Dave Luallin honored by Iowa Donor Network

Team Iowa's own Dave Luallin was honored Saturday night by the Iowa Donor Network (IDN), at a Gala Fundraiser in Coralville, Iowa. Many members of Team Iowa were present for the ceremony.

Dave has been an active supporter and volunteer for Iowa Donor Network since his wife Lillian received a kidney eight years ago. As a team, Dave and Lil would volunteer at every donor awareness event they could to show their appreciation for the gift of life Lil received from Holly Nelson, the teenage girl they have always called Lil's "special angel."

Over the past few years, Dave has taken the driver's education classes in Central Iowa by storm. Dave has shared Lil's illness and transplant story with thousands of highschool students each year. Over the last three years, Dave has logged in more than 350 hours of volunteering and traveling for Iowa Donor Network while working a full-time job with the U.S. Postal Service, and caring for his wife Lil as her health declined in recent months.

Sadly, Lil passed away the day before Thanksgiving last year, waiting for a second kidney transplant. Dave has recently been experiencing some serious health problems of his own.

Unable to attend the ceremony in his honor because he was in the hospital, his daughter Rachel accepted the award on Dave's behalf. She briefly relayed Dave's gratitude for the award. Paul Sodders, Public Affairs Manager for IDN, then praised Dave's committment to educating teenagers, and challenged each member of the audience to reach out to three people to ask them to consider becoming organ donors, something Dave has done in hundreds of driver's ed classes. Sodders also pointed out that in a typical year all of IDN's volunteers together log about 450 hours, so Dave has singlehandedly logged nearly a year's worth of work in just three years.

Also honored, for their contributions toward advancing organ donation policy, were former Governor Tom Vilsack and Sheldon Kurtz, a professor at the University of Iowa College of Law.

Iowa Donor Network is a non-profit organization that operates as the primary contact for organ, tissue and eye donation services for the state of Iowa. Iowa Donor Network also serves as the tissue recovery agency for the state.

Iowans can consent to organ, tissue and eye donation prior to death by joining the Iowa Donor Registry (www.IowaDonorRegistry.org).