Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
If I've passed the hour. It's the third hour of
show five, three hundred and fifty nine of The Morning
Show with Preston Scott and Preston. He's ose great to
be with you, friends, Ruminators. We appreciate you making time
for us, and trust me when I say I do
not take for granted your time. Thank you so very much,
(00:23):
and I'm pleased to talk about things that oftentimes just
kind of get left behind the noise of the news
just seems to drown out sometimes some of the more
important things, and to kind of push one of those
things front and center. I am joined by a friend
of mine. I call Ron Sacks a friend, even though
(00:45):
we don't share a lot of political things in common.
But what we do share in common is a common
love and respect for one another in our professions and
the ability to have the conversation. And I, as I
pointed out, Ron, you have been always so charitable and
(01:05):
kind in your support of me and this program, and
thank you for that. But welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Well, Preston, thank you. You know I've always called you in
my nickname for you, the morning Star of Tallahasse. You're
in national quality talent and We're fortunate that you love
this community so much You've chosen to stay. And while
I disagree with you frequently and I sometimes talk out
loud when I'm listening to the program when I'm shaving
in the morning, I learn a lot from you. You
only learn from people if you listen, even if you
(01:33):
disagree with them. So you have helped inform this community
on so many issues, and we don't disagree about this.
We can be civil to people we disagree with and
make the world a better place.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah, you and I I think are a great example
of people being very different in terms of some ideology.
There are a lot of things you and I agree on,
but that you can have those conversations and still give
each other a hug and yuck it up and be friends.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Absolutely. When I ran into you a few weeks ago,
I think at Walmart, it was a stop and chat
in seinfeld In language for kind of fifteen minutes, and
it was a joy highlight of the day.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I want to circle into why we're visiting this morning,
and to do that, I think it's important for us
to learn about your daughter, Amy.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Tell us about her. Okay, Amy Nicole Sachs was my
middle of three daughters, she was the premature, so she
was thirty eight years old in twenty twenty three, four
foot ten, one hundred pounds. A rabid journalist, baseball fan,
and her greatest joy professionally was covering the bravee for
(02:37):
MLB dot com in the press box with the bastion
of men. Mostly she knew more about baseball than almost
any ten men put together. Well. In May of twenty
twenty three, Amy had terrible neck pain and a few
days later, after being admitted to the hospital, had a
small stroke. If there's such a thing, there is who
was recovering from it? And several days later, on May
(03:01):
twenty eighth, she had a major stroke, a devastatingly powerful
stroke that plunged her into a condition called locked in syndrome.
She was on a ventilator. She would never be able
to talk or breathe on her own, or have any
kind of movement or normal life for this active young woman.
And she could think, she could feel emotion, but the
(03:22):
only physical action she had control over on her body
were her eyes. She could open and close her eyes,
and when we had them awaken her on May thirtieth,
we gathered around her to tell her what had happened
to her to make sure she understood, and asked her,
if you want to live like this, we can do
what people do with machines and doctors and institutions. But
(03:46):
if you don't want to live like this, let me
know by closing your eyes. And she closed her eyes instantly,
so tight that her eye lids wrinkled. And then I said,
you know you've had it on your driver's license since
you were sixteen, that you want to be an organ
downer choosing to leave this life? Do you want to
donate your organs to help other people live? And she
(04:06):
shut her eyes immediately again. So we spent the entirety
of that day, May thirtieth telling her how much we
loved her, and just loving on her individually and together
my oldest daughter Samantha, who has had her little sister's
side religiously from dawn till dark those whole nearly two
weeks so to Amy's last days on this earth. We
(04:29):
didn't know we were going to lose her, but we're
so proud of the brave decision she made and impressed
in a week before she died, Amy's laying in bed
hooked up to an ivy recovering from the first strope.
We're thinking she's making good progress with the physical therapist.
And Samantha Amy loved music, loved to sing, turns on
her phone Michael Jackson song Man in the Mirror and
(04:51):
if you know it, it's a very inspiring song about
and Amy's rocking for forty seven seconds in bed on
an ivy lips thinking the song with just just crushing
some phillips think. And that is a treasure to us.
