Students from Ohio University's School of Visual Communication are using their multimedia skills to save lives by telling the stories of people who are on the waiting list for organs and inspiring others to sign up to be donors.
The Waiting List is a nonprofit organization aiming to increase participation in organ donation through telling the stories of those who are waiting for organ transplants.
David Lee, an OU School of Visual Communication alumnus who founded the organization, recruited three students to help with the project. Sophomores Maddie McGarvey and Tony Guglielmi, and senior Drew Angerer help with photography and website development. Each student volunteers and is not paid for his or her work.
Lee was inspired to start the organization after he read an article in The Washington Post about a shortage of donated organs.
I thought
'That's not right ' and I did some more research and figured out that by using (the) stories of these transplant candidates we could inspire people to become organ donors
Lee said. We want to humanize the statistical data
and introduce them as a name and a face.
Maddie McGarvey, a visual communication major and former Post photographer, photographed Karen Range, who lives in Columbus and was diagnosed with a rare lung disease called bronchiolitis obliterans four years ago. After deciding to get evaluated for a lung transplant, she waited 22 months to receive the operation in December 2009 and barely left her house for four years because of the disease.
We're trying to show life after transplant ... what it's like to basically have a second chance
Range said. (McGarvey) was photographing me doing things that I couldn't do before (the) transplant. Everyday things like brushing my teeth
walking up the steps
playing with my son
driving my car ... those are things people take for granted
but when you can't breathe
you can't do those things.
Lee found Range through a support website while he was searching for volunteers for the storytelling project. McGarvey has visited Range seven times since October 2009.
In addition to the trips to Columbus, McGarvey also accompanied Range to one of her Cleveland Clinic doctor appointments.
I went into the project not really knowing what to expect
