A Father and a Fighter: Lifesaver gets a new chance at life
As a Phoenix firefighter, Dave Wipprecht firmly believes in miracles. In 2014, that faith was tested when Wipprecht began having difficulty breathing. Although doctors diagnosed him with pneumonia, his breathing problems persisted so he checked into Banner Thunderbird Medical Center.
An echocardiogram revealed that his heart was four times its normal size. Wipprecht was given heart medication, but shortly afterward his leg began to hurt. Doctors found blood clots throughout his body, due to his heart only functioning at 10 percent.
Rushed into emergency surgery and then transferred to Mayo Clinic Hospital, Wipprecht was placed at the top of the waiting list for a new heart.
Journey of Faith
Throughout his three-and-a-half month stay at Mayo Clinic Hospital, hooked up to IVs and taking medication daily, Wipprecht maintained an optimistic attitude for his wife and three young sons.
In June 2015, his doctor told Wipprecht that they had exhausted all their options and predicted he only had nine days to live. Still, Wipprecht’s positivity never wavered. He continued to show strength and bravery, even amidst adversity, as any proud father would.
“I knew I’d get through this, knowing that I had to stay alive for my family,” Wipprecht says.
His faith was rewarded when, six days later, he received news that a new heart was available. Wipprecht says that he woke up smiling after the successful surgery.
“I could breathe normally,” Wipprecht says. “I felt new again.”
The Gift of New Life
Back at home just nine days later, Wipprecht took care of his new heart. After celebrating his two-year transplant anniversary, Wipprecht wrote a letter to his donor’s family and hopes to meet them someday.
Even before his transplant experience, Wipprecht had always been a registered donor. Now donation has even more meaning. At the fire department, he and his fellow firefighters always did everything they could to save someone’s life. On the sad occasion when that person might not make it, their efforts could still help save someone else’s life through donation. Wipprecht proudly displays a Donate Life license plate and shares his story with others.
“I would encourage others to stay positive and tell them there’s a reason for everything,” says Wipprecht. “And if it’s my time to go, then it’s my time to help others.”
Thanks to the generosity of others, Wipprecht can continue to be a father and a fighter, and for that he is forever grateful.
A New Family Through Organ Donation
Bagpipes broke the silence of an early April morning at HonorHealth John C. Lincoln Medical Center. Hospital staff gathered around the flagpole to witness strangers become family, bound by a person important to each of them but in very different ways.
On Friday, April 27, 2018, Mike and Sydney Duke addressed the crowd who gathered at the front of the hospital, only feet away from one of people their son saved as a donor. They told the story of their son, Samuel Duke, and his generous gift of organ and tissue donation after he passed away in April 2016.
A Life Renewed
Morgan Cheney, before Samuel’s passing, was struggling with every breath she took. Doctors diagnosed her with cystic fibrosis when she was only 2 years old, and she developed a cough in 2015 that kept getting worse.
“I was literally dying, I could feel it. I didn’t know what was happening. I couldn’t shower, I couldn’t eat. I was helpless,” Cheney says, explaining what life was like before she was hurled into the process of getting a surgery she didn’t even know she needed, a double lung transplant. Samuel’s generosity gave her and four others a second chance at life.
Bagpipes chimed in again as the two families embraced with tears, watching the Donate Life flag being raised in honor of Samuel and all organ donors whose end-of-life wish was to help others.
Morgan Cheney (l) embraces Sydney and Mike Duke as HonorHealth John C. Lincoln raised the Donate Life flag.
Health Care for Hope
Hospitals and health care organizations across Arizona participate in Health Care for Hope each April during National Donate Life Month. This campaign increases registrations and potentially saves thousands of lives in the future through donation.
In April 2018, more than 1,040 new individuals joined the DonateLifeAZ Registry for the first time as part of Health Care for Hope.
HonorHealth John C. Lincoln Medical Center placed in the top five organizations, with St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center coming in first place, based on new registrations. More than 50 hospitals and health care organizations raised the creative bar this year as they hosted registration tables, coordinated media coverage and encouraged both staff and visitors to sign up to give the gift of life.
Not All Heroes Wear Capes: A transplant recipient makes sure her donor is never forgotten
Jessica Drey was in elementary school when doctors diagnosed her with Type 1 diabetes. From there, she suffered through complications her diabetes caused, such as heart disease, nerve damage and organ failure. She was also beginning to go blind, and her kidneys were failing.
Doctors told Jessica that she needed dialysis, since her body could no longer clean her blood by itself. For six years, Jessica went on dialysis for four hours a day, three days a week.
Jessica was exhausted. Because the dialysis machine was the only thing keeping her alive, she was no longer able to do the things she loved, like hiking, swimming, traveling or playing with her children.
Throughout these years of dialysis, blood testing and insulin shots, Jessica became severely depressed.
“I had no energy, my hair was falling out and I stopped producing urine – but the biggest impact was I had no will to live,” Jessica said.
Journey of Hope
Zakiyyah Elzy
Jessica’s doctors told her that she qualified to receive a kidney and pancreas transplant. After many tests and evaluations, she was finally placed on the transplant list. On April 29, 2015, after a year and a half of waiting and two false-alarms, Jessica finally got the call that there was a young girl – a cheerleader – who had been killed in car accident, and she was a match.
As Jessica waited in the hospital, she saw coverage of a car crash on the news. The anchor reported a car accident involving three cheerleaders from Sierra Linda High School, and that one of the girls was killed. She watched as the girl’s parents told the reporter about their daughter’s decision to be an organ donor – a decision she had made at a registration event at her high school.
“It was really strange to watch that report and somehow know that she would save my life,” Jessica said.
The young girl who saved Jessica Drey’s life was named Zakiyyah Elzy. Jessica knows it took a tremendous amount of generosity and selflessness for Zakiyyah to give her the gift of life.
Jessica refers to Zakiyyah as her “superhero.”
“For me, that means no more insulin shots, no more dialysis. I love life again. I live every day to the fullest, carrying a part of Zakiyyah with me every single day,” Jessica said.
Continuing Zakiyyah’s Legacy
Jessica with Zakiyyah’s classmates at Sierra Linda High School.
On Monday, May 14, Jessica visited Sierra Linda High School where Zakiyyah attended. She spoke to Zakiyyah’s classmates, friends and teammates about the incredible gift of life she gave to another person. The Sierra Linda cheer coach also presented Jessica with a varsity letter in honor of Zakiyyah.
Jessica emphasized the importance of registering as an organ, cornea and tissue donor to save and heal lives and give people a second chance. Jessica is using her second chance to keep Zakiyya’s legacy alive.