Because after Amy passed, Gary Orton, a good friend Josh mclahorn,
(05:11):
Jay Revel and Samantha turned it into a one minute
public service announcement to help spur people to register as
organ donors. And that's what April is. It's National Donate
Life Month. And many of your listeners may be organ donors,
but many of them are not. And it's a pretty painless,
free step to go to Donatelife Florida dot org register
(05:34):
to be an organ donor. You know this is not
all there is, this life. It's wonderful, but when our
time here is through, how wonderful to deepen your own
legacy by leading the gift of love and life to
others by organ donation. Every day, five thousand Farridians are
waiting for a transplant of some sort, and many of
them are not going to make it and have an
(05:54):
extended life. And yet Amy saved the lives of two
young men in their twenties and a young mom wife
in her early forties.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
The Morning Show with Preston Scott. You might not know it, friends,
but sixty percent of organ I tissue donors are authorized
by donor registration. This matters a lot. Joining me the
founder of sex Media, Ron Sachs, and Ron, you were
(06:25):
sharing how Amy's passing led to life transformation for others,
share a little bit more about that.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Sure, well, you know, when you become a donor, you
really don't know where the organs are going, and neither
there's your family. But you're allowed to write a letter
as call it a blind letter, without any details about
who you are or who the donor was, and through
Donate Life and its related organizations, these letters get to
the people who were recipients of organs, and my daughter
(06:58):
Samantha took the lead for our family in writing the
letters to find you know, hopefully just a reassurance to
two young men and the young mom who received Amy's
organs and didn't get a response, and she's not a
patient person sometimes, so she wrote another letter and somehow
the woman over in Mims, Florida, Chris Banni, who got
(07:20):
the second letter, figured out how to find us. And
the largest single thing that's helped our healing about losing
Amy is actually knowing one of the people who's alive
because of her and Chris. Amy did not just save
Chris's life with her liver, she saved Christy's family unit.
So two teenage boys instead of getting pre written cards
(07:42):
and letters, their mom was preparing because she thought she
was going to pass there with her for Christmas and birthdays,
and so is her husband. So it's been a huge
part of our healing. Chris considers herself and we consider
her part of our family, and we're part of hers.
So this really impacts people. One person's skin can help
(08:02):
seventy five people's lives, and again it's kind of painless.
You can do this by going to Donatelifeflorida dot orgon
register and the more people who register, the more lives
are likely to be saved. And again, this is not
all there is. These are just vehicles star bodies that
we're using this time around, and why not when you're
done with your pathway here, leave something in a gift
(08:24):
of love and life to others. That's what April is.
It's National Donate Life Month. And we hope that this
PSA that features Amy and there will be other PSAs
will go statewide. Where we launched a statewide organ donor
registration campaign a couple of weeks ago, and there's never
been anything like it in Florida, the third largest state.
We hope it's going to be kind of a bell
(08:46):
weather that could be replicated in other states because the
more of us who register, the more likely it is
that many lives will be saved.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Twenty one minutes past the how or just a little
bit more time with my friend Ron Sachs from SAS Media,
but more importantly, we're talking about his daughter, Amy, who
passed away in May of twenty twenty three at the
age of thirty eight, and who was an organ donor
and who transformed lives not just of the recipient, but
(09:17):
as Ron pointed out, this goes upstream downstream in all
directions because of the lives that a donor recipient touches.
It transforms everybody's life. And we're talking about some realities
that are amazing and positive and some that are a
little negative. And one ron that I want you to
(09:38):
speak to is that in Florida, registrations are below where
they need to be. Tell us more.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Well, and in some of the big, large population urban areas.
