Jason Nothdurft Kidney Donor and 911 Call Center Worker
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Jason has been involved with public service most of his life, and recently became a kidney donor!
Connect with Jason Nothdurft
Around the age of 12 his family did mission trips down to Kentucky for 3 of the 10 poorest counties in the country. By age 14, Jason joined the local fire department as a junior member to follow in his family’s footsteps.
While in college, Jason, found himself interning at the state house in Trenton, New Jersey. He was fortunate enough to be able to help work on legislation that was eventually passed into law. Those bills include educating police, fire, and paramedic departments on how to recognize and properly handle people with autism. As well as a bill to protect fire fighters from being able to lose their job while working on putting out a fire, when they are needed.
Jason figured out that he wanted to work in a 911 call center. His job is quite demanding in both hours and stress levels. Dealing with hostage situations from a phone, while trying to coordinate with several others via text can be hard for anyone not dealing with a life threatening situation.
A call to action came for Jason when his best friend’s dad needed a kidney transplant. Jason found it in himself to agree to be a kidney donor, and the process began. Little did Jason know that donating a kidney would take two years to happen.
Episode 29
Transcription
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this is the dreamers podcast where
dreamers shared their stories to inspire
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you
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now join host Joe Pardo as he interviews
a dreamer who’s living their dreams
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yeah
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welcome to the juniors podcast I’m your
host Joe Pardo and today I’m
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interviewing Jason order was living his
dream through public service
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welcome to show Jason and thanks for a
meeting i’m glad to be a part of this
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project can be on here
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well thank you i’m really glad that you
could come out and be here in the studio
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with me let’s get started by giving some
background about yourself
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well I’m 27 years old graduated with a
ba in political science from rowan
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university in class bro and I currently
work as a police dispatcher for the
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county which covers the various law
enforcement agencies that have
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jurisdiction over the 24 towns in the
county
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you know I started in public service at
a very young age
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going back to the genesis of it all my
grandfather has spent the last 61 62
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years in the fire department somewhat
active albeit these 80-some years old
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and then my father spent 25 years in the
fire department and its continued his
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public service in other ways and we see
your family and your father and your
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grandfather you always want to mimic
them and to an extent and that’s
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something that I’ve done join the fire
department for a short time myself sorry
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going on mission trips with the church
went on to do other things with my free
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time so what would you say inspires you
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which what inspires me is the result of
a good action whether it’s seeing smile
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at someone else’s face seeing how they
are definitely impacted by your your
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actions in your words really inspires me
to continue to do good things for other
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people so you touch them a little bit
upon how you wanted to mimic your family
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growing up
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how exactly did you dream come about
though to you i remember vividly when
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the farm was having a hundredth
anniversary i want to say was in 1998
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and you had to make sure all the
equipment was you know showing the
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polished and
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they put together a parade and different
events surrounding the anniversary and
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my father and grandfather all active and
they had brought me along to help with
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them so it’s very hands-on within the
department at least on the very non
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emergency sign of things since I was had
been 10 years old and that’s when or 10
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or 12 years old I couldn’t join its
always 14 but getting hands-on before I
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was old enough to actually become a
member myself really gave me some
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insight on what I could expect going
into the future and I really liked what
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i experienced and then that prompted me
to move on to other things
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so how was your dream received by your
family when you told them hey I’m gonna
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do everything that you guys do well my
my mom hated it
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which she loved the public service
aspect of it she was glad that I want to
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serve my community but she saw how much
time that was dedicated to the
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organization missing dinners and and
being away from the family during
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holidays and things like that because if
an emergency occurs there’s no schedule
