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Louisville airports critical to life-saving transplants for KODA

The same airports that are crucial to creating Thunder Over Louisville provide life-saving support for organ transplant recipients

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Thunder Over Louisville's airshow focuses on the men and women who use aircrafts for life-saving missions through the military, but another local group is also using our airports for life saving missions.

The Kentucky Organ Donation Affiliates, or KODA, had a busy 2020 despite the pandemic.

"Yes, it's very possible that one of those planes you see in the sky could be my team and a life-saving organ," said Jennifer Daniel, KODA's Organ Operations Manager.  

Next time you see a plane buzzing over you, think about Adrianne Rogers. She's a pretty normal 20-something, except for the fact that she's held her heart in her own hands. Before the pandemic, she talked to WHAS11 about her transplant in 2017.

"It was kind of the most anxious but also the most excited I've ever been in my life," Rogers said while sitting in a KODA airplane used to transport organs.

In 2020, KODA transplanted 535 organs, a 30% increase from 2019. Two of Kentucky's three transplant hospitals are here in Louisville, meaning the airports are critical to the mission. The pilots who use those airports are just as integral to the team as other KODA members. 

"They are so behind the scenes," Daniel said. "They know what's happening, they feel like they know these recipients. Like Adrianne...we had a connection with her before we ever met her. We were there, giving her the gift of life." 

As the numbers show, transplants continued through the pandemic. KODA also says 60,000 new names were added to the transplant registry in 2020.

Next time you see a plane overhead, no matter the time of day, weather, or if we're in the midst of a pandemic, think of the hope that might just be on board.

"What we do is so mission driven," Daniel said.  "It's humbling to know every time you step on that plane you're saving a life. That's what we do. No matter the time, no matter the day." 

For information on registering to be an organ donor in Kentucky, you can click here. To register in Indiana, you can click here.

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