When Jacob Lenzini’s dad died suddenly two years ago, it felt, to the teenager, like the end of hope.
The Park Ridge man, Chris Lenzini, had a stroke, and within a few days was declared brain-dead, the result of a previously undiscovered brain tumor.
Jacob never thought anything positive could come from the tragedy — until he met the man who got his father’s heart, a Wisconsin farmer with grandkids. In all, six of Chris Lenzini’s organs went to others in need.
"Obviously, nothing can make up for the fact that I lost my dad, but … knowing their lives have been saved made a huge difference," said Jacob, now 16. "It really is one of the greatest things my dad did, and he was a great man, he did a lot of great things."
Jacob was one of many who spoke Tuesday at an event focused on the importance of donation and ways to make Chicago a hub for organ transplantation. Last year, Illinois hospitals performed 1,208 organ transplants, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — and now Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network, which coordinates organ and tissue donation in Illinois and northwest Indiana, wants to boost that number to 2,000 a year by 2020.
About 4,500 Illinois residents are waiting for organs, said Dr. Martin Hertl, director of Rush’s solid organ transplant program. About 300 Illinoisans die each year waiting for a transplant, according to the Illinois Secretary of State’s office.
Representatives of the state’s leading medical centers spoke Tuesday about how they plan to pitch in:
•Rush University Medical Center plans to double the number of kidney transplants it performs over the next three years with kidneys from living donors. It also plans to use at least 40 kidneys a year from patients who are brain-dead or whose hearts have stopped functioning. Hospitals typically prefer to use kidneys from living, healthy patients because they can have better outcomes and it can be less costly for hospitals, Hertl said. But using kidneys from deceased donors is an important option for patients who have no immediate living donor options, Hertl said.
•University of Chicago Medicine plans to increase its transplant activities by 20 percent. It’s aiming to help more patients on Chicago’s South Side, in southern Illinois and northern Indiana get transplants.
•Loyola University Medical Center plans to launch a pancreas transplant program this year.
•Northwestern Medicine plans to expand its programs allowing healthy people to donate kidneys and livers and continue its research into building new organs for those in need.
"Imagine a world where patients in need of organs can have a customized organ built just in time," said Dr. Michael Abecassis, director of Northwestern’s Comprehensive Transplant Center. "We do it with cars. We should be able to do it with organs."
Abecassis said such a world might not be as far off as it once seemed.
Until that time, however, transplantation advocates plan to continue working to raise awareness, increase chances for patients to get organs and boost opportunities for potential donors to contribute.
Illinois lawmaker Rep. Deb Conroy, D-Villa Park, recently introduced a bill that would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to register to be organ and tissue donors when applying for driver’s licenses or state IDs, though parents would still have the final say until they turn 18.
Conroy’s husband is in kidney failure and has been on dialysis for two years. Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White said he’s talked with lawmakers and expects the bill, which will be in committee Thursday, to "zip through the House without any problems."
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Chicago can be "a national example of how to help others and give of oneself so others can live fully." He spoke with police Superintendent Eddie Johnson at his side. Johnson revealed last month that he is on a waiting list for a kidney transplant.
"This is what we want to be known for," Johnson said of Chicago and organ transplantation.
He wasn’t the only member of the law enforcement community to speak Tuesday.
Christine Ho, the widow of Chicago police Officer Jonathan Ho, also implored more Chicagoans to register to be organ donors. Jonathan Ho died in 2015 after a car struck his motorcycle while he was off-duty. He was an organ donor.
Christine Ho said her husband was someone who always strove to help others — and who loved spending time with his kids. She and Jonathan, she said, used to talk about what types of grandparents they’d be when they got older.
"What will I tell his grandchildren he’ll never meet?" she asked. "He was a man who helped."
lschencker@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @lschencker
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