Introduction to Organ Donation
When her brother’s renal disease progressed to the point where he needed a new kidney, Monique Hoskins immediately knew she’d be the one to give it to him. She hadn’t been tested to know if she was a match, and her little brother, Fontaine Lecesne, hadn’t asked her yet. “When he said, ‘My doctor told me eventually I’m going to need a kidney transplant,’ instantaneously I knew. Don’t ask me how I knew … maybe God put it on my heart,” Hoskins said.
The Decision to Donate
Sure enough, in 2023, Hoskins gave her brother a kidney. “One of the first questions that they ask you is, ‘Why you want to be a donor?’ And I said, ‘Well, he’s my brother and he needs a kidney.’ That’s what we do in our family. We take care of each other. There was no decision to be made,” Hoskins said. Lecesne and Hoskins shared their story at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood on Sunday for the hospital’s 33rd annual transplant candlelight ceremony honoring organ donors and their recipients.
The Transplant Process
When Fontaine Lecesne needed a kidney transplant due to advanced renal failure, his sister, Monique Hoskins, left, donated one of hers. The siblings shared their story Sunday at the 33rd annual candle-lighting ceremony in honor of organ and tissue donors at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.
Loyola Transplant Center
Loyola Transplant Center provides a range of transplants, including heart, lung, kidney, liver, pancreas, bone marrow, stem cells and multi-organ transplants. Last year, the hospital performed 386 transplants, and the living donor program had more than 55 participants. Donors, recipients, their loved ones and transplant surgeons and nurses filled the basketball courts at Loyola’s fitness center and extolled organ donation and its life-changing results.
Personal Stories of Donation
Lecesne had dealt with late-stage renal disease for 10 years when he ended up in the hospital with sepsis more than two years ago. After that, he had to go on dialysis three times a week for five hours. To maintain his health insurance, Lecesne, who worked as a butcher at a Jewel-Osco in Joliet, needed to work 32 hours a week. “I had to work no mater what, even if I was sick, I had to show up, and it was hard,” Lecesne said. “And so I decided, OK, we need to do the transplant.” The waiting period for a kidney from a dead donor can be several years. So he started to ask friends and family if they’d be willing to donate a kidney. That’s when he got a call from his sister.
The Impact of Donation
“This journey has had a profound change on my life,” Hoskins said. “I realized, just in the little bit of discomfort and pain and fatigue that I had after surgery, that there are people who live like this, people who have kidney disease, people who have to function on dialysis to live. I am in awe of your courage. I am inspired by you and my brother, who’s lived through this for so long.”
More Stories of Donation
Linda Butler, left, and her wife, Betsy Nickerson, at Sunday’s ceremony at Loyola University Medical Center. Last month, Nickerson underwent surgery for a new kidney. Butler wasn’t a match, but a relative on the East Coast was. Spouses Betsy Nickerson and Linda Butler of Rolling Meadows attended Sunday’s ceremony. Only a month earlier, Nickerson underwent surgery for a new kidney. The 69-year-old had been living with late-stage renal failure since 2018. When her kidney function dropped to 13%, it was time for Nickerson to get a new kidney. Butler wasn’t a match for Nickerson, her wife of 13 years. But their sister-in-law in Delaware was. She flew out and the two underwent their surgeries on March 6. A month earlier, Butler had donated one of her kidneys to a stranger at the Mayo Clinic.
Conclusion
Organ donation is a life-changing and life-saving gift that can have a profound impact on both the donor and the recipient. The stories of Monique Hoskins, Fontaine Lecesne, Linda Butler, and Betsy Nickerson are just a few examples of the many lives that have been touched by organ donation. These stories highlight the importance of organ donation and the need for more people to become donors.
