Donate Life: You Can Make a Difference

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to attend a special film festival coordinated by the organization Donate Life and presented by Astealls Transplant. These two organizations specialize in advancing the future of (organ) transplantation. You may wonder why a tv-oholic like myself would have reason to attend this type of film festival.

The answers may not be as simple as you think.

Reason 1: While I have never been a fan of doctors or hospitals (and how many of us can actually say we like being poked and prodded by a doctor even if it’s for our own good?), organ donation is a very worthy cause and one for which I support by choosing to be an organ donor.

Reason 2: A dear friend received a transplant a number of years ago after being on a waiting list for a new heart for about 11 years. Thanks to an organ donor his life has greatly improved; he is happier, more active and robust than ever before.

Reason 3: A special panel called “Make ‘Em Laugh, Make ‘Em Cry: How Organ Donation Storylines Cut Deep” was one of the presentations. This panel featured Krystal Houghton (CSI: Miami), Lyla Oliver (Bones) and Carol Barbee (Three Rivers). These women are writers or executive producers on the aforementioned series (among others) and each was asked to participate in the panel due to storylines that were featured in the series for which they work.<

Carol Barbee (Executive Producer – Three Rivers)

Krystal Houghton (Writer – CSI: Miami)

Lyla Oliver (Writer – Bones)

In the case of Three Rivers, the new CBS series that will debut in the fall, organ donation plays an essential role in every story, as each episode will focus on the doctors, the donors and the recipients in organ transplantation. A short clip from the pilot was aired during this presentation and that was my primary reasons for attending, which does not negate the other reasons mentioned above.

As some of you may know, Alex O’Loughlin (Moonlight) and Katherine Moennig (The L Word) are part of the cast of Three Rivers. Julia Ormond had been part of the cast until a decision was made to revamp the pilot, shooting it in Los Angeles at a hospital set which is to be built at Paramount studios, and a new actress will be brought in to take over the role Julia was to portray along with several new characters that are to be added.

After several questions were posed to Ms. Barbee about the change, she informed the audience the premise would remain the same, the same pilot script would be shot and aired in the fall. The look and aesthetics of the show are to be the only changes.

Getting a chance to see a clip of Three Rivers, which was originally planned as a full screening of the pilot, may have been my reason for attending, but after sitting through several other panels, I want to urge our readers to consider becoming an organ donor. You can choose to place a sticker on your driver’s license to signify you are a donor; or you can become a living donor, as explained in one of the other panels I attended, which included two short films entitled “I Choose to Live” and “Decision to Donate”. You can learn more about being a living donor at http://thewaitinglist.org/ and http://www.decisiontodonate.com/

Lastly, I participated in a panel and screening for a theatrical film called “The 5^th Quarter”, starring Andie MacDowell, Aidan Quinn and Ryan Merriman (The Pretender). This fact based drama is about the Abbate family from Georgia who loses their teenage son, Luke, in a reckless car accident. Due to severe injuries sustained in the accident, Luke was pronounced brain dead and his family made the difficult decision to donate his organs, helping to save the lives of 5 other people. You can learn more about the Abbate family and the foundation they created in his honor at http://www.lukeabbate5thquarter.org. A release date is yet to be set for “The 5^th Quarter”, but it is expected to be out in time for Thanksgiving.

To learn more about the Donate Life organization, please visit:http://www.donatelife.net/.

-Photo Credit: Tiffany-