A Cheerful Reminder About an Uncomfortable Topic

April 6th, 2026

Not long ago, we had a KVNO staff retreat where each of us brought a personal item and shared why it matters. The stories were insightful and funny and moving (I may have shed a manly tear during Coleen’s share about her late furbaby), and now we know a lot more about the people we spend our days with, which is pretty great.  I brought this stained glass dove. I’ve always been into stained glass, but this piece matters because my late wife, Heather, made it for me during an eight-month hospital stay that ended with her second heart transplant.

I know: you’ve got questions. I’ll answer them in a minute, but first let me explain why I’m telling you all this. You see, April is National Donate Life Month. More than 100,000 people are currently waiting for a lifesaving transplant. That’s enough to fill Memorial Stadium, with another 15,000 left outside tailgating. About 1,000 of them are fellow Nebraskans and Iowans. Today, 13 of those people will die waiting, and 8 more will be added to the list. This is legit life-and-death stuff.

The good news is that helping is simple. When you renew your driver’s license, you’ll be asked if you want to be a donor. Please say yes. You don’t have to wait until your license is expiring, though. Both Live On Nebraska and Donate Life Iowa have registration forms on their websites. After you register, take a moment to tell your family. It’s an awkward conversation, but it makes it easier for them to honor your wishes when the time comes. (And no one will pressure you to be a living donor…you can keep everything until you no longer need it.)

So, back to the original story: when Heather was 21, she caught pneumonia, and the virus damaged her heart, leading to her first transplant. Nine years later, shortly after we married, she found a lump during a self-exam. That led to a mastectomy, chemo, and radiation. The radiation weakened her heart, and so there was that second transplant.  A few years later, she beat ovarian cancer, but despite a second, preventative mastectomy, the breast cancer returned and was more than her body could handle. She was only 44, my best friend, maybe the only person who ever truly got me…and is probably still laughing about how off-brand it is for me to have a bird of peace at my desk.

But the story doesn’t end there. When time got short, Heather wrote her own obituary. Like her, it was a little…different. When it ran in the local paper, it became a minor phenomenon, becoming the most shared story on their website for weeks, and eventually the most shared of the year. It spread across social media, radio, and television nationwide. Her mention of ‘80s boy band New Kids on the Block led members of their Facebook fan page (they call themselves “Blockheads”…you can’t make that up) to print the obituary and give it to the band at meet-and-greets. Most importantly, she inspired people — strangers — to become organ and tissue donors.

It would be lovely if you’d become one as well.

Happy blue and green month!