To raise awareness of the growing demand for organ donations in Milwaukee’s Black community, Versiti is displaying LifeLine:The Ultimate Bond art exhibit at Froedtert Hospital, 900 N. 92nd St. The exhibit features local members of the Divine Nine, who share their personal organ transplant stories through displays while local artists create artwork to spread awareness.
Versiti partnered with Milwaukee’s National Pan-Hellenic Council, also known as the Divine Nine, which consists of nine historically African American sororities and fraternities, after studies revealed there are 220,000 African Americans living in Milwaukee but only 25% of them are registered organ and tissue donors.
“We are continuing to try to educate the community and we see slow rises in the percentage of African Americans donating, but we still have some more work to do,” said Matthew Cooper, chief of transplantation and director of solid organ transplant at Froedtert Hospital.
Some pieces include acrylic paintings, digital artwork, photography and fabric and stitch.
Discovering the need for a transplant
Kobena-Marcus Collins of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity is one of the participants featured in the exhibit.
He received a kidney transplant in 2022.
Collins, 40, said his transplant journey began in 2019 after experiencing a toothache. He visited Marquette University’s free dental clinic, where staff said his blood pressure was 213 over 137.
“Marquette changed my life,” Collins said. “Anything over 160 means you’re at risk of stroke or heart attack.”
Collins was sent to the emergency room.
A month later, Collins’ kidney biopsy showed that 85% of his kidneys were dead and his creatinine levels were at 4, which is above normal.
Creatinine is waste from your muscles that the kidneys remove when you urinate. When kidneys aren’t functioning well it makes it harder to remove waste from your system.
“I remember being sent to the nephrologist and I didn’t have a way to pay for any services, especially with my limited insurance when this was a life or death situation,” Collins said.
Months later, Collins’ creatinine levels exceeded 25 after having chronic vomiting and a broken eye vessel.
Eventually Collins was set up for an emergency dialysis after being told by doctors he had only two days to live.
“I did dialysis for two and a half years and was put on the donor transplant waiting list,” he said.
A lifelong brotherhood
Collins said he’s grateful for his fraternity brothers who came to support him during hospital visits over the years.
“That was a big thing for me, and they also helped me share my story and get the word out about my need for a transplant,” he said.
According to Versiti, a Black organ recipient doesn’t need a Black donor and anyone can donate to someone regardless of race. But people of the same race will most likely have a better match due to similar genetic traits and antibodies.
Collins’ fraternity brothers got tested to see if they were a match for his organ transplant.
“Knowing that I have other frat brothers that went and got tested for me was comforting,” Collins said. “My frat brothers were supportive and helped me from a mental standpoint, and being a part of a fraternity is what led me to the LifeLine project.”
Exploring art itself
After joining the LifeLine art exhibit project in 2020, Collins gravitated to a 2021 art piece by artist Kierston Ghaznavi called “A Gift Eternal,” made of marker and pen on cardstock.
“The artwork itself is very eye opening,” Collins said.
The piece depicted Ghaznavi’s organ donation experience after her daughter, Amaya Elise, died at 6 weeks old from Group B Strep meningitis, which caused swelling on her brain.
“Sometimes I wonder why my only child only lived for 6 weeks, but I know that her gift of life means that a part of her lives on,” Ghaznavi said. “That makes me smile every day.”
She donated her daughter’s liver, pancreas and intestines to a 9-month-old baby boy in need. Other organs like her lungs were too small to donate, but her heart was used for research.
“I knew that a mother somewhere was waiting in the intensive care unit of a hospital watching her baby become more and more sick and that organ donation was the right thing to do,” Ghaznavi said.
Richard Lewis, two-time kidney recipient and member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, also said that Ghaznavi’s piece and testimony touched him.
“That part was emotional for me because we take (life) for granted,” Lewis said in a video.
Lewis was saved by two organ donors; one kidney came from his sister in 2004 and the other was donated in 2017 and came from an individual who saved eight other lives.
“My barber connected me to a woman whose son was dying,” Lewis said. “She was intentional about making sure his organs could save a life through direct donation.”
Health education is key
Another artist featured in the exhibit is Jerry Jordan of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, who did an oil painting called “Sharing Hope,” which symbolizes people who have compassion and willingness to donate a part of themselves to others in need of hope.
The painting was inspired by the African American mythological goddess, Oshun, known as “the gift of hope and life.” Jordan’s 17-year-old daughter was a model for the painting, posing while holding a set of lungs.
“I thought this would be a great opportunity to bring awareness to my community about the need for organ and tissue donation,” Jordan said in a video.
Initially, Jordan said he didn’t know about organ donation, but then did his own research.
“I learned that there are so many African Americans who are waiting for a kidney transplant,” he said. “It was just a huge number.”
Collins said Black individuals avoid doctors and getting care because of historical mistrust of the health care field. He mentioned the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, high mortality rates among Black maternal women and infants, patients being unheard, misconceptions about masculinity and more.
“There’s a cultural piece there,” Collins said. “It’s important to have these conversations so that we can normalize physical and mental wellness.”
Call to action
Cooper wants people to know that every transplant starts with a donor.
“After that, we get to watch a miracle happen,” he said. “When we do a transplant and we watch the organ reperfuse, you realize you just changed somebody’s life.”
Click here for more details on how to become an organ, tissue and eye donor.
“Organ transplant stories are tough to listen to, but I think when people hear them, they recognize the gift a person can give is by becoming an organ donor,” Cooper said.
Other Divine Nine members featured in the exhibit are:
Stacy Crouther, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and kidney recipient from living donor.
Darlena Johnson, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority and kidney recipient.
Theo Gilbert, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and kidney recipient.
LaKeshia Myers, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and kidney recipient.
Ken Little, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and bone marrow transplant recipient.
Patricia Lewis, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority and son Ray Lewis, who is a kidney recipient.
Additional artists in the exhibit are:
Brad Bernard, acrylic and mixed media
Rosy Petri, fabric and stitch
Sherman Pitts, digital
Terrance Sims, photography
Allison Ssali, acrylic and mixed media
Allison Westbrook, digital
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