Poster Contest Awards $5000

Lifesharing Announces Winners in Fifth Annual Donate Life Scholarship Program

"Our congratulations to the winners in this year's high school scholarship program," said Lisa Stocks, Executive Director of Lifesharing, the non-profit, federally-designated organ and tissue bank serving San Diego & Imperial County.  Since 2005, scholarships for high school students in Lifesharing's service area now total $22,000

"The poster contest is a very important community outreach project for Lifesharing," Stocks said. "We feel it is very important that high school students be able to make an informed decision about being a donor when applying for their first driver license.  The students also help us educate their peers, parents and grandparents."

A special thank you also goes to our judges:

• Brenda Ramsay, eyeMotions web designer
• Diane Brockington, a living donor and president of Donate Life San Diego
• Rev. Joe Davis, Medical Examiner's Office
• Judy Atwater, graphic artist
• Rotarian Mel Gallego, a Sharp Health RN
• Rod Mojica, artist & organ transplant recipient
• Lifesharing Staff & Volunteers (each with a collective vote)

This year 53 entries were received from students attending 19 high schools.  To view all entries in the 2009 contest, visit the Lifesharing Photo Gallery at www.lifesharing.org/gallery (click on 2009 Poster Entries or click here). You also may view a PDF or Powerpoint program featuring all the entries.

$2000 Scholarship; First-ever Multiple Category Winner

Alexander Burston
Senior, High Tech High School

$1000 - Best of Show - General Message Category
$1000 - 1st Place Hospital Family Member Category

Mom Paige Burston, RN, is the 6E/6W Manager at UC San Diego Medical Center.  Alex will be studying design/media at UCLA in the fall.

Simultaneous Transplant Gives Best Results In Diabetics With Kidney Disease

Medical News Today 5/1/09 -- For patients with type 1 diabetes who need a kidney transplant, simultaneous pancreas-kidney (SPK) transplantation offers a higher survival rate than other options but with some increased risks, reports a study in an upcoming edition of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). "This study helps patients with type 1 diabetes and their providers decide upon the best transplant treatment option," comments Alexander Wiseman, MD (University of Colorado).

Living, Deceased Donors Decline for First Time

NephrOnline 4/28/2009 -- For the first time in the 20 years that the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) has been collecting data on the number of organs donated annually, the number of both living and deceased donors declined over the previous year.   Data on the OPTN Web site, which a UNOS spokesperson cautioned is preliminary and possibly subject to some change, showed the number of deceased donors in 2008 decreased by 100 and living donors by 99.

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