OHIO — At age 20, Edward Drake’s life turned upside down.
Drake is from Toledo, grew up playing sports and was the first in his family to attend college. He was living the life of a typical young man when his blood pressure numbers came back strange after a routine physical.
Drake was just a few days shy of turning 21 when he got the news that his kidneys were failing.
“I just remember a doctor coming in and was like, ‘kid, your kidneys completely shutdown,’” Drake said.
He was immediately put on the transplant list and underwent dialysis.
Drake started his dialysis in Toledo but eventually transferred to the Ohio State University Medical Center. While waiting for a new kidney, he would eventually start to brainstorm what would become the Youth Needing Organ and Tissue Transplants (YNOTT) organization.
“One day while crying, saying ‘why me,’ the man up above said ‘why not you,’” Drake said. “I saw these kids who couldn’t even eat pizza or couldn’t even go to school or ride bikes so my perspective in life changed.”
Drake received his transplant at OSU in October 2008 and was seen often by doctors at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Since then, he’s continued to work with the two Columbus hospitals to provide resources and opportunities to transplant kids.
YNOTT is a nonprofit organization that mentors and serves kids in need of transplants.
He started the organization with some of his college friends. Every year, he hosts a toy drive and partners with CareDx, a transplant company that specializes in research and resources for transplant patients.
YNOTT got its start in Columbus, but Drake has expanded efforts since moving to Atlanta.
However, he continues to give back to where it all began.
Volunteers like Holly Parker pack hundreds of Christmas gift bags for transplant kids and teens at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Parker’s son, Tyler, received his liver transplant at this hospital and she said acts of service like Drake’s really help kids feel a sense of normalcy.
“It really helps to see our kids just get some holiday cheer, smile after all they’ve been through,” Parker said.
All gifts are given to the transplant wing of the hospital to ensure they go to kids waiting for transplants.
Drake said everyone can ask themselves why not me and become a light in another person’s life.
“Now we’re impacting thousands of lives and we don’t think about it because we just count the days and the moments, not so much the lives,” said Drake. “Everything adds up before you know it.”
All of the gifts were sanitized and left in quarantine before getting passed out. The YNOTT organization also hosts an annual school supply drive.
