FSU Professor Emeritus Dr. Joseph Blankenship honored at UHC Donate Life ceremony

The flag was hoisted in anticipation of Donate Life Month in April.

“A day like today, with rain coming down, is a good reminder that that’s how life is. Somedays it’s unpredictable. Watching that flag go up in the midst of the rain is a reminder of the work that all of us are called to do, to stand up in the midst of the storms and do the things we can to support the people who are most in need,” said UHC Chaplain Johnmark Camenga.

In 2011, the person in need of support was Blankenship. Born in 1952 in the small town of Chester in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia, Blankenship had served in volunteer fire service and spent years working night shifts in chemical and manufacturing plants to help support his wife and three daughters.

He “made the decision that he wanted more for himself and his family” and began taking college classes while continuing to work full time on night shift, said Melissa Lowther, his daughter.

He would first earn an associate degree from West Virginia Northern Community College before going on to earn a Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Doctorate of Information Systems, all from Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania.

Blankenship entered academia as a professor at Youngstown State University in Ohio and finally came to Fairmont State University, where he was given the title of professor emeritus.

“Beginning in 2003, he started having symptoms of a chronic cough and shortness of breath. After five years and multiple physicians, he was finally diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 2008. Pulmonary fibrosis is a disease where your scar tissue continues to build in your lungs, and eventually they become like a small rock,” Lowther said.

According to Lowther, her father continued to work through much of the progression of his disease, which left him on oxygen and “barely able to perform his daily routine.”

By 2011, “he was at his worst,” Lowther said.

When Blankenship was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic in June 2011, his doctors advised that, short of a miracle, he would run out of time in a matter of days. That miracle came on July 5, 2011, however, when he and his family were informed there was a donor.

Lowther praised the donor’s family.

“His family made the selfless decision to donate his organs while their world was shattering around them. Their decision gifted my dad 11 years,” she said.

Without those 11 years, Blankenship would have missed the births of two of his grandchildren. He would have missed watching his four grandchildren grow and attending their events, enjoying 11 Christmases with his family and spending another 11 years making memories with his wife.

“We cherish those 11 years. We were gifted these, and we will carry them with us forever,” Lowther said.

There are currently over 100,000 people awaiting an organ transplant nationally, including approximately 500 in West Virginia, according to the Center for Organ Recovery and Education.

A single organ donor has the potential to impact many lives. According to CORE, a donor can save up to eight lives and heal another 75 people through tissue donation.

In 2022, UHC made it possible for two donors to give the gift of life to six organ recipients. An additional 675 individuals have or will be healed through tissue transplants from those two donors, according to Kurt Shutterfly, chief operating officer for CORE.

“The impact of an organ donation spreads far and wide, bringing hope to so many. For those waiting for an organ donation, hope is the lifeline to keep them going. For a donor family, donation gives them the hope that their loved one will never be forgotten. For living donors who hope their generosity will restore some health to someone in need, and after a transplant, recipients are filled with hope for a second chance,” Shutterfly said.

Lowther said her family hopes to dispel myths associated with organ and tissue donation.

Organ and tissue donation do not interfere with traditional funeral arrangements, such as open caskets; donor families are not responsible for any costs associated with the donation; and donor status does not affect the care an individual receives from EMTs and hospital staff in emergency situations.

No one is too old or young to donate, and few illnesses or conditions prevent donation. Every potential donor is evaluated on a case-by-case basis at the time of death to determine which organs and tissue are suitable for donation, according to CORE.

The gift of organ donation is one that is cherished by the family, as well the recipient, according to Judy Blankenship, Blankenship’s wife of 50 years.

“We were grateful, certainly, because we had him for another 11 years, but he was also so grateful to the person that gave him those extra 11 years,” she said. “He always said a prayer for the family, and there wasn’t a day that he wasn’t grateful that he received that gift of life.”

For more information or to register as a donor, visit core.org/register. Individuals are also encouraged to talk with family members and friends about the decision to become an organ donor.