Brian Quick has been interested in organ donation campaigns since he was a teenager.
His father, who was diabetic, needed a kidney transplant. He was on dialysis for a year while continuing to work his job in a factory.
“And then, thankfully for us, a kidney was available. And he received a life-saving transplant,” Quick said. “Because of that transplant, he was able to see me graduate from high school, college, marry my wife, and have two kids.”
Quick is now a professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois. He visited Western Illinois University in Macomb to give the presentation, “A research program designed to save lives, one donor at a time,” for the university’s annual Thompson Lecture.
The presentation in late March was timely because April is National Donate Life Month.
Quick said organ donation campaigns can be effective by emphasizing the benefits.
“One donor can improve up to 75 lives through things like tissue transplantation. You can save eight lives through organ donation. You can be a hero,” he said.
Quick said it’s also important to talk through the process in a straightforward way, which he said is not done through the news media or on television dramas.
“We want to generate awareness. We want to educate people on the process. We want them to see it as an ethical, noble thing to do,” he said. ”It’s not something you should be mistrustful of even though media and fake news would want us to believe otherwise.”
He said fake news could include conspiracy theories, AI generated stories, and the way stories are framed.
Quick said most people learn about organ donations either through a personal experience or a media account.
He said people can find facts about organ donations at sites such as Donate Life America and Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network.
“It’s a great way to really make a difference in a lot of people’s lives. You affect the recipient, and recipients have family and friends,” Quick said. “You impact a lot of people. It moves way beyond the recipient.”
WIU’s annual Thompson Lecture is named for Wayne Thompson, who graduated from the university before going on to become a nationally recognized professor of speech communication.
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