The concept of this fund is personal, as are most charitable pursuits and it begins with Heidi Miller and Bruce Cook’s story.

In 2017, Bruce Cook had been on kidney dialysis for five years, and two years prior to that on infusions of Albumin to stall the deterioration of his kidney function. On the national donor list (deceased donors) for over five years, his estimated further wait time for a possible matching cadaver donor kidney remained at least another 3 to 5 years with no guarantee. There were no potential living donors qualified within his sphere of family and friends. Doctors were not optimistic; his life was slipping away. 

A friend and associate of Bruce stepped up with the idea to host an “organ donor awareness” dinner event, open to the community at no charge. Bruce resisted, eventually accepting the generosity of founder Carole Pickup and co-founder Heidi Miller.

Bruce, Heidi and Carole at 3-year kidney anniversary.

Some 500 people showed up for the mid-week dinner with no RSVP’s. In the crowd were friends and neighbors unaware of Bruce’s situation and a contingent of both donors and recipients of organ transplants. Among them, baseball legend Rod Carew and TV host Peter Marshall, along with many others.

One by one individuals stood up in the silent crowd, awe-struck by the message, and shared stories of their personal connection with lifesaving organ transplantation. The evening was nothing short of magical. Indeed, as the crowd departed, hundreds of folks made plans to change their driver’s licenses to become organ donors. Unfortunately, a compatible kidney donor for Bruce had not come forward. 

That’s when Heidi Miller stepped up without hesitation and said, “I’ll do it!”

Cutting to the chase, three and a half months later Heidi and Bruce lay on side by side gurneys at Cedar Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles going into kidney transplant surgery on November 17, 2017. They were a perfect match.

Now, five anniversaries later, both are healthy and thriving and intent on paying such blessings forward.