Monadnock Community Hospital holds ceremony for National Donate Life Month

Nancy Springfield’s younger sister Karen received organ transplants after being diagnosed with Stage 4 liver failure in 2021.

Springfield, an elementary school teacher from Jaffrey, said her sister spent 214 days in the hospital, including three stays in the intensive care unit.

“Because of the selflessness and kindness of two donors and their families, Karen received not one but two liver transplants and one kidney transplant last year,” she said. “She has now been given a second and a third chance at life, and is meeting this challenge head-on with the support of family and friends.”

Monadnock Community Hospital celebrated the beginning of National Donate Life Month on Monday with a flag ceremony honoring the Springfield family, including Nancy’s and Karen’s brother Ernie, a Peterborough police officer. 

To honor the month highlighting the importance of organ and tissue donation as well as donors and recipients, MCH will be flying the “Donate Life” flag above an entrance to the hospital all month.

Nancy Springfield said her sister has returned to work as a special education teacher in Lawrence, Mass., and that her life is “starting to return to normal.” She added that the experience inspired her to start doing volunteer work related to organ donation.

“I remember sitting bedside at the hospital when she was so critically ill,” Springfield said through tears, “and making a promise to myself that if she is fortunate enough to receive the gift of life, then I would do all I could to spread the word of how important it is to sign up to be a tissue and organ donor.”

Her sister, Springfield said, was one of 40,000 people to receive an organ donation last year, and that more than 110,000 people are currently on the National Transplant Waiting List. 

“It only takes moments to register to become a donor, but it can mean the second chance at a lifetime for others,” she said. “My siblings and my mom have seen firsthand the positive impact becoming an organ and tissue donor can have on the recipient, but also the impact it can have on the friends and families of the recipient. We can’t do it without you. It saved my sister’s life.”

Attending hospital staff expressed their appreciation for Springfield sharing her family’s story, and some discussed their own stories with organ donation. One staff member, Grace Cook, shared that she was planning to donate her kidney.

Cook works in patient registration at the hospital and has a friend in Massachusetts who needs a kidney. While Cook is not a match with her, they intend to start a donor chain, where Cook will donate to someone, who will then donate to someone else, until her friend can eventually receive a compatible kidney and complete the chain.

“It made sense to me. It seemed like the right thing to do, it’s something I’m capable of undergoing,” Cook said. “I get to go back to my normal life after donating my kidney, and she will never have a normal life if she doesn’t get off dialysis and get the transplant she needs. So it just clicked in mind of, ‘Hey, let me give this a shot.’”

For information on  organ  donation, visit registerme.org.