Gift of Life

At just 17 years old, Jim Stavis was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes and warned that serious health problems could eventually follow, including heart and kidney disease.

Years later, those warnings became reality.

In 2005, Jim received an extraordinary second chance at life through a triple-organ transplant — heart, kidney, and pancreas.

On Episode 133 of Gift of Life – The Organ Transplant Podcast, Jim joins BJ Odom to share his remarkable journey from a teenager facing an uncertain future to the man he is today.

Jim takes us through the challenges of living with diabetes, the progression of his health problems, the road to transplantation, and what it meant to receive three life-saving organs.

But this story is about much more than Jim.

We also shine a spotlight on the person who made Jim’s second chance possible — his donor, Brice Fabian — and the Fabian family. Jim shares the powerful connection between his transplant journey, his donor, and the gratitude that continues to shape his life.

Jim is also the author of When Hope Is Your Only Option and his story is featured in the documentary Source of Hope.

This is a story about survival, perseverance, organ donation, gratitude, and what can happen when — even during the darkest moments — you refuse to give up hope.

Listen to Episode 133 and please share Jim’s story.

Let’s Stay Connected

Email: giftoflifepodcast@gmail.com

Facebook: Gift of Life – The Organ Transplant Podcast

Listen and share on your favorite podcast platform.

BJ Odom’s Book

More Parts Than A Chicken Nugget
A Story of Survival, Second Chances, and the Family That Held Me Together

Available on Amazon in paperback and eBook.

Help Us Spread the Gift of Life

If Jim’s story touched you, please subscribe and leave a 5-star review on your favorite podcast platform.

Most importantly, share this episode with your family and friends.

Every share helps us raise awareness about organ donation, honor the incredible donors and donor families who make second chances possible, and remind the world just how powerful the Gift of Life can be.

On Episode 132 of Gift of Life – The Organ Transplant Podcast, BJ Odom meets Ben Zion Cohen, father of young Lavi Rafael, whose extraordinary journey has taken his family from Israel to Miami, Florida, in a fight to save their son’s life.

Lavi was born in Israel with a devastating intestinal condition. Just days after his birth, he underwent the first of numerous surgeries and was eventually left without a functioning digestive system. His survival depended on intravenous nutrition — and ultimately, doctors determined that his best hope was an incredibly rare multi-organ transplant.

The Cohen family made the life-changing decision to leave their home, family and community in Israel and relocate to Miami so Lavi could receive the specialized care he desperately needed.

After approximately three years on the United States transplant waiting list, the call they had been praying for finally came.

On June 13, 2025, Lavi underwent an extraordinary five-organ transplant at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

He received a:

• Small intestine
• Large intestine
• Liver
• Pancreas
• Stomach

It was one of the most complex transplant procedures imaginable.

But receiving those five precious gifts was not the end of Lavi’s fight.

His recovery has been long and difficult, requiring extensive hospitalization, medical treatment and rehabilitation as his family continues to stand beside him every step of the way.

Ben openly shares that English is his second language. He and his family came from Israel to the United States for one reason — to give their little boy a chance to live.

In this emotional conversation, you’ll hear a father’s perspective on watching his child endure more than most people experience in a lifetime, the decision to leave everything familiar behind, the agonizing wait for donor organs, and what it means to finally receive the gift that could save your child’s life.

Behind Lavi’s five transplanted organs is also the incredible generosity of organ donation — gifts that gave one little boy and his family something priceless:

Hope.

Lavi’s story isn’t finished. His family is still fighting alongside him.

This is a story about transplantation, family, sacrifice, faith, and a little boy who continues to fight for his future.

This is one episode you won’t want to miss.

Let’s Stay Connected

Email: giftoflifepodcast@gmail.com

Facebook: Gift of Life – The Organ Transplant Podcast

Listen and share on your favorite podcast platform.

BJ Odom’s Book

More Parts Than A Chicken Nugget

A story of survival, second chances, and the family that held it all together.

Grab your copy today on Amazon in paperback or eBook!

Help Us Spread the Message

If Lavi’s story touches your heart, please help us spread the message.

Subscribe and leave a 5-star review on your favorite podcast platform.

Share this episode with your family and friends.

Every donor can change a life. Every donor family creates a legacy. And every transplant story reminds us why the Gift of Life matters.

Thank you for being part of our life-giving community.

On Episode 131 of Gift of Life – The Organ Transplant Podcast, BJ Odom welcomes Jay Waddell, whose life changed dramatically after suffering two mini-strokes followed by a major stroke. The damage ultimately affected his heart and led to something he never expected — the need for a heart transplant.

