Page 11 - SilverLinings Issue 5

daughter, Jessica, were short visits consisting of waves and blown kisses through the window.
Unfortunately, all three other members of the plan got COVID at different times to delay the process. Finally, when the other potential kidney recipient became too ill from
COVID to be cleared for a transplant, the entire plan got shut down.
Pam found Victoria only because she wrote a thank-you email addressed to the “Angel in Austin” and asked her coordinator through the registry if she could deliver it to the altruistic donor whose kidney Alana had received.
Victoria wrote back to Pam, and they (in addition to Alana) remain in
touch and have become friends.
Pam, Alana and Victoria are all doing well and getting back to full strength. Victoria is back running races and teaching Pilates.
The experience has given Pam a chance to reflect on generosity, charity, gratitude, and her career at various nonprofit organizations.
“When I was fresh
out of college and
trying to figure out my career path, I started
in nonprofit health
care at the MS Society, and I just never left nonprofits,” she says. “I found it so compelling to
Discouraged but not
defeated, Pam and
Alana, still under the
auspices of Mount
Sinai, turned to the
National Kidney
Registry, a Greenwich,
Connecticut-based
nonprofit organization
that pairs those in
need of a kidney with
matched donors. That’s
where the Angel in
Austin comes in. Victoria
had also registered
through the National
Kidney Registry. As an
altruistic donor, Victoria
was particularly valuable
as those types of organ
donations put in motion
a chain of transplants that potentially saves many lives.
Victoria underwent her surgery in Austin. Pam had hers in New York City at the same time. Victoria’s kidney
was flown to New York for Alana, and Pam’s kidney was driven to Baltimore for a recipient there. That’s as far as they know of the chain, but it likely went on further from there. The National Kidney Registry protects the privacy of each donor.
Pam Rockland, right, with daughter Alana
go to work every day and feel like I was helping people. This experience feels like a continuation of that spirit.
“Here at Silver Hill, we have the great fortune of getting up every day and coming to work in an environment where our work matters. Not to say other jobs don’t matter, but in my mind, it matters in a way that you feel good about making an impact.”
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SILVER LININGS MAGAZINE | ISSUE FIVE | 2022