Community Corner

National Donate Life Month Hits Home for Family With 2 Heart Transplants

The Dye family of Valrico is unique in that both the father and the daughter have been the recipients of transplanted hearts. Their mission is to convince others that giving the "gift of life" is the last true act of kindness on earth.

 

On the day her daughter underwent a third biopsy to determine if medications had fought the rejection of her transplanted heart, Judy Dye stood steadfast in her family’s mission to convince people to give the gift of life.

“This is National Donate Life month,” Dye said in an interview April 2. “And every day of the month on Facebook, on the LifeLink page, a donor or recipient or a family will be talking about what donation has meant to them.”

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The Dye family is quick to give testament.

Because of the gift of life, both Tom Dye and his daughter, Stephanie, at ages 50 and 18, respectively, received new leases on life at Tampa General Hospital.

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Tom has his heart transplant in December 2004; his daughter received her new heart three years later, in September.

Both father and daughter suffered from cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle, which in Tom Dye’s family claimed also the lives of his father and two sisters. He learned of his second sister's death at the party celebrating his one-year "heart-aversary."

Shortly after, the Dyes had their two children evaluated for potential heart disease. Their son, Daniel, was in the clear; their daughter, not so fortunate.

“Realize that without people agreeing to become donors, to giving that tremendous gift of life, I would not have my husband or my daughter alive with me today,” Judy Dye said.

Preliminary biopsy results late April 2 showed that the latest round of steroid medications were having an effect on correcting Stephanie Dye's rejection of her transplanted heart.

"It is not uncommon to have a rejection," Judy Dye said. "Because she's so young, and she's female, that is part of the problem. But at this point they're not overly concerned. They're confident the medication she is on will take care of it and she'll be back on track in the next week or so."

What Stephanie Dye will be back doing as well is promoting the cause of organ donation. She and her father speak frequently about the issue to groups in the Tampa Bay area, hoping to both address misconceptions and encourage people to become donors.

"Organ and tissue donation is accepted as an act of charity and kindness by every major religion," Judy Dye said. "Without the families that were willing to donate in their hours of darkness, and the doctors able to transplant hearts, we would not have what we have today. We truly believe this was all God-ordained."

Dye stressed that it is not just hearts or other body organs that can be donated but also bones, tissue and eyes.

"A retina can give the gift of sight," she said. "Bone can give somebody the ability to have a spinal fusion that will allow them to work or to be pain free. Skin would allow somebody who has been burned severely get skin grafts and more forward with their lives. Every part of your body has the potential to save someone or to enhance the quality of life for people."

Too often people don't think about organ donation, Judy Dye said. Some even fear it.

"Before we went through this it wasn't something I really thought about," she said. "Again, why would I? Then you find yourself in the middle of it and it becomes tremendously important. You realize then how tremendous a gift it is and how important it is for every person to pass that gift on if they're able to."

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To learn more about the Dye family and their experiences with, and testament for, organ donation, read the following accounts:


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