In a month promoting organ donation, UB donors share their stories

When her husband battled through cancer and spent months waiting for a liver transplant, Sandy Flash was inspired to do something.

So last summer, Flash, associate vice provost for academic affairs, donated a portion of her healthy liver to help save the life of a stranger.

A baby, in fact.

“I remember waking up in the ICU after my surgery and they told me the recipient was a baby,” Flash says. “When I heard that, I just lost it.”

Flash tells her story as a living donor not for praise or recognition, but as an advocate who wants to help raise awareness. Her story is particularly poignant during April, which is annually designated as National Donate Life Month, when Americans are encouraged to register as organ, eye and tissue donors.

Flash shared her experience with UBNow, as did two of her colleagues.

Carol Van Zile-Tamsen, associate vice provost and director of the Office of Curriculum, Assessment and Teaching Transformation, donated a kidney to her father-in-law in 2010.

“When I learned he needed a kidney transplant, the first thing that came into my mind was, ‘Oh, I can do that,’” she says.

The two were a match. She was back on her feet soon after surgery, while he enjoyed a longer, better quality of life.

Megan Stewart, director of the Office of Fellowships and Scholarships in the Graduate School, has been a longtime blood and platelet donor, most recently after her young niece was diagnosed with pediatric cancer.

“Blood and platelet donation doesn’t take the level of time or energy that organ donation does, but it’s just as important,” Stewart says. “People don’t realize the impact that it has unless they have a family member who needs those blood and platelet products. It’s a small thing you can do to help others, but it makes a huge difference.”

“I think our whole goal of sharing our stories is just to see if we can raise awareness and encourage people to consider donating, whether it’s registering as an organ donor or being a donor of some kind,” Flash says.

Flash’s husband, Jim, was diagnosed with liver cancer in March 2020, forcing doctors to remove a third of his liver. More than a year later, a follow-up visit would reveal two lesions on his liver requiring radiation treatment.

Unsure if the cancer would return, he was put on the list for a liver transplant. Unsure how long he would have to wait, the family began looking for a living donor. His wife was not a match.

“But I became his champion,” Sandy Flash says. “I tried to talk to people and encourage them to consider becoming a living donor.”

It took more than six months on the waiting list, but her husband ultimately received the liver transplant he needed.

Filled with gratitude, Sandy Flash began thinking: Why not become a living donor for someone else?  

“Jim was doing so well with his recovery, I think it was around holiday time in 2022, when I asked him what he thought of the idea,” she says. “I said, ‘I don’t want to prolong our time in hospitals, but I know what it’s like to need someone to donate and I think I’d like to do it.’”

“I felt that I wanted to honor all those people who explored the possibility, or who started to go through the evaluation process, by doing the same,” Flash says. “How can I ask someone to do something that I wouldn’t be willing to do myself?”

Her first step was to contact a transplant center. Flash chose the Cleveland Clinic, where she was surveyed and interviewed as a potential candidate before traveling to Cleveland to undergo testing.

The recipient’s insurer ends up paying the medical costs for the living donor, Flash says.

“I talked to a social worker. I talked to a medical ethicist to make sure I was doing it for the right reasons and knew what I was getting into,” Flash says. “I had a CT scan and an MRI and a liver biopsy. I had 30 vials of blood taken one morning. You get a complete workup and know what the status of your health is.”

Flash chose to have the surgery in late May after the spring semester was over. The clinic checked in every couple of weeks to make sure she was still on board.

About a week before her surgery, Flash received a call.

“I know you can’t do this until next week, but we have a pediatric patient in dire need,” a clinic worker told her. “Could you come in this Friday?”

Flash couldn’t say no. Two days later, she was in Cleveland prepping for surgery.

She had never had surgery and was understandably nervous, wondering the entire time if she was doing the right thing.

“They couldn’t tell me much about the recipient, but I knew it was a dire situation and I knew it was a pediatric patient,” Flash says. “So, I just kept trying to put myself in the shoes of the parents.”

Her laparoscopic surgery lasted about seven hours, from the time she entered the operating room to when she woke up in the intensive-care unit. Doctors told her the recipient, a baby, was just doing fine.

Flash spent a few days recuperating in Cleveland before returning to her home in Grand Island. After six weeks — New York State allows its employees up to 30 days of paid leave as an organ donor — Flash was back to work full time.

“I think next to having my own children this is the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done,” Flash says.

She now proudly displays an image of her old and new liver side by side. Doctors took a portion from the left lobe of her liver. Subsequently, the right lobe grew wider and longer to where the total volume of her liver is just about what it was before surgery.

Today, Flash feels great and is eager to spread the word about organ donation. She hopes to one day meet her recipient.

As for her husband, Jim?

“Amazing,” Flash says. “He’s totally healthy.”