Hinckley teen spreads awareness about becoming an organ donor

HINCKLEY TWP. — For Maya Najm, a 17-year-old from Hinckley, the goal is to spread awareness about the importance of becoming an organ donor as far as she possibly can reach. In May 2021, Najm created her project Organ Donation Heroes to focus on organ donations and to spread awareness of the lack of organ donors. "There (are) about 100,000 people waiting for a transplant because there aren't enough organ donors out there," Najm said. "So, therefore, I wanted to spread awareness about it." For Najm, the topic of organ donation has always remained prevalent in her life as she grew up. Najm's family would spend a few days throughout the summer months at the Transplant House of Cleveland to volunteer their time doing chores around the house. The Transplant House of Cleveland is a place for patients and their families to stay as they wait for an organ transplant. Najm remembered meeting people from across the United States and said it felt like home. Her mom is also an advocate for organ donation and was the one who originally had Najm and her brothers volunteer at the Transplant House. "She also helped me start and was my push," Najm said. While Najm had multiple factors leading to her creation of Organ Donation Heroes, she said that she started it because of her older brother, Joseph, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Najm said he has been in the ICU twice before and that her biggest fear is that one day he will need a pancreas transplant, but there won't be one available for him at that time. As the wheels began turning, Najm said, "How can I do something to spread awareness? What can I do to inspire and make a change in this world?" With the creation of Organ Donation Heroes, Najm has created her own website with a bimonthly blog. View her website at organdonationheroes.com. She also runs an Instagram page, @organdonationheroes, where she posts information about organ donations on a weekly basis. "The beauty of social media is people will learn something new and could end up making a decision that's life-saving, like organ donation," Najm said. Her target audience through her project is to reach teenagers who may only hear the myths that come with organ donation. Besides reaching an online presence, Najm has talked about it with her classmates at Magnificat High School, along with creating surveys for people to respond to. "That's just my way of spreading awareness and I hope to create a club in the future as well," Najm said. In January, Najm released her first episode of a monthly podcast. In one of her first episodes, she talked with Candice Monroe, who received a heart transplant at the age of 15. In the podcast, Monroe talked with Najm about how she was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy at 15 and had to spend weeks in the hospital until she received an organ donation. Monroe was able to meet the family of the donor at a later time, where they were able to hear their daughter's heartbeat again. "I was 16 at the time so it made me put myself in her shoes and in her perspective," Najm said. "What would I have done? How would I have felt if I was in a hospital for two weeks and being told that I might not be able to live and see my 16th birthday?" Najm said that over her future podcast episodes, she hopes to talk to more recipients and share their stories to spread awareness. "I believe hearing someone's stories will really impact you and really make you think about your decision," she said. According to Najm, there are a lot of her colleagues who believe the common misconceptions behind organ donations such as that paramedics are less likely to help someone if they are a registered organ donor or that they are unable to sign up as an organ donor unless they have their temporary driver's permit or their drivers license. Najm said that recently, she had a classmate reach out who was interested in learning more about organ donation and why it was important. Najm talked with her, sharing the ways to register even if she didn't register when getting her license. Later that day, Najm received a message from her classmate with a picture of her screen, showing that she had registered as an organ donor. "I'm glad that I at least made an impact on one person (and) that they could probably save a life one day," Najm said. Throughout National Donate Life Month and on, Najm hopes that the numbers decrease in the number of patients waiting for an organ donation to possibly save their lives. As she works on her project, Najm wants to spread awareness of the importance of saying yes to being an organ donor. "I think (National Donate Life Month) should be brought up and not necessarily celebrated, but recognized for all the heroes out there," Najm said. "The recipients, the donors (and) how a selfless donor saved someone because of a simple yes." If interested in learning more about becoming an organ donor, visit organdonor.gov. Contact reporter Sara Crawford at (330) 721-4063 or scrawford@medina-gazette.com.