Late last year, I connected with Layne Gillete of Rock Falls, Ill. about some outreach she was doing for McGonigle-Wiederaenders-Sellers Foundations (MWS Foundation for short), which is an organization that promotes organ/tissue donation and raises funds for recipients and family members to help with the cost of transplants. The foundation hosts some great events throughout the year and most of the funds are directed to Loyola University Medical Center.
You can check out the website here and Layne has also setup a Facebook Cause and Fan page to promote their efforts.
Curious as to how Layne became involved with the MWS Foundation, I asked if she would like to submit an entry as part of our Illinois Donor Diaries. You can drop Layne a hello on MySpace and tell her to keep up the great work!
Thanks Layne!
-Scott
February 11, 2008
Phyllis Sellers had a passion for God, golf, painting, gardening, and life on the river. All of these passions came second to the love she had for her family. In 1997 Phyllis became ill. She spent 4 months in the hospital and her frame at 5’5 whittled down to 86lbs. She underwent a quadruple bypass on her heart which was an unsuccessful procedure. She was then placed on the heart transplant list. Three weeks later she received a heart from an 18 year-old male that sustained a head/brain injury. She then spent a month in rehabilitation to learn simple tasks like learning to walk again.
By the next summer Phyllis was playing golf in a benefit tournament for her friend Linda, another transplant recipient that unfortunately was not a survivor. Phyllis struggled with the side effects of her medicines and routine biopsies which always had positive results. In 2005 Phyllis was diagnosed with a muscle degeneration disease and was hospitalized for months and the doctors were not optimistic about her survival. She somehow pulled through this disease but it had taken a toll on her body. She started to steadily decline after that. Her kidney’s started shutting down and her liver was damaged.
In January of 2006 the doctors found a spot on her lung which turned out to be cancer. They removed part of her lung. At the same time her kidneys began shutting down to 15% productivity. While preparing for kidney dialysis the doctors found more cancer in her lungs and diagnosed her with lung cancer in June 2007. After the bleak options the doctors gave, Phyllis chose to let nature take its course. On July 5, 2007 Phyllis Sellers passed away from kidney failure in her home.
Phyllis Sellers was my grandmother. I took care of her full for two months before her passing in July. Up until the very end she was always positive and full of love. She was always more concerned with how everyone else was doing. She had more love to give than anyone I have ever known. Through all of her struggles in life she was always the pillar of strength for our family. She was a survivor and said that she had always held on for my grandfather and our family. She loved life and always tried to live it to the fullest.
My grandfather became involved with a few friends to create a foundation in 1998 to raise money for transplant patients and medical research and education. It is through this foundation in which Phyllis shared her story and helped create awareness for the necessity of the organ transplant cause. She said it gave her 11 more years of her life that she got to share with her loving husband, children and grandchildren. She was a remarkable woman who is a true role model and survivor. She is greatly missed by all who knew her.
- Layne Gillete
Rock Falls, IL