Jay had always enjoyed journaling and documenting life. When he learned he needed a new heart, he began searching for information about heart transplantation and connecting with others who had traveled similar roads.

Those connections introduced Jay to incredible stories of survival, courage, gratitude, and second chances. He eventually brought those stories together in his book, “Voices From the Heart: A Collection of Inspiring Heart Transplant Stories,” available on Amazon.

In this episode, Jay shares his own journey from strokes and heart damage to transplantation, what he learned from others in the transplant community, and how those experiences inspired him to preserve and share their stories in a book.

It’s another powerful reminder that behind every transplant is a story — and every story has a voice worth hearing.

Let’s Stay Connected

Email: giftoflifepodcast@gmail.com

Facebook: Gift of Life – The Organ Transplant Podcast

Listen and share on your favorite podcast platform.

BJ Odom’s Book

More Parts Than A Chicken Nugget — A story of survival, second chances, and the family that held it all together.

Grab your copy today on Amazon in paperback or eBook.

Help Us Spread the Message

If this episode touched your heart:

Subscribe and leave a 5-star review on your favorite podcast platform.

Share this episode with family and friends.

Together, we’re raising awareness, honoring donors and donor families, and celebrating the incredible gift of new beginnings.

Thank you for being part of our life-giving community.

On Episode 129 of Gift of Life – The Organ Transplant Podcast, we meet Michael Ungar, a living kidney donor whose journey toward donation began in a place he never expected.

As a rabbi, Michael was simply doing his job while visiting and supporting people at a local hospital. But those experiences planted a spark—one that continued to grow until, in 2021, Michael found himself becoming a living kidney donor.

Michael takes us through his journey from beginning to end: what inspired him to consider living donation, the process of becoming a donor, the surgery itself, his recovery, and what life has been like since giving someone else the gift of a healthier life.

Michael says it can be difficult to hear himself called a hero.

But those of us in the transplant community understand just how extraordinary living donors truly are. They willingly undergo surgery and recovery so another person can have a second chance at life.

Hear Michael Ungar’s inspiring story and discover how one small spark of compassion eventually became the Gift of Life.

In this episode:

● How Michael’s work as a rabbi introduced him to the transplant world

● The moment living kidney donation became personal

● His decision to become a donor in 2021

● Preparing for living-donor surgery

● Michael’s recovery and life after donation

● Why he has a hard time considering himself a hero

● The incredible impact living donors have on recipients, families, and the transplant community

Gift of Life – The Organ Transplant Podcast shares the stories of transplant recipients, donor families, living donors, caregivers, and others whose lives have been touched by organ donation.

Episode 129 — Michael Ungar: Living Kidney Donor

Please listen, subscribe, and share Michael’s story. One story can educate someone about living donation—and perhaps inspire the next gift of life.

In 2016, Katherine Mismas learned that something wasn’t right with her kidneys. Eventually, she received the news that a kidney transplant would be in her future.

Today, Kathy’s story is still being written.

She is searching for a living kidney donor — someone who could give her the chance to avoid spending the rest of her life on dialysis and begin a new chapter with a healthy kidney.

In Episode 129 of Gift of Life – The Organ Transplant Podcast, Kathy shares her journey with BJ Odom — from first learning about her kidney problems to where she is today and her hope of finding that special person willing to consider living kidney donation.

More than 100,000 people in the United States are waiting for an organ transplant, and behind every number is a person, a family, and a story. Kathy is one of those people.

Could you be the person who helps Kathy find her kidney?

To learn more, search Facebook for “Let’s Get Kathy a Kidney.”

Those interested in learning about living kidney donation for Kathy can also contact HCA Florida Largo Hospital at

727-588-5837 and use her legal name, Katherine Mismas, when calling.

Even if you cannot be a donor, you can help by sharing Kathy’s story. The right person may be only one share away.

Hear Kathy’s story on Episode 129 of Gift of Life – The Organ Transplant Podcast and share it with others.

Let’s Stay Connected

Email: giftoflifepodcast@gmail.com

Facebook: Gift of Life – The Organ Transplant Podcast

Listen and share on your favorite podcast platform.

BJ Odom’s Book

More Parts Than A Chicken Nugget — a story of survival, second chances, and the family that held it all together.

Grab your copy today on Amazon, available in paperback and eBook.

Help Us Spread the Message

If this episode touched your heart, please help us spread the message.

Subscribe and leave a 5-star review on your favorite podcast platform, and share this episode with your family and friends.

Together, we’re raising awareness, honoring donors, supporting those still waiting, and celebrating the gift of new beginnings.

Thank you for being part of our life-giving community.