News & Stories

Changing Lives Every Day

News & Stories

Three-time recipient thankful for donors

Gift of Sight

It's uncommon to need a transplant for even a single part of the body, let alone three. But for John Riehl of Iowa City, receiving cornea, kidney and pancreas transplants not only saved his life but also profoundly enriched it.

After infection, she can see again thanks to transplant

Gift of Sight

Acanthamoeba keratitis is a rare parasitic eye infection that can damage the cornea and cause blindness. Often, people will contract it from water, while swimming in places like lakes and ponds. According to the Cleveland Clinic, contact lens wearers make up at least 90 percent of the cases.

Avid outdoorsmen would help anyone he could

Gift of Sight

David Miller loved to hunt and fish.

“Some of our best memories were of him and my husband out fishing,” says his sister, Peggy Hember, of Missouri Valley.

'If he loved you, you knew it,' donor's sister says

Every Life Has a Story

When asked to describe her brother John Luallin, Mary Strait uses terms like “wild, wooly, silly, kind, smart and ornery.”

Those “are just a few of the words that could be used to describe such a complex man,” Strait says.

Dedicated Lion, former teacher was committed to helping others

Every Life Has a Story

Jerry and Connie Inman of Mechanicsville were married for 56 years after meeting on a blind date while they attended the University of Northern Iowa, where both studied education. They shared two children and five grandchildren.