EP 117: Spreading Realistic Positivity: David Galbenski’s Mission to Champion Living Donation

This Thing Called Life

🎙️ Episode Summary

Spreading Realistic Positivity: David Galbenski’s Mission to Champion Living Donation

When David Galbenski received a life-saving liver donation from his brother-in-law, it was more than a second chance—it was a call to action. In this powerful episode, David shares his personal journey from transplant recipient to national advocate for living donation. Discover how his gratitude turned into purpose through the creation of the Living Donor Awareness Games, a movement spreading hope, education, and inspiration across the country. Tune in to hear how one extraordinary act of generosity is now saving countless lives.

✨ Episode Highlights

• Andi opens the episode by introducing David Galbenski and invites him to share why today’s venue, the Great American Ballpark, holds special meaning and its connection to living donation.
  
• David explains how the Cincinnati Reds have been strong partners in