Jacksonville Transplant Alliance
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Celebrating Transplantation...
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Remembering frank foster
JTA Mourns the Loss of Board Member Frank Foster
The JTA has some sad news to share about one of our board members. Frank Foster, a JTA board member since 2016, passed away Tuesday, August 31st, following many battles with skin cancer that eventually spread to other parts of his body.
Frank was a dedicated member of the JTA board as representative of the Jacksonville Lung Transplant Support Group. As a longtime lung recipient, Frank was a leader of his support group and was passionate about educating and helping his fellow lung recipients. He was also a devoted advocate for organ and tissue donation. And he loved being part of our Gift of Life Celebration. His friendly smile would typically be found happily greeting people as they checked in at the event.
We will greatly miss Frank, his uplifting spirit, his wit, and his thoughtful insights as a member of our group. Our prayers go out to Cherie Stofer, Frank’s family, and to all those who knew and loved him.
Cards may be sent to Cherie and the rest of his family to:
Cherie Stofer
77 Privado Court
St. Augustine, FL 32095
In lieu of flowers, donations to the Jacksonville Lung Transplant Support Group can be mailed to Cherie at he above address. Thank you.
Frank at the check-in table at the 2018 Gift of Life Celebration.
the latest from the new york times
FDA Approves Third Vaccine for Immunocompromised People
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday authorized third doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s coronavirus vaccines for some people with weakened immune systems, giving physicians more leeway to protect those who did not respond enough to an initial series of shots.
The authorization, in the form of updates to the existing emergency use authorizations for the two vaccines, applies to people who received solid organ transplants and others with similarly compromised immune systems, the F.D.A. said.
news from lifequest organ recovery services
NFL Wife Continues Husband's Legacy
After Jacksonville native and former Buffalo Bills player Leonard Wayne Larramore died while waiting for a heart and kidney transplant, his wife Naishanda decided it was time to speak directly to communities of color.
“I truly believe my husband would be alive if more people were organ donors,” Naishanda said. “Now his name will live on through me and my efforts to bring awareness to the importance of registering to become an organ donor.”
To honor the memory of her husband, Naishanda started a podcast on YouTube. Transplant Talk with Naishanda. The series is designed to educate minorities about organ donation and save a thousand lives by registering donors from multiethnic communities.
Tune in to hear the series of podcasts, Transplant Talk with Naishanda, live on YouTube each Thursday in August. Previously recorded podcasts are also available.
August is National Multiethnic Donor Awareness Month, and was established to improve the quality of life in diverse communities by creating a positive culture for organ, eye, and tissue donation.
LifeQuest Organ Recovery Services has partnered with Naishanda to present these podcasts.
updated: important covid vaccine information
"Get vaccinated, act unvaccinated."
National Geographic recently published an article about the COVID-19 vaccine and transplant recipients. It's an important read for transplant patients about the effectiveness of the vaccine and just as important, the value of COVID antibody testing. Since the article was only available to NG subscribers, here is the text of the full article.
Register to be a Donor
Signing up on your state registry means that someday you could save up tp 8 lives as an organ donor by giving the Gift of Life. When you register, most states let you choose what organs and tissues you want to donate, and you can update your status at any time.
Register in Florida
Florida residents, you can register online to be an organ, eye, and tissue donor at www.DonateLifeFlorida.org.
Register in Your State
If you're a U.S. resident outside Florida, you can locate your state's donor registry at OrganDonor.gov.
JTA welcomes its new board members
The Jacksonville Transplant Alliance board of directors is happy to announce three new board members!
- Leslie Workman, a living kidney donor, will be joining the board to help us better understand living donation and help us fulfill our goal of working for all donors and recipients. Thank you, Leslie, for your selfless gift of kidney donation!
- Tamara Brooks, a transplant social worker from Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, will be taking over for Alex Blinder as our representative from Mayo. We are excited to have Tamara as part of our team, but are sad to lose Alex, who is leaving to spend more time with her family.
- Valerie Callahan, Executive Director of Gabriel House of Care is also joining us, replacing Marguerite Tragnitz as our representative from Gabriel House. We welcome Valerie and the immense experience she brings with her working with transplant patients. Her insights and knowledge will prove invaluable as we move forward during the new year.
Thank you to all our volunteer board members for their dedication and service not just to JTA, not just to the organizations they work for, but also to all the transplant patients, living donors, and donor families in the Northeast Florida area.
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