Miss Illinois Karolina Jasko to celebrate National Donate Life Month at Second Chance Luncheon
The third annual "Second Chance" luncheon will be noon to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, April 15, at Boulder Ridge Country Club, 350 Boulder Drive, Lake in the Hills. Tickets are $47. To purchase tickets, go to bit.ly/2DJDByR.
Transplant recipients, living donors and donor families will gather to promote awareness of organ, eye, tissue, bone marrow, and blood donation in support of National Donate Life Month as well as to rally support for the 2018 Donate Life Transplant Games, Aug 2-7 in Salt Lake City.
Guests and speakers include:
• Dr. Maria Siemionow, professor of orthopedics and director of microsurgery research at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Siemionow, a Polish transplant surgeon and scientist, led a team of eight surgeons through the world's first near-total face transplant in 2008 at the Cleveland Clinic.
• Laurie Dickinson Lee will speak about her experience at Northwestern Medicine as a living kidney donor for a complete stranger. As a result of her altruistic gift, the NM transplant team coordinated a three-recipient paired chain with other transplant centers across the country, saving four lives.
Miss Illinois Karolina Jasko will be in attendance to support Transplant Life Illinois.
Tickets, raffle donations and auction items, including a Florida condo and round of golf with lunch at the club, will benefit Transplant Life Illinois.
Transplant recipients, living donors, donor families, family members, supporters, donation advocates, medical professionals, and anyone interested in celebrating the gift of life are invited.
One donor in some way can enhance or save the lives of more than 25 people. In Illinois, 5,186 people are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant. Every day that goes by, 18 people will die waiting for their gift of life.
Register today to be an organ, eye or tissue donor on behalf of Transplant Life Illinois at registerme.org/campaign/2018TG_TeamIL or donate to be a blood or bone marrow donor at www.lifesource.org/donate-blood.
Team Illinois (dba Transplant Life Illinois) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that brings together transplant recipients, living donors, donor families, and their family and friends to promote awareness of the critical need for organ, eye, tissue, blood, and bone marrow donations and increase the number of potential donors on the state registry.
Through participation in the Donate Life Transplant Games, they can show the world that transplantation saves and enhances the lives of recipients while commemorating those who selflessly gave the gift of life.
The 2018 Games will take place Aug. 2-7 in Salt Lake City, Utah. More than 6,000 people are expected to attend the five-day sports festival and celebration of the lifesaving gift of transplantation with a special tribute to living and hero donors.
For more information on Transplant Life Illinois, visit www.goteamillinois.org. To discover the Donate Life Transplant Games, go to www.transplantgamesofamerica.org.