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for that it happens it happens you go
out and you have to set make a lot of
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sacrifices in order to be good at that
so there was some kind of osa
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discouragement people were trying to
make sure that I knew what I was getting
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into and that’s not a bad thing to
having you always want to see all sides
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of an issue when making this decision on
what you’re going to do so i’m glad to
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have this port on both sides of any
issue that i have so what steps did you
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take to get started with your public
service before i actually was able to
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join the fire department as a junior
member at the age of 14 @ h 12 is
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starting on mission trips with one local
churches down in Kentucky where they
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support three of the ten poorest
counties in the country where they
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supported k through 12 school private
Christian school a dental clinic a
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health clinic economic development and
extension of different government
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programs that the government was
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in you know couldn’t really handle
themselves they worked with the church
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to get it out to the community
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I got involved in that because my
brother had going on the very first trip
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with our local church and then I saw how
good of a time that he had in the impact
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you had on other people’s lives in that
area the country that when I was old
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enough h12 my sister and my mom and I we
all went down with the church together
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and I think one of my first projects the
11 i’ll never forget is installing
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helping to install part of the
playground at the school that I know
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it’s still standing here today and I
know get still enjoy
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well that’s very nice where there any
roblox with getting started for that
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particular mission not necessarily know
it was just a matter of waiting till I
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was old enough and then having to have
the parental supervision of my mother
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you know since I was still young but it
was just a matter of helping out
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fundraising because it was a group of I
think back down it was 45 people today
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there’s a group of at least a hundred
people that go down imagine a hundred
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people traveling 1415 hours by van to
spend in a you know a work camp
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atmosphere and raising money for vans
and things like that
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okie sales car washes and such but that
wasn’t a real there was no real barriers
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to me personally getting involved is
just finding the the willingness and
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desire to put myself in an uncomfortable
situation something new and once I got
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past that it was all downhill from there
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what about the public service was there
any roblox with that with public service
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in general I think the biggest robot is
a roadblock is oneself you have to have
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the desire you have to have the passion
you have to be willing to make your own
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sacrifices sometimes they’re small
sacrifices sometimes they’re big
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sacrifices a lot of it depends on the
type of public service you want to do
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whether it’s you want to go volunteer
with the church volunteer with
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your local fire department you want to
volunteer but the local food pantry
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it’s just a matter of reaching out and
creating your own opportunities and I
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don’t think there’s too many
organizations out there that are going
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to decline help if you offer to give it
to them
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how did you go about overcoming those a
lot of it was the examples from my
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family and friends you know I saw my
brother having a good time on a mission
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trip believe my mother did a trip before
i went down or my sister you know and
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then seeing my father and grandfather to
seeing the impact that they’ve had on
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the community around them just having
good examples in your life and that’s
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something that i would like to strive to
be is an example of someone who still
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has a great personal life while being
able to help others and to maybe get
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some excited about public service
themselves to find their own way of
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helping other people doesn’t have to
actually doesn’t have to be the same way
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the same things that I’ve done but i
would encourage anyone to go find what
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they’re good at
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there’s a lot of things in this world
that i’m not good at I can’t run
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marathons I can’t run into burning
