Kaneland school principal gets personal in life lesson

Rebecca Dahn was only the age of the students listening to her when she found out her brother had to have a liver transplant.

At age 12, he was diagnosed with Wilson's disease, which causes copper buildup in the liver, damaging the organ, the Kaneland John Stewart Elementary School principal told the fifth-grade class at an assembly on Wednesday.

Over his lifetime he had three more transplants and died in 2006 at the age of 38, she said.

Over the years since his first transplant, he graduated high school and college, got married and had three children.

"We're really thankful, because several people had to donate for him to live another 25 years," she said. "He lived longer with other people's livers than he did with his own."

Dahn talked to the fifth-grade classes as part of a unit on organ donation. In art class, the students are designing posters to enter into a statewide contest to encourage people to be donors.

When Dahn's brother, David Yomtoob, had his first transplant in 1981, the practice was relatively new, and medical students learned about his case, she said.

Her mother, Parichehr Yomtoob, wrote two books on the subject of organ donations, published through Rainbow International Press.

Two of the school's secretaries have been touched by organ donations as well. Deb Johnson's father had a successful kidney transplant in 2005 and Jackie Moravik's husband had a successful heart transplant in 1999.

On Wednesday, Dahn quizzed the class on questions about what organs could be donated and how many lives could be saved by one person being a donor.

A few said "Whoa!" upon learning that one donor can save 50 lives.

Fifth-grader Samantha Martin said she wanted to help by doing what she could and one day being an organ donor.

She made a poster that urged those sick to "Never Give Up."

Art teacher Bonnie Whildin said the students were excited about entering their posters later this month.

"This has been a really unique experience," she said.