Photojournalism Slideshow

photodaily-health Charlotte Rushton photo Philip Cordova received a double-lung transplant four and a half years ago. An avid golfer, he has played at the United States Transplant Games twice. Prior to his transplant, he had to ride a cart when playing golf. Now, he just takes a pull-cart. "Without my transplant, I wouldn't be here today," he notes. He hopes that more people will become donors, "You can make a positive out of it. If you are going to die, donate your organs and give someone else a life," he says.
photodaily-health Charlotte Rushton photo Thirty-seven year old Philip Cordova's scar is not as big as he expected. Four and a half years after his double-lung transplant operation, he says, "Heck, it's so small. I thought I was going to have this great big zipper scar." Cordova is clearly grateful to his donor's family for giving him new lungs. "When you think about it, it's kinda like sending a guy to the moon - it's really amazing. Some people don't think about it like that, but when you come as close as I have to not being here anymore, you tend to look at things a little bit different."
photodaily-health Charlotte Rushton photo Elvira and Jerry Garcia's son, Anhel, was 31 years old when he was killed in a car accident in January 1998. He firmly believed in donating his organs, so that is what his family decided to do. "That was the las gift we were able to give him. We were able to do what he wanted," said Elvira from their home recently. Because of his donation, he gave sight to two people and helped numerous other people with bone marrow, heart valves, kidneys, his liver and skin grafts. "It's not as easy as it seems," Jerry points out, though. You have to do more than just agree to it on your driver's license. You also need to notify your family, as they have to give the final permission.
photodaily-business Charlotte Rushton photo Senator Jeff Bingaman (center) listens as Stephen Joseph (right), of the National Center for Genome Research discusses the recruitment problems associated with Santa Fe. Stuart Kauffman (left) of Bios Group, L.P. looks on.