Two figures face each other in an embrace, each with a hand outstretched to touch the other’s heart. The gesture symbolizes an act of generosity that is literally life-giving.
This is the image that over 200 individuals saw when they gathered at Loma Linda University Medical Center on Aug. 5, 1998, to see a new U.S. postage stamp unveiled.
Last week’s trivia challenge was to identify what this postage stamp honored. The correct answer of organ and tissue donation was submitted by random winners Brooke Flowers, Jennifer Fisk and Heather Shepherd. Please email pr@llu.edu to claim your prize, which must be picked up within 60 days.
LLU Medical Center was chosen as one of the key sites across the nation for the new stamp, valued at 32 cents, to be revealed. The selection of Loma Linda was due to the Medical Center’s long history of infant heart transplantation, which was pioneered here in the 1980s by Leonard Bailey, MD, distinguished professor of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery.
“Baby Moses” was present for the stamp unveiling. This was the name used for Eddie Anguiano, who in 1985 became the first infant to survive a heart transplant. Eddie returned to LLU Medical Center, the place of his life-saving surgery, in December 2014. Read the story about his visit here.
Bailey, his surgeon, said at the unveiling, “[This stamp] helps consecrate the act of transplantation as much as commemorate it, and it reminds each of us that we have an opportunity to serve our fellow man.”
Click here to learn how to become an organ and tissue donor in the state of California.
Another new postage stamp unveiled in 1998 also had a connection to Loma Linda University Health.
This “Giving & Sharing” stamp honored the importance of philanthropy, and it was printed after years of advocacy for it by a person who started his career at Loma Linda University and went on to become highly distinguished in the field of fundraising. Who was this person?
Email the answer to pr@llu.edu by midnight Tuesday, March 31, for the chance to be a random winner.