So that's the case too. That's why this campaigns intended
to have people open up their hearts and open up
their minds to This doesn't cost you anything. It's free
to register to be an organ donor. You know, the
Donate Life Florida website has so much information or treasure
drove of information, frequently asked questions. Almost any pushback someone
(10:09):
might have or reservations about being an organ donor can
be addressed by these questions that are somewhat common. And
this campaign is intended to motivate people to register. You know,
you can register at tax collector's office when you're renewing
a license tag or driver's license, but people don't do
that so frequently, right, So Donate Life Florida dot org's
(10:32):
website is a place you can register. Sitting in your
jammis at the kitchen countership and coffee, and then you're
on the registry and then whether you are a short
term on a path to leave us as Amy was
and we didn't know that, or you've been sick for
a long time and it's almost your time to check
out the registry will know that when notified and kick
(10:54):
into action and lisably say, there's time is precious and
short to get those organs to people. There a match
for you know, Amy's liver reciping. Chris Fannie, the first
liver they brought to her at Mayo up in Jacksonville,
was not going to be transplanted. The surgeon didn't think,
so she was kind of told she was dying a
second time. And then Amy, who was sick in less
(11:17):
than two weeks, her liver is a match for Chris Fannie.
And it's just amazing that my daughter to me is
alive and these three people and her spirit is alive
because her story is inspiring lots of other people and
there are many other inspiring stories. So it's Donate Life
month nationally and what you could do if you're a
(11:38):
listener to the Morning Star President Scott is go to
Donate Life Florida dot Org's website and register it's quick,
it's painless, it's free. And again, once we leave this world,
we don't need this chassis and all of its parts anymore.
But if it could extend or enhance the life of
someone else, what a great way to deepen your own
legacy to be an organ donor.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Ron and I talked in the break about are we
are kind of examples of two types of people that
are in the mix here. You were not an organ
donor until Amy, and I. When I first saw that
box when I was renewing my driver's license, I don't
even know how many years ago, I was like, oh,
well that makes sense, and I went ahead and checked
(12:20):
the box because, like you said, the chassis's done, but
the parts are still working, and so we both kind
of represent where people are right now.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Perhaps well, Amy, you know, I immediately overcame any reservations
I had about it when my daughter showed me the
way my little HAMI thirty eight showed me the way
I saw. I'm an organ donor. Now I where the
Donate Life bracelet on my left wrist. Every day, That's
how I start my day. And this campaign, we hope,
is going to really light up the universe of Florida
(12:52):
and reach a lot of people to take that action step.
That's quick, it's painless, it's free to go to Donatelife
Florida dot org and register today. We'll be able to
measure how many people's lives we touched in terms who
become donors, but we won't be able to measure how
many lives are positively impacted by being saved or improved
by these donations. And again, one donor's skin tissue can
(13:16):
help seventy five people. Think about that the math involved
in that, and one person's organs can help as many
as eight people. Amy helped three who are alive today
because of her. So maybe one of the bravest things
you ever do, and it's simply register and that act
of courage will save lives and enhance your own legacy.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Ron, thanks for making time. I know it was a
little challenging, as it always is to talk about the
loss of your daughter, but thank you for sharing about Amy,
letting us get to know her a little bit better,
and being behind this effort. I appreciate it very much.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Thank you for the generosity of your time and friendship.
God bless you and your family, friends and listeners. Present.
Thanks so much for your generous time.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Thank you Ron. Ron Sacks with us this morning on
the Morning Show with Preston Scott. Let me remind you
Donatelife Florida dot org. How simple is that? Donate Life
Florida dot org. I'll be honest with you. I didn't
wrestle with any questions on this.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
It just it.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
It clicked the second I saw the box. The information
that's available to assuage any fears, it's all there for you.
Donate Life Florida dot org. You know, we've talked on
this program for how many years now of making a difference.
(14:41):
I ended the show for years at when I first
started it with the line make a difference, and then
instead of just talking about it, we transitioned into the
Mad Radio network, that make a Difference Radio network to
really try to put some some muscle behind it. And this,
this is this to me was three of the best,
(15:03):
most important segments to reach that goal of making a difference.
This will make a difference. Twenty seven minutes after the hour,
Thank you Ron for joining me this morning here on
the Morning Show with Preston's Cot