Bob’s Story: Carrying OnBob Williams was weeks away from going on dialysis when the call came that a new kidney was available to him. The donor? Fellow Roxbury resident Kim Roumes, who knew that donation would be an experience like none other in its opportunity to give life to another person.

Their journey began when Williams’ wife, Kathleen, posted a plea on Facebook in November 2018: Her husband, a Roxbury Scoutmaster and band leader, was in dire need of a kidney donor.

Eight months later, in June 2019, Williams—in great health and with donor Roumes at his side—walked 3.1 miles at NJ Sharing Network’s 5K Celebration of Life.

“I’ve been feeling great ever since,” says Williams, who returned to work at NJ 101.5 about one month after the transplant.

He remains infinitely grateful for his good fortune and the generosity of his friend Roumes. “I can’t put it into words,” he says.

Roumes insists that donating one of her kidneys turned out to be among the best things she’s done with her life. “Right from the beginning, I never had any hesitation,” she says. “I said I was going to try to be a donor, to see if I was a match. It all worked out that I was,” she says, adding that the procedure was “a simple process.”

Williams and Roumes now work together to promote and advocate for kidney donors through radio, TV, social media and events like the 5K.

The 2020 Donate Life Transplant Games will give them an even bigger platform from which to tell their story, where an expected 12,000-15,000 will assemble in New Jersey to participate in six days of competitive and non-competitive events as the biggest celebration of organ donation and transplantation.

“ My goal is to tell people, if you have any inclination, any interest in doing something like this, find the information,” Roumes says. “Do the research.”

Sam’s Story: Giving BackSam Prince was born with multiple congenital heart defects that kept him from engaging in the usual joys of childhood—riding a bike, frolicking at the playground, even walking up stairs. He spent time in isolation because of a weak immune system. He desperately needed a new heart.

Thankfully, at age 8, Sam, a North Caldwell resident, received the call he so needed: a match was located. Sam received a life-saving heart transplant on March 14, 2011, at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital at NewYork-Presbyterian. “It was a fabulous gift. It saved my life,” Sam says.

Sam was finally free to live the life of a first-grader and enjoy every day activities his new heart gave him—including, and especially, giving back to others.Since then he has dedicated his life to doing just that. He has raised more than $3,000 selling lemonade at Sam’s Lemon-Aid Stand at Gould School in North Caldwell, and he participated for the eighth year in NJ Sharing Network’s 5K Celebration of Life with “Max’s Mitzvah Movers,” a team created by big brother Max in Sam’s honor as his Bar Mitzvah project in 2012. The team has raised more than $60,000 for NJ Sharing Network, money that has increased the number of lives saved through innovative transplant research, family support, public awareness and education about the life-saving benefits of organ and tissue donation and transplantation.

Sam has many people to thank for his new heart and his ongoing support—most important, his donor and his donor family. “Words just can’t describe how thankful I am for that,” Sam says. He also is grateful to Max, his parents Mitch and Debbie, and the family’s synagogue, Congregation Agudath Israel in Caldwell.

Max dedicated himself to “spreading organ donation awareness so that those who are waiting for a transplant have the opportunity to go on and live a healthy and fulfilled life as Sam does.”

There will be no better platform for spreading that awareness and sharing Sam’s story than at the 2020 Donate Life Transplant Games, where Sam and many other heart and organ recipients will come together to compete and show the world how powerful the gift of life can be.

Dawn’s Story: Not Giving UpDawn Burke believes in the power of prayer and positive thinking. The 59-year-old resident of Keyport starts and ends her day by praying. She also keeps affirmations posted around her home, including her favorite: No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, show up and never give up.

Burke is a patient at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, where she received the gift of life: a right-lung transplant. For years, a chronic cough went undiagnosed until she was told in 2016 that she suffered from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a disease that causes permanent scarring in the lungs. She was placed on the transplant waiting list in September 2017.

Faith and planning became a part of Burke’s routine on the waitlist. Knowing the importance of being physically fit for surgery, she prepared by attending pulmonary rehabilitation sessions at Monmouth Medical Center twice a week, as well as weekly yoga classes. As Burke had been told, the stronger you go in, the faster you will recover. Almost two years after being placed on the waiting list, Burke received the life-changing call one early morning in June: “We’ve found a donor for you.” That same day, she had received her new lung and was back on the road to her renewed independence.

Burke can now look forward to resuming her favorite activities in the near future, such as gardening, photography and socializing. Burke is fortunate to have a wide support system. Her son, Darren, flew in from Hawaii to be with her during the surgery. Other family members and friends are now ready to serve as caregivers after her transplant. They call and visit frequently and have helped her with rides, meals and whatever else she might need—and she looks forward to monthly card-game nights with her pals. She also attends a support group.

