A Paradise man who has undergone kidney and liver transplants as well as multiple surgeries has founded an organization that - someday - will provide assistance to organ recipients and their support persons during the surgery and recovery period.
Steven W. Cook said he realized there was a desperate need for supplemental organ transplant assistance during his kidney transplant over 30 years ago.
Most organ transplant centers require that someone accompany the recipient for the duration of the transplant surgery and recovery period, Cooke said.
Paying for overnight accommodations and services, as well as transportation, parking and food can be a serious hardship for many organ recipients and their families, he said.
When he received a liver transplant at a major medical facility in a large city 10 years ago, Cooke said he experienced the frustration, confusion and fears related to the process, and realized that assistance for organ recipients and their support persons was essential. The HealthQuest House Foundation was officially founded in May of this year when the IRS gave it non-profit status. Cooke said he wanted to create something similar to the Ronald McDonald foundation, except for organ transplant recipients.
The foundation currently consists of three board members who meet each month to support one another, and regularly go to high school and Rotary meetings in the area to present information about organ transplants. John Jans, who serves
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as the foundation's treasurer, said he hopes it will grow to be a genuine source of assistance, both financially and emotionally, for organ transplant recipients and their families.
The foundation's support would first be extended to local organ transplant patients, and then, if there were enough donations, it would spread further, perhaps from the Bay Area to the rest of Northern California, Jans said. Jans said he became involved with the foundation to support Cooke, his friend of 10 years. He said he met Cooke shortly after the death of his wife, who received a liver transplant in 1988.
Cooke said his hope for the foundation is to build a facility within the next year in San Francisco that would provide accommodations and proper nutrition for organ transplant recipients and their support persons. In a few years, Cooke said he wants another facility to be built near the University of Washington.
Cooke said he fell ill to kidney failure at 18. Though he received degrees in business in medical science, he has never had the chance to use them, he said.
He's been through several surgeries, including bone graphs, quadruple open heart bypass surgery, hip replacements, and he lost his right eye to cancer, he said. He has put many of his experiences into a semi-autobiographic book, "Conversations with a Masterpiece: Miracles and Medical Marvels," which is scheduled to come out at the end of March. Cooke said it is a question and answer book, and a compilation of questions he has collected for 31 years. All the proceeds from the book will go towards to foundation, Cooke said. The foundation is a federally tax-exempt, non-profit organization. It depends on grants, donations and fundraisers for its finances.
For more information, contact Steven Cooke
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