buildings that I’ve given that dream up
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unfortunately but through various
physical limitations and other
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limitations that I have but instead of
worrying about what I can’t do I have to
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start worrying about what I can do and I
think a lot of people need to start
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thinking that way as well if I
concentrate on things that couldn’t do
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I’d be lying in bed all day doing
nothing maybe playing video games or
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watching to it before the interview you
were talking about stuff that you’ve
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done for New Jersey as far as bill
writing you care to elaborate and sure
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when throughout my college career it
took me eight years to get my bachelor’s
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degree i spent some time at the college
New Jersey outside of trend i got to
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intern at the same time at the
Statehouse and trend
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and it was more of a very fortunate to
have to be more than just making copies
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and fetching coffee for people i got to
do real work I I got to see how
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legislation was actually made and have a
hands-on approach to it a speaker of the
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assembly we should roberts at the time
said he wanted to create a package of
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legislation that dealt with the growing
rate of autism within the state of new
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jersey i think at the time it was 198
people had autism it was a wide spectrum
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from Asperger’s which is one of the
least severe on the spectrum to I guess
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you know very altruistic low functioning
autistic one of the ideas that we came
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up with I got to work with one other
staffers was I went back on my
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experience with Public Safety and the
idea came about that we want to require
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emergency services personnel to be
required on how to interact with people
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with autism you heard stories around the
state of police officers not treating
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people thought is improperly EMTs and
paramedics and and things like that and
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it was a huge liability on these
municipalities and these agencies where
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if they didn’t handle it properly we’re
opening ourselves up to lawsuits but
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beyond that more importantly was the
safety of the person with autism one of
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the biggest stories that affected me was
a highly functioning kid with shouldn’t
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say kid he was a he was driving enough
to drive
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he was pulled over by the police and had
autism but he couldn’t convey to the
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officer he had autism and the cop
couldn’t really didn’t realize that
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autism so the kid just got out of the
car and started running which prompted
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the officer to chase him and arrest him
and i’m not sure if the kid had any
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serious injuries or not but you imagine
a well-built officer tackle you to the
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ground trying to arrest you I’m sure
doesn’t do nice things to your body so
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in order to prevent that we want to make
sure that police officers were trained
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on how to not really diagnose autism but
on how to recognize certain signs and
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symptoms and how to really approach
people with autism so you can avoid it
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bad situations like that
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it was signed into law in $MONTH 2008 by
Governor Corzine which was after i ended
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my internship so it’s really excited
when i get an email about well that
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going through other things that we
didn’t want other legislation we worked
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with was protecting the jobs of
volunteer emergency responders say and
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you get paged out in the middle of the
night to fight a burning house fire
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you’re going to be there for quite a few
hours especially if it’s really been
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fire and then all the sudden you’re in
the middle of putting out the fire but
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you have to pack up and leave as an
individual because you have to get to
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work now we found that a quite a few
people were getting fired from their
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jobs for not calling not showing up
which obviously for the employers point
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of view is bad because now you’re down
an employee and productivity goes down
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but we’ve built legislation that was
signed into law in $MONTH 2010 by acting
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governor steve sweeney that gave
protections to both the employee and the
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employer at the same time allowing these
people to serve their communities on a
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volunteer basis so everyone wins the
employee wins the community winds and
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the employer wins you know I was
something very proud that I could have
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my hands on I can’t take credit for
