Jeffrey Campsen, MD – Transplant Surgeon
I think Heidi's an amazing person. I think that her gift is just part of who she is. I first met Heidi back in 2012.
Sarah Scutts – Transplant Coordinator
I've just become a coordinator. And one of the very first things she said to me was that she was gonna donate her kidney before she turned 50 and I thought, wow, how amazing is that?
Heidi Shaw – Transplant Coordinator
I felt like that was young enough to still be able to have the kidney function a long time for whoever got it. So I knew that if I was eligible, I would be able to live a normal, healthy life.
“I'm a little nervous about this. I'm nervous for surgery and I've got a few living donors that might come forward and they've kind of been nervous. Well, what we encourage you to do is send your living donors forward and let us evaluate them and let us see if they qualify for donation.”
I've been doing this for about 20 years and I haven't worked with anybody who's donated their kidney.
It's not every day that you have a coworker who does something so amazing and so inspiring.
It's just so neat to be able to, to be something, a part of something bigger than, than yourself.
Dr. Campsen
Heidi and I have worked together for almost a decade. Now we work, uh, as a team in the transplant group at the university of Utah,
Heidi
When I had my cat scan, Dr. Campsen told me that my body was built to donate. So we ended up in a eight person chain, four recipients, and four donors owners. It's not just your recipient, you're helping, you're helping their caregivers. You're helping their, their siblings or children, uh, be able to have a helping family member on top of that. You're also helping the next person on the deceased donor waiting list. That now it's a kidney because you were able to, uh, remove someone from the list.
Dr. Campsen
I think it's really inspirational. It's been a hard year and I know a lot of people are questioning healthcare. And I think stories like Heidi's are so inspirational because they show that this career of helping people is worth it.
Heidi
I have a healthy, good kidney. Why wouldn't I share something that I don't need? I just feel like it was the right thing to do. Don't rule yourself out as a donor. Don't say, I don't think that I'll be a match or, or I don't think that I'm healthy enough. If you feel like you want to try.
