We had the opportunity to meet Leslie McCloy, Post-Transplant Kidney/Pancreas Coordinator at UIHC at the Iowa Donor Network Donor Dash 5K in August. Leslie has an incredible passion for transplant care and a special story to share, and we are honored to share her story with our Dragonfly supporters:

"Donation and transplant have been the cornerstone of my nursing career. I had the privilege of working with organ donors and their families through my role at Iowa Donor Network as an organ donation coordinator. This experience led me to my current role as a kidney/pancreas post transplant coordinator, working with our transplant team to guide our recipients after they have received their transplant.

​My recipients inspired me to pursue living kidney donation, and on September 9th, 2021 I was able to donate my left kidney to a man I did not know. He and I both continue to do well after surgery, enjoying simple things like spending time with family and friends.

​I feel like it is within our power to say YES to donation. It was the right choice for me, and it is a powerful creed to believe in."

The Dragonfly Transplant Fund had an active and exciting year in 2021!

The year kicked off with a Valentine’s celebration brunch for the office staff at the UIHC Transplant
Center. The celebration was to recognize the record breaking number of transplant recipients in 2020
at UIHC at 103 patients! In partnership with the Bread Garden Market, Dragonfly volunteers delivered
box brunches to all the office staff at their work stations. Reports indicate that 2021 may break the
record again.

In April, the Dragonfly put together a team to participate in the lowa Donor Network Green 5K and raised over $500 for Iowa Donor Network. In case you didn’t know, April is Donate Life Month.

In August, we held our 4th Annual Golf Outing at Blue Top Ridge Golf Course in Riverside, Iowa. 2021 was the best year yet! With over 100 golfers and more than 50 volunteers, we raised over $28,000 donations for the Dragonfly cause. A highlight of the event was to have a number of both organ donors and recipients present at the event. Great job, Dragonfly Golf Committee!

In addition to the golf outing in August, we were able to host Deb's Celebration of Life. In recognizing
her courage and our vision, an endowed memorial fund was established. This fund will use its annual
earnings to provide educational scholarships for the nurses and staff at the UIHC Transplant Center. To
honor Deb's legacy, this fund is named the "Deb & Ed Brown Endowed Dragonfly Fund for Transplant
Support.” We owe a big thank you to the University of lowa Center for Advancement for their help and
guidance in making this happen. Deb and I wanted to say thank you to everyone at UIHC. It’s a fact that
a more knowledgeable staff will help everyone.

To close out the year, the Dragonfly Action Steering Committee committed 10% of the current Dragon-
fly fund to be used to enhance the transplant process for UIHC patients, families and caregivers. We asked the transplant nursing staff for their input and received valuable ideas as to how we can help
make this happen. We can’t wait to show everyone what awesome things are coming in 2022 with this
allocation!

I would be remiss if I didn't make note of the growth that the Dragonfly has experienced in the media
and marketing department throughout the whole year. Our Dragonfly website and Facebook have
proven to be a valuable method of communication and these digital marketing tools have helped us
grow awareness for the need for more people to sign up to be organ donors. To everyone who is a
donor, we have to say THANK YOU!

No, we have not accomplished our long-term goal - yet! A physical resource center and lounge for
transplant patients, caregivers, and families within the walls of UIHC to provide the support their needs
is still to come. Once our goal is achieved, the Dragonfly Resource Center will provide a physical space
to foster a community of support and survivorship.

When I reflect on the Dragonfly’s accomplishments in 2021, it’s obvious that it was a great year - and the best is yet to come! Where Dragonfly is today and where Dragonfly will be in the future is all because of you and your support. From our Dragonfly family to you, thank you, thank you, thank you - and happy holidays!

Sincerely,
Ed Brown
Co-Founder of the Dragonfly Transplant Fund 
​

As our volunteers with the Dragonfly Transplant Fund start fundraising in 2021, we are excited to announce that the new gift card program is finally underway! Ed Brown, co-founder of the Dragonfly Transplant Fund, has generously donated 550 $5 gift cards to Bread Garden Market to transplant patients and their families as they stay at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics' Transplant Center.

"Deb and I set up the Dragonfly Transplant Fund to give back to others," he explains. "She and I celebrated in small ways after her transplant. We left her room, I pushed her in her wheelchair, and we went to the hospital coffee shop." Now, Ed wants other families to be able to enjoy a cup of coffee, too.

Read more about the Dragonfly Transplant Fund's new gift card program in the UI Health Care publication of "The Loop" via the link below.

"One of the small celebrations after Deb's transplant and when she got out of ICU was to load her up in a wheelchair, go down to the coffee shop, and for her to order her own pastry and coffee," says Ed Brown. "I want other people to celebrate getting 'back to reality' - just like Deb."

The Dragonfly Transplant Fund will be providing two (2) $5 gift cards to transplant patients and their families during their stay at the UIHC Transplant Center. These gift cards are good at any of the four Bread Garden Market Cafe locations at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. The team of social workers at the UIHC Transplant Center will distribute the gift cards. A transplant is a big life changing thing - and the little things like a cup of coffee or a donut mean a lot. 

Thank you to Bread Garden Market Cafe, UIHC, and our co-founder, Ed Brown, for making this gift card program possible for transplant patients and their families. ​

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.