anything but you know just to know that
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I played it even a small role in that
really means a lot to me so you
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mentioned that you work in a call center
and would you like to elaborate some
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more on what it’s like working in a call
center most people probably have never
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even called a call center for 911 let
alone been in one or talk to even know
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anybody that worked at one
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yeah it’s I i started in September of
2007 and what was really cool at the
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time is my father had worked there and
he had tried to convince me not to take
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the job because I he knew how stressful
it was and at the time I still working
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on my education
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still no you’re not actually at that
point for five years away from finishing
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my degree but I went ahead and did it
anyway because I know what kind of what
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the job was about based off of some
stories that he said but i’m glad i’m
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still there and not only no 32 years to
retire
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if I’m lucky but it’s interesting i can
be on the phone typing on my computer
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and talking on the radio to field
officers out in the field all the same
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time and anyone who’s had the Maltese
get their job it’s not necessarily easy
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when you’re trying especially when
you’re worried about different
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emergencies and this is officer is
chasing this guy on foot for this
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vehicle won’t stop for them
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meanwhile you’re on the phone with
somebody reporting a large fight on the
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other end of town
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meanwhile you’re typing everything into
the computer seems all at once and it’s
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it can be difficult at times but I work
in a group of no fewer than twelve
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fourteen people in the room at one time
and there’s a lot of teamwork that has
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to happen and we all get it done and at
the end of the day not going would
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everyone is going home safely
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yeah i don’t know that i $FULLPHONENUM i
could imagine doing that job especially
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the hours that you work yeah I do 12
hour night shifts from 7am to 7pm to 7am
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about 40 nights a month so I average
about 42 hours a week throughout the
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course of month we have x we’re really
busy phone won’t stop ringing officers
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won’t stop being proactive reaching out
to the community in different ways and
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then there’s times where nothing happens
at all and those are the times that we
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really try to enjoy but you know we’ve
had different situations over the course
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of the years where me personally I’ve
dealt with hostage situations suicidal
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people domestic violence situations so
seeing what real people go through on a
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daily basis and seeing what people’s
real problems are whether it’s drugs or
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alcohol or spousal abuse or people just
being people not being very responsible
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people has really given me focus on
things i need to concentrate my life one
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in the future
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I’ve done a lot of stuff in my past but
that’s all in the past and I’ve am only
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27 years old there’s a lot of stuff in
the future that i really need to do and
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I can’t worry about what’s in the past I
can’t just phone it in from here
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rolling out now i’m hoping to be alive
for another 60 years at least
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so you know there’s a lot can be done
and in that 60 years
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well one of those things was donating a
kidney right in 2000-2012 i was
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approached by one of my friends and he
actually was even approached by one of
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my friends I’d seen on facebook that the
father of one of my best friend’s was
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looking for a kidney
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00:14:56,180 –> 00:15:00,829
I didn’t know the circumstances behind
it I’d never even heard anyone ever talk
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00:15:00,829 –> 00:15:06,709
about this ever before so I’d sent a
text message to my to my friend and he
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00:15:06,709 –> 00:15:11,689
said I’ll let you know and six months
goes by and only memory probably six
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00:15:11,690 –> 00:15:16,279
months of that was in April and he
called me in june and i knew there was a
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00:15:16,279 –> 00:15:19,310
problem because you normally sends me
text message rather than calling me on
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the phone but he called me and he asked
me if I was still interested in doing a
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00:15:23,870 –> 00:15:27,290
kidney I’m like great let’s knock this
out i can take off
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fortunately attic have a great job it
