BEE-lievable!

This April, Donor Network of Arizona (DNA) celebrated Donate Life Month in honor of those who have given the gift of donation, and those whose lives have been forever changed by receiving the gift of life. Thanks to the hard work of our partner organizations, 450 new people joined in the DonateLifeAZ Registry in April, …

Celebrating Donate Life Day at the Capitol

In 2014, Marissa “Roo” Pummill’s life and memory was kept alive when her mother, Kellye Pummill, decided to donate her daughter’s organs. Roo was an animal lover, a compassionate person, and her sense of empathy lives on through her gift of donation. Thanks to Roo, six transplant recipients received the phone call they had been …

Celebrating National Funeral Professionals Appreciation Day

March 11 is National Funeral Professionals Appreciation Day. Sometimes called the “last responders,” funeral home professionals are there at the end of someone’s life to guide each family. Donor Network of Arizona (DNA) partners with funeral homes across the state to ensure that we honor everyone’s end-of-life decisions, including organ, eye and tissue donation. We’re …

What does a kidney do anyway? Learn about this vital organ for National Kidney Month!

For National Kidney Month 2022, the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) asks you to take five steps to support your kidney health. The kidney is a vital organ. It’s shaped just like a kidney bean, hence the shared name. Its function is to filter and remove waste and extra fluid from the body, according to the …

Happy National Donor Day!

Feb. 14 is most well known as Valentine’s Day, but here at Donor Network of Arizona, we like to celebrate National Donor Day and Valventine’s Day! We recognize the wonderful gift of heart and heart valve donation. In 2021, 396 heart valves were donated, and more than 60 heart transplants were completed in Arizona alone. …

Donor Network of Arizona

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