“Sometimes you feel like you are the only one going through something,” she says. “The group gives me hope and it comforts me to hear their stories. One woman who received a double-lung transplant at Newark Beth Israel has become a mentor and a friend.”

And that support system will only expand when the Transplant Games of America come to New Jersey in 2020, where an expected 12,000-15,000 will assemble to participate in six days of competitive and non-competitive events. As Burke continues to recover, she is looking forward to getting more involved with NJ Sharing Network, sharing her story and encouraging other patients who are waiting. She also has her sights set on visiting her son in Hawaii. “It’s something I’ve been thinking about lately,” she says. “Hopefully I’ll be getting there soon.”

“ I was no longer able to work. Everyday tasks would leave me short of breath,” Burke says. “Although I tried to maintain my independence, it was becoming increasingly difficult to do things on my own.”

GOLD MEDAL TRIBUTEMike Strusiak received the gift of life 12 years ago. Since then, he has seen his four daughters graduate college, walked three of them down the aisle, enjoy his five grandchildren and recently got married. And for all of that, he will be forever grateful to and celebrate his donor, Kristen O’Hara.

Fifteen years ago, Strusiak was an active parent and an avid golfer. But a diagnosis of renal cancer required the removal of both kidneys and, ultimately, years of dialysis.

On September 12, 2007, he was fortunate enough to receive a kidney and pancreas transplant. Since then, he has found his way back to the sport he loves and is thankful for a rich life.Strusiak is now 62 and has participated in the Transplant Games of America since 2008. As co-manager of Team Liberty, he has won medals in golf, basketball, ballroom dancing and bocce. And with each victory comes a renewed tribute to the person who has made it all possible—Kristen. His “angel,” as he refers to her, was a 19-year-old basketball player at Jackson Memorial High School who passed away in a motor vehicle accident. Strusiak’s medals are attached to Kristen’s donor square on a memorial quilt at NJ Sharing Network. “I wouldn’t have these medals if it weren’t for Kristen,” he says.

Strusiak’s story doesn’t end there: He met and married the love of his life, Lisa Colasurdo, in July 2018. In recognition of this new chapter in their lives, Strusiak and Colasurdo exchanged vows in NJ Sharing Network’s Landscape of Life Meditation Garden with Kristen’s parents in attendance. The wedding was a fundraiser for NJ Sharing Network in honor of Kristen. In the 2018 Transplant Games, the newly wedded couple foxtrotted their way to the podium in the Ballroom Dancing Competition. The pair will once again take the floor next summer at the 2020 Games hosted right here in New Jersey.

Competing at the Games is a chance for them to share great new moments together and to remember those who have made it possible. It’s also a chance to spotlight the need for more registered organ, eye and tissue donors. “I hope the Transplant Games coming to NJ in 2020 will bring more awareness to the tri-state area and get people to register as organ and tissue donors,” Strusiak says, “and, as a result, save more lives.”

Mike & Lisa’s Story: Dancing Forward

Janice’s Story: Embracing New FamilyOn January 24, 2013, Janice Campbell’s world changed forever.

That’s the day her daughter, Dr. Jamila Irons-Johnson, suffered a fatal aneurysm rupture. Dr. Irons-Johnson was a 35-year-old psychologist at the time who focused on supporting often abused or neglected children. The married mother of two worked at Saint Peter’s University Hospital, where she was the Supervising Psychologist for the Dorothy B. Heirsch Child Protection Center. She was admired and loved by those with whom she worked.

Upon her passing, Campbell and her daughter’s family made the decision to donate her organs. That night, Dr. Irons-Johnson saved the lives of six people. “My son-in-law said, ‘Mom, she would want that. She was a giving person,’” Campbell recalled. Dr. Irons-Johnson donated two kidneys and her heart, liver and pancreas as well as her lungs.

Janice McNamara was one of those whose life was saved. McNamara had suffered from a serious lung ailment and required 24-7 oxygen provided from a tank. With her condition declining, McNamara knew time was running out. But late one night, McNamara received the call she was waiting for—a donor had been identified.

“There is no doubt the transplant saved my life,” McNamara said, proud that today she is doing remarkably well. But in the back of her mind, she wanted to know the person who cared enough to ensure that upon her death, her lungs would go to someone who would otherwise die without a transplant.

Today, Campbell and McNamara are best friends. And if you were to ask either of them, they would tell you that they are now family as well. “I never had a large family. But now I feel like I have this wonderful big family. Every morning, I hug my chest and say, ‘Good morning Jamila. Thank you so much!’”

Next summer, Campbell and McNamara will participate together on Team Liberty at the 2020 Donate Life Transplant Games right here in New Jersey. The Games will have a competition division for Donor Families, so that families like the Campbells and the McNamaras can celebrate new life and pay tribute to those who made it possible.