would allow me to take a lot of time off
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for recovery from surgery
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00:15:32,690 –> 00:15:36,410
let’s do this next week let’s just not
get out and he’s like well I don’t think
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00:15:36,410 –> 00:15:43,399
it works out that way we went through
testing and two years later and finally
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00:15:43,399 –> 00:15:49,190
got to donate my kidney so serious it
was very stressful at times not knowing
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00:15:49,190 –> 00:15:53,660
if I was an exact match then we switched
hospitals wind up going to lady lords in
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00:15:53,660 –> 00:16:00,949
Camden to get the procedure done january
fourteenth 2014 12 lady lords and next
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00:16:00,949 –> 00:16:05,449
thing i know i’m laying in bed with one
less kidney but it’s something that I’m
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00:16:05,449 –> 00:16:10,310
really glad that I got to do those is my
recipient he was diagnosed with renal
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failure we do 2 diabetes and high blood
pressure which is determined to be a
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00:16:15,380 –> 00:16:20,660
genetic cause rather than him abusing
his body it was genetics what you
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00:16:20,660 –> 00:16:25,339
obviously can’t control and hit to do a
lot of work changing his diet and things
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like that he was very blessed that he
was able to wait those two years usually
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00:16:29,959 –> 00:16:34,699
the numbers get significantly worse for
his kidney provide function
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00:16:34,700 –> 00:16:38,600
but they stayed stable he was able to
make it through those two years of
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00:16:38,600 –> 00:16:41,810
testing now the doctors tell him that if
they didn’t know any better
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he’s a perfectly normal human being and
he still has to watch his blood pressure
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and his blood sugar and things like that
but he’s got two grandchildren he’s got
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five kids and he’s able to spend time
with him now he’s even looking to open
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00:16:56,210 –> 00:17:01,10
up a new business with one of his with
one of his friends a barbecue business
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00:17:01,10 –> 00:17:07,520
and he’s really excited about that i
SPECT home as recently as a few days ago
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00:17:07,520 –> 00:17:12,109
and it’s just everything just is great
he couldn’t be happier his family
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00:17:12,109 –> 00:17:15,770
couldn’t be happier I’m glad I could do
it a lot of people ask me why would you
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00:17:15,770 –> 00:17:18,410
want to donate your kidney and I say why
not
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00:17:18,410 –> 00:17:23,180
and that’s what a lot of people need to
work through is there’s a lot of people
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00:17:23,180 –> 00:17:27,680
level you come up with an idea come up
with a project and people say well what
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00:17:27,680 –> 00:17:30,650
do you want to do that and my answer is
why not
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00:17:30,650 –> 00:17:36,50
you have to take people’s negativity and
turn that into a positive you know
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00:17:36,50 –> 00:17:40,850
there’s issues like homelessness which i
haven’t tackled personally but I know
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00:17:40,850 –> 00:17:45,530
there’s there’s issues of homelessness
in the inner cities especially let’s say
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00:17:45,530 –> 00:17:49,820
canon for example why would you want to
help Camden out there lost cause well no
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00:17:49,820 –> 00:17:55,850
you have to pass the negativity and just
go forward with whatever project you
246
00:17:55,850 –> 00:18:00,679
think will make the biggest impact now
what has resulted from me doing my
247
00:18:00,680 –> 00:18:05,510
kidneys this individual is strong
stronger friendship between his family
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and I him and I his family and I one of
the negatives i would say negative if
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00:18:10,610 –> 00:18:14,240
there could be a negative out of this
whole process is now he’s going to be on
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00:18:14,240 –> 00:18:19,40
anti-rejection medication for the rest
of his life and that comes at a premium
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00:18:19,40 –> 00:18:25,129
it’s very expensive so what we have done
is I’m also remember the elks lodge I
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00:18:25,130 –> 00:18:29,210
was talking to a few friends in the elks
lodge and we’ve decided to start a
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00:18:29,210 –> 00:18:33,860
charity cornhole tournament if anyone is
not familiar with the cornhole it’s also
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00:18:33,860 –> 00:18:37,850
known as baggo generally you see them a
tailgating parties or picnics we’re
255
00:18:37,850 –> 00:18:41,000
throwing the bean bags on the boards and
they got you try to get it in that nope
256
00:18:41,600 –> 00:18:44,600
so we’re doing a charity tournament on
jun 14th
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00:18:45,149 –> 00:18:49,738
and trying to raise as much money as we
can to help him pay for his medication
258
00:18:49,739 –> 00:18:55,49
like I said it just doesn’t end at the
initial act there’s more to follow and
259
00:18:55,49 –> 00:18:58,168
then once i’m done with that project i’m
going to try to find another project so
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i’m trying not to let the past hold me
down when I can look well into the
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00:19:01,469 –> 00:19:05,279
future one of the signs of our close
relationship my kidney recipient and
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00:19:05,279 –> 00:19:11,159
myself is participating different events
