Category: UI Center For Advancement

A Message To Honor of Deb Brown

8/5/2020

"I continue to be moved and inspired by the generosity that Ed and Deb have shown and inspired in others. During her lifetime, Deb was the symbol of what it meant to be resilient and to conquer the challenges life and health threw at her -in particular related to her organ transplant - as they were many. She felt strongly about helping others in her same situation be more resilient and the Dragonfly fund is what was born from that belief. Deb felt so strongly that this cause continue beyond her own days and made it part of her own legacy through her estate.

Now, in her honor, Ed and all who give to the Dragonfly fund continue to champion the resiliency of transplant patients and families by supporting the work of our Health Care Heroes at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics through the Dragonfly Fund for Transplant Support."

Alli Ingman
Assistant Vice President, Health Sciences Development
The University of Iowa Center for Advancement

How to Make a Donation in Honor of Deb Brown

To make a donation to the Dragonfly Transplant Fund through the University of Iowa Center for Advancement in honor of Deb Brown, please click the link below.

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Why the University of Iowa Center for Advancement?

4/1/2020

The founders of the Dragonfly Transplant Fund, Deb and Ed Brown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, love sharing the story of their experience with the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics’ Transplant Center and the Iowa Donor Network.

In early 2016, Deb was patiently awaiting a liver transplant that she and her family thought may never come. Her liver disease was affecting her everyday life to the point where emergency room trips seemed normal. Her health deteriorated at a rapid pace.

In November 2016, Deb and her family received a call that a liver had become available for Deb to receive. After an 11-hour procedure at the UIHC Transplant Center, Deb had a new liver and a new life to live....and give.

“We have a life together now,” says Ed Brown. “That’s not a gift...that’s more than a gift.”

Deb and her husband, Ed, have ignited passion in others and established the Dragonfly Transplant Fund via a generous gift through the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. This gift is a testament of their appreciation of their doctors, their liver donor, and their donor’s family. The mission of their gift is to enhance the need for organ and tissue donor awareness. They hope with the support of community donors that they will be able to create a lounge in the hospital for caregivers of transplant patients to be together and learn about resources that are available to them and their families as they go through the organ transplant and organ donation process.

“Donation, I don’t think, is [ever] going to go away,” says Ed Brown. “Transplant is never going to go away. Let’s put something there that everybody can feel good about.”

Together with the support of the medical professionals at the UIHC Transplant Center, Deb and Ed are dedicated to serving patients and their caregivers through the Dragonfly Transplant Fund. If you would like to contribute to the Dragonfly Transplant Fund’s vision, please visit http://givetoiowa.org/dragonfly.

Supporting Transplant Patients

3/18/2019

Comments

In 2019, the University of Iowa Center for Advancement developed a Gold Rush fundraising campaign with Deb and Ed Brown to encourage others to contribute to the Dragonfly Transplant Fund. This campaign for the Dragonfly Transplant Fund was designed to specifically raise funds to support transplant patients and their caregivers at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, Iowa.

Between January and March 2019, $10,650 was raised through this fundraising campaign with over 40 donors' contributions.

Thank you to everyone who supported this fundraising campaign!
We appreciate your continued support of the Dragonfly Transplant Fund's vision.