Colonels for Life and the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency will sponsor the Marsh Mad Dash for Life on March 2 to raise awareness about organ and tissue donation in the bayou region.
Colonels for Life is a Nicholls student organization to inform others about donation and to provide a gateway for non-donors to register.
Amber Ewing, faculty advisor for Colonels for Life and nursing instructor, said the 5K is meant to bring exposure to the organ donation world, especially in the bayou region.
“There are so many people in our area who know someone who has received an organ, donated an organ, or is waiting on an organ,” Ewing said. “You don’t realize how many people in the community organ donation affects until you start asking and talking about it.”
There are more than 580 participants signed up for the 5K and registration will continue on race day for $30 per participant.
The 5K will start off of Audubon Boulevard next to the stadium with a Fun Run at 8 a.m. and the 5K at 8:15 a.m. Ewing said the 5K will feature prizes for different categories including men, women and runners over 50. Door prizes will also be awarded throughout the day with registration numbers. There will be face painting and other fun activities, and culinary students are making jambalaya.
Racers can pick up their packets on Friday at Duncan Sports Inc. on Saint Mary Street and packets will contain a dri-fit shirt, water bottle and “little goodies” from the sponsors.
Ewing said with the organization’s goal to raise awareness, she hopes events like this will answer questions people have about donation.
“There are a lot of myths about organ donation,” Ewing said. “Once people realize that these myths aren’t true, they usually decide to donate and it’s amazing how many lives you can save just with one person donating their organs. It could be you or someone you love that may need it one day.”
Ewing gave the example that many families are worried about the cost of donating organs, but organ donation does not cost the donor anything. The decision to donate will not interfere with life-saving medical care either.
Ewing added that anyone has the potential to be a donor and disease like cancer, heart disease and diabetes will not prevent someone from being a donor.
Lana Stevens, community educator for the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency, added that all major religions either support donation fully as a charitable action or have left the decision up to the individual.
Stevens said a lot of the organization’s fundraisers go to community awareness and family services.
“Our community awareness is so important because we need organs to be transplanted,” Stevens said. “There are more than 116,000 nationwide who are waiting on a life-saving organ transplant and about 1,700 of those are waiting in Louisiana.”
Different areas of the state have separate community educators who plan events within their area including a 5K in Lafayette, Baton Rouge and a recently added 10K in Shreveport.
 “I thought this was a really good opportunity with people having such a need for donation in the bayou area because we have a lot of donor families in that area that I do not feel get enough recognition,” Stevens said.
When someone is in need of a transplant they visit a transplant center, which in Louisiana includes Oschner Medical Center and Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans and LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport.
Stevens said the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency holds the state registry that shows who is a donor, but the organization is not involved with the Organ Transplant Waiting List.
“The waiting list is held by the United Network for Organ Sharing,” Stevens said. “When we have a potential donor and the hospital calls in that death to us, we evaluate that patient and send the information to UNOS and they send back a list saying who to offer which organ to next.”
Mary Duplantis, mother of two Nicholls students, said becoming involved with the Marsh Mad Dash for Life was a family decision because the she is on the Organ Transplant Waiting List and cause is dear to her heart.
“This is the first time they’re doing this sort of event in Thibodaux,” Duplantis said. “We became involved because I am on the heart transplant list in Texas.”
In March 2007, Duplantis had a heart attack during her son’s sixth birthday party. When conditions with her heart did not improve, Mary was referred to a doctor in Houston.
Ever since, all of her medical care has been in Texas and in 2010, Duplantis was implanted with a Left Ventricular Assist Device that keeps her heart pumping.
“It is able to support my heart while I wait for my new one,” Duplantis said. “I’m in Houston because when I get the call for my transplant, I have to be at the hospital in two hours.”
Duplantis’s youngest son lives with her and her husband in Texas, while her other three children remain in Thibodaux.
“Thibodaux is like a big family to us where we are surrounded by friends, so I know my children are taken care of, but we still just can’t wait to come back home,” Duplantis said.
 “Mary’s Team” has more than 300 registered participants and although Duplantis will not be able to attend the event, her husband, children, family and friends will race in her name.
 “If you put a personal touch on it and you actually know someone who is waiting for an organ, it makes it real,” Duplantis said. “We have wonderful medical technology, but there are some cases that just can’t be cured with pills, medicine or treatment. Organ donation is the last resort in instances where medical technology just can’t fix it any other way. Unfortunately, it happens, but no one wants to think it is going to happen to them or someone they know.”
Angie Danos, from Larose, will also participate in the 5K with her husband and many family members.
“Our son was born with cystic fibrosis,” Angie Danos said. “There’s no cure so when he was 16 he had a double-lung transplant as his only option to increase his life expectancy.”
Dylan Danos was a junior at South Lafourche High School and a member of the swim team. Angie Danos said he also loved soccer and fishing.
Angie Danos said after years of trying other methods of treatment, organ donation became the only option to extend her son’s life.
“The transplant was our last hope and he was ready for it,” Danos said. “He accepted all the risks and knew that he might not even make it through the surgery. He was very active, but it got to a point that he couldn’t do any of the things he enjoyed. It took so much energy just to breathe.”
Angie Danos said the transplant gave her son some of the best months of his life.
“His dream was just to be able to breathe and to know what it felt like,” Angie Danos said. “He was able to swim in the district high school swim meet and go to homecoming.”
Dylan Danos passed away a few months after his transplant when a virus affected his new lungs, but Angie Danos said she was simply appreciative that Dylan was able to accomplish his dream and to feel like himself before he passed.
“It’s hard to think about being an organ donor for some people, or to even talk about death, but I think that by raising awareness we can answer some of the questions that people have,” Angie Danos said. “You can’t take your organs with you when you pass, so why not donate and extend the life of someone else. It’s one of the most precious gifts that someone can give.”
For more information about organ donation, visit www.lopa.org.