he recently in his wife and his
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00:19:11,159 –> 00:19:16,379
grandchild joined my my family in doing
the walk to cure psoriasis at the
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00:19:16,379 –> 00:19:21,779
Philadelphia Zoo we got together there
is three four five six seven seven or
265
00:19:21,779 –> 00:19:26,489
eight of us who had joined my team and
we raised money i think we raised every
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00:19:26,489 –> 00:19:30,839
hundred dollars to help fight psoriasis
and psoriatic arthritis and that was in
267
00:19:30,839 –> 00:19:36,960
april of 2014’s arises is something that
my recipients wife deals with it’s also
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something I’ve dealt with from childhood
so beyond just helping him with his
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00:19:41,580 –> 00:19:42,359
kidney
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00:19:42,359 –> 00:19:47,9
he has returned the favor in a very
small way that he would admit by helping
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00:19:47,9 –> 00:19:51,330
me raise some money for something that
affects me whereas I helped him he helps
272
00:19:51,330 –> 00:19:57,928
me and then together where you know his
new business he was looking to use the
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00:19:57,929 –> 00:20:03,479
proceeds to pay forward from receiving a
kidney to hopefully opening this
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00:20:03,479 –> 00:20:07,259
business soon and giving part of the
proceeds I believe he was talking about
275
00:20:07,259 –> 00:20:12,149
recently the gift of life family house
which I’m not really familiar with but
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00:20:12,149 –> 00:20:17,879
clearly it’s something that is close to
him after having everyone renewed chance
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00:20:17,879 –> 00:20:18,779
at life
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00:20:18,779 –> 00:20:22,859
so hopefully we can have more people
have the same effect
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00:20:23,609 –> 00:20:27,928
so is there any parts of your dream that
haven’t quite worked out yet
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00:20:27,929 –> 00:20:32,849
I think the biggest reason things fail
and public services personal priorities
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00:20:32,849 –> 00:20:37,559
change whether it’s I know at one point
my priorities changed to where I wanted
282
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to finish my college degree so I left
town
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00:20:40,200 –> 00:20:43,349
albeit not that for trying to accomplish
that
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00:20:43,349 –> 00:20:47,399
so I had to shift my priorities and as I
interacted with new people and met new
285
00:20:47,399 –> 00:20:52,120
friends and acquaintances my priorities
shift again and as I
286
00:20:52,120 –> 00:20:58,600
I start to think about creating a family
and getting married and possibly having
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00:20:58,600 –> 00:20:59,649
kids
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00:20:59,650 –> 00:21:04,480
priorities change again so to say
something doesn’t work out when you’re
289
00:21:04,480 –> 00:21:07,240
thinking of it when you’re in the field
of public service
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00:21:07,240 –> 00:21:12,130
I don’t think that’s a proper way to
phrase that changing priorities is
291
00:21:12,130 –> 00:21:16,000
probably the best way to discuss that
before we get the next question I did
292
00:21:16,000 –> 00:21:20,500
have a follow-up question has there been
any complications for you after you’ve
293
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given the kidney
294
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I can’t think about any complications
personally
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00:21:25,420 –> 00:21:29,440
the only thing i’m not at any higher
risk of kidney disease because generally
296
00:21:29,440 –> 00:21:33,820
speaking when you have two kidneys and
you get a kidney disease that affects
297
00:21:33,820 –> 00:21:35,500
both kidneys just the same
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00:21:35,500 –> 00:21:40,750
they both generally fail at the same
time and there’s plenty of people who
299
00:21:40,750 –> 00:21:45,130
have either whether it’s people are born
with one kidney people have given what
300
00:21:45,130 –> 00:21:48,280
kidneys and other down to one or people
who have received a kidney and they only
301
00:21:48,280 –> 00:21:52,180
have one so there’s lots of people who
only have one kidney and it’s a very
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00:21:52,180 –> 00:21:56,500
normal thing if we had to live with two
there would be no such thing as getting
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00:21:56,500 –> 00:22:00,760
donation but for some whatever reason
whether it’s how we were able to without
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00:22:00,760 –> 00:22:03,820
one but you know I don’t party as hard
as I used to
305
00:22:04,510 –> 00:22:07,810
i know i love to especially you know I
don’t know whether it’s because i’m
306
00:22:07,810 –> 00:22:12,730
getting older or it’s my kidney function
or whatever but or it’s just a personal
307
00:22:12,730 –> 00:22:16,750
choice i haven’t really decided that yet
but I know I don’t party is hard but
308
00:22:16,750 –> 00:22:21,580
other than that medically the only thing
i’m at higher risk of is a higher blood
309
00:22:21,580 –> 00:22:27,909
pressure i keep that on control i did a
two-week follow up with my surgeon a
310
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six-week and i’m scheduled for a
six-month checkup in July and then a
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00:22:33,40 –> 00:22:36,460
one-year and i think a two-year
follow-up so I’m continually getting
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00:22:36,460 –> 00:22:40,660
monitored by the surgical center and
also encouraged to follow up with my
313
00:22:40,660 –> 00:22:44,860
family doctor to get regular physicals
to make sure nothing gets thrown out of
314
00:22:44,860 –> 00:22:49,000
out of whack there but I’m a perfectly
normal person I was out of work for
315
00:22:49,000 –> 00:22:49,990
three weeks
316
00:22:49,990 –> 00:22:53,980
I used fortunately every seven years
I’ve been employed there i was able to
317
00:22:53,980 –> 00:22:56,980
save my sick time to be able to
facilitate this
318
00:22:57,890 –> 00:23:02,720
I i went back to work fortunately
working in a office atmosphere was a
319
00:23:02,720 –> 00:23:06,320
return sooner than some other people
have been through the same procedure but
320
00:23:06,320 –> 00:23:10,250
I can do physical I the only thing i can
do physical activities if i want to go
321
00:23:10,250 –> 00:23:13,910
running i can do jogging I can never
ever bike riding
322
00:23:13,910 –> 00:23:18,290
I can go swimming the only thing that
they recommend i don’t do is physical
323
00:23:18,290 –> 00:23:24,889
contact such as a soccer football things
like that they want to keep too low
324
00:23:24,890 –> 00:23:28,850
intensity recreation but other than that
i’m a perfectly normal person and
325
00:23:28,850 –> 00:23:34,580
fortunately because i was able to get my
kidney they my recipient who’s twice my
326
00:23:34,580 –> 00:23:36,740
age is also back tomorrow
327
00:23:36,740 –> 00:23:40,880
so yeah we can do though hopefully
they’re running in the biking and all
328
00:23:40,880 –> 00:23:45,860
that other stuff together one day so if
you were stranded on a deserted island
329
00:23:45,860 –> 00:23:49,490
with your family what three things would
you want to have with you how am I
330
00:23:49,490 –> 00:23:54,590
always stuck on an island while there’s
no doubt that in today’s age that I
331
00:23:54,590 –> 00:23:57,709
would have to bring my phone my luck I
would bring my phone there would be no
332
00:23:57,710 –> 00:23:58,760
service
333
00:23:58,760 –> 00:24:02,780
yeah you can ask my girlfriend how
attached i am to my phone and she said
334
00:24:02,780 –> 00:24:05,240
not very happy with me sometimes
335
00:24:05,240 –> 00:24:10,610
so that would have to be one thing
another thing would have to be it’s
336
00:24:10,610 –> 00:24:14,719
tough because my phone does so much
stuff it’s my music player it’s my book
337
00:24:14,720 –> 00:24:17,30
it’s my movie player its money
338
00:24:17,30 –> 00:24:21,560
it’s everything rolled into one there i
think the other thing that would bring
339
00:24:21,560 –> 00:24:24,980
it had nothing to do with survival the
three things i would bring i think i
340
00:24:24,980 –> 00:24:27,440
would have to bring something that
reminds me of home
341
00:24:27,440 –> 00:24:30,530
I would probably bring there’s an
American flag that was gifted to me by
342
00:24:30,530 –> 00:24:35,60
my sister she’s in the National Army
National Guard that she had she served
343
00:24:35,60 –> 00:24:40,70
two tours in Iraq and on whatever
towards she had brought home a flag that
344
00:24:40,70 –> 00:24:43,100
was flown over one of the bases and she
brought him a little certificate
345
00:24:43,100 –> 00:24:48,260
certifying that yes this flag was in
Iraq over the American base and she
346
00:24:48,260 –> 00:24:51,950
brought home put in a little case with
the certificate and a little frame and
347
00:24:51,950 –> 00:24:53,539
it’s sitting in my living room right
348
00:24:53,539 –> 00:24:58,220
now so if I will we bring three things
that would be one of them so I’m up to
349
00:24:58,220 –> 00:25:00,259
my phone my American flag
350
00:25:00,259 –> 00:25:03,229
I bring a boat now that doesn’t even
count you can’t bring a boat because
351
00:25:03,229 –> 00:25:07,879
you’re stranded on an island for a
reason would be a board game whether be
352
00:25:07,879 –> 00:25:12,709
taboo or cards against humanity which i
know is gained popularity in recent
353
00:25:12,710 –> 00:25:17,299
years in this country because I’m big
and family game night we get together
354
00:25:17,299 –> 00:25:21,109
will be used to we try to get together
as people again as priorities change
355
00:25:21,109 –> 00:25:25,849
things change but we try to get together
once a month at least two as a family to
356
00:25:25,849 –> 00:25:30,769
interact with each other and talk and
make fun of each other and share each
357
00:25:30,769 –> 00:25:34,39
other’s fellowship and stories and and I
think that’s huge
358
00:25:34,39 –> 00:25:37,700
I wouldn’t want to go to a deserted
island and go our separate ways and I
359
00:25:37,700 –> 00:25:40,729
talk to each other and just get mad at
each other all the time so what are your
360
00:25:40,729 –> 00:25:44,419
dreams for the future look like my
dreams going into the future in the
361
00:25:44,419 –> 00:25:48,979
immediate future are doing a cornhole
tournament for my kidney recipients we
362
00:25:48,979 –> 00:25:52,549
can help pay for his anti-rejection
medication which will be taken for the
363
00:25:52,549 –> 00:25:57,19
rest of his life hoping to raise at
least a couple thousand dollars and we
364
00:25:57,19 –> 00:26:01,70
were couple weeks away now so that’s my
immediate future and the long-term
365
00:26:01,70 –> 00:26:06,349
future I would like to be so i would say
consultants for a little bit compared to
366
00:26:06,349 –> 00:26:11,330
some of my past actions and eventually
sit down to get married and start a
367
00:26:11,330 –> 00:26:17,720
family and see where my priorities take
me from there I know with my kidney
368
00:26:17,720 –> 00:26:23,59
donation my priorities have changed to
kidney donors the whole process of
369
00:26:23,59 –> 00:26:28,249
living donors i would like to get into
advocacy for a different legislation
370
00:26:28,249 –> 00:26:32,419
that promotes live in organ donations i
know there’s legislation that’s been
371
00:26:32,419 –> 00:26:37,279
kicking around since 2004 to give a tax
deduction to living donors help them
372
00:26:37,279 –> 00:26:43,849
bear the costs of donating a kidney with
the state’s financial issues that could
373
00:26:43,849 –> 00:26:48,408
may not ever happen but to be able to
keep that alive would be something that
374
00:26:48,409 –> 00:26:53,450
I would like to to do get involved in
other people looking for kidneys I know
375
00:26:53,450 –> 00:26:58,639
is immediately after i donated my kidney
it see I don’t know whether it was
376
00:26:58,639 –> 00:27:04,248
coincidence or there’s a greater need
for kidneys but I noticed one of my
377
00:27:04,249 –> 00:27:06,419
co-workers needed a kidney of a sudden
378
00:27:06,419 –> 00:27:10,889
I don’t know whether it’s all the sudden
it happened or also became aware of it
379
00:27:10,889 –> 00:27:15,658
when my co-workers need kidney a
relative of one of my other best friends
380
00:27:15,659 –> 00:27:16,859
need a kidney
381
00:27:16,859 –> 00:27:21,269
you know and i am reading stories online
if people just using social media and
382
00:27:21,269 –> 00:27:26,970
begging for kidneys becoming an advocate
and making myself available to other
383
00:27:26,970 –> 00:27:31,859
people may be interested in that process
answer questions for them because it’s
384
00:27:31,859 –> 00:27:33,119
not for everybody
385
00:27:33,119 –> 00:27:37,918
some people shouldn’t do it some people
are afraid to do it so if I could answer
386
00:27:37,919 –> 00:27:44,159
their questions and just promote the
process in itself maybe we can extend a
387
00:27:44,159 –> 00:27:46,859
little bit more joy and extend people’s
lives a little bit longer
388
00:27:46,859 –> 00:27:50,189
unfortunately I won’t be able to be at
the cornhole tournament because i have a
389
00:27:50,190 –> 00:27:54,359
wedding i’m right the best man of do you
have any last thoughts to share pretty
390
00:27:54,359 –> 00:28:01,139
much there’s the saying goes those who
give receive ten times over the saying
391
00:28:01,139 –> 00:28:05,399
something like that i’m not sure what
exactly it is but I’ve definitely given
392
00:28:05,399 –> 00:28:10,439
a lot so far and hopefully I have a lot
more to give but I’ve definitely been
393
00:28:10,440 –> 00:28:18,389
blessed or lucky or however you want to
say it to have a great life to have a
394
00:28:18,389 –> 00:28:24,658
very supportive family to have a great
girlfriend to have been able to get a
395
00:28:24,659 –> 00:28:30,239
college education to have a great career
so I’ve been blessed in many areas of
396
00:28:30,239 –> 00:28:34,980
life i would encourage everyone to even
if it’s something small to do something
397
00:28:34,980 –> 00:28:41,100
for somebody else whether it’s donating
food to a local food bank or like I did
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actually this morning donating close to
local thrift shop that that’s something
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very easy you can do or finding a
charity you like to donate money to or
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if you don’t have the money
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donating your time more valuable than
money is donating your time I know my
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sister most recently told me she signed
for the Boys and Girls Club up she lives
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up in Mercer County right now outside of
trend and she signed up to be a
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actually a big brothers big sisters so
my sister recently signed up for big
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brother big sister so she’s now big
sister
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00:29:11,220 –> 00:29:15,210
growing up my family didn’t have a lot
of money so it and we couldn’t donate a
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00:29:15,210 –> 00:29:19,20
lot of money again we didn’t let that
hinder us we took that as an opportunity
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to figure out what we could donate and
that was our time and I think whether
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00:29:23,460 –> 00:29:28,470
it’s becoming a big brother or sister
sorting food at the food pantry donating
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leftover food non-perishables that you
have there is a way for everyone to make
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00:29:33,150 –> 00:29:38,790
a difference in this world and i would
like people to realize or understand
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00:29:38,790 –> 00:29:43,170
that they can look past our limitations
and not to give up
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00:29:43,170 –> 00:29:46,500
there’s things that people aren’t good
at there’s think you’re not good at
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00:29:46,500 –> 00:29:50,550
those things I’m not going in the key is
to find the things you are good at and
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00:29:50,550 –> 00:29:54,389
excel at it and you’re going to fail
whether it’s in business whether it’s in
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00:29:54,390 –> 00:29:58,140
public service whether it’s in your
personal life you’re going to find what
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00:29:58,140 –> 00:30:02,430
works and you need to take that and run
with it and I think that’s the message i
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00:30:02,430 –> 00:30:05,550
would like to relate to your listeners
here
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00:30:05,550 –> 00:30:08,909
well thank you for that Chase and I
really appreciate it would you like to
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00:30:08,910 –> 00:30:10,320
the plug your twitter
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00:30:10,320 –> 00:30:14,220
yeah I mean people can follow me at
Jason order talk about a variety of
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00:30:14,220 –> 00:30:18,480
things whether it’s politics or
technology or sports anything that comes
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00:30:18,480 –> 00:30:19,830
across my mind
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00:30:19,830 –> 00:30:24,659
hopefully you can find me on Twitter and
give me a shout out and hopefully and we
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00:30:24,660 –> 00:30:25,530
can become friends
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00:30:25,530 –> 00:30:29,370
well have that in the show notes so
everybody can see I look forward to
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00:30:29,370 –> 00:30:33,780
discussing that just about anything with
with anyone who wants to follow me or
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00:30:33,780 –> 00:30:38,820
mention me if anyone has any questions
on one public service any questions at
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00:30:38,820 –> 00:30:42,689
all i’m more than happy to open myself
up to inspiring other people are
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00:30:42,690 –> 00:30:44,509
discussing with other people and how
they
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00:30:44,509 –> 00:30:47,149
difference well thank you again for
coming on the show just I really
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00:30:47,149 –> 00:30:51,589
appreciate for a medium but it did thank
you for joining us for this episode of
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00:30:51,589 –> 00:30:56,899
the dreamers podcast follow us on
twitter and dreamers podcast
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00:30:57,760 –> 00:31:02,800
join us on facebook at facebook.com
slash dreamers podcast
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00:31:03,720 –> 00:31:07,890
if you or someone you know would like to
be a guest on the dreamers podcast
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00:31:07,890 –> 00:31:15,900
please send an email to j and j parr .
co this podcast is copyright 2014 by j
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00:31:15,900 –> 00:31:18,900
parr . comb
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00:31:20,150 –> 00:31:24,110
ok
2 Comments
This is such an inspirational story. I was actually just sharing it with someone yesterday! Good luck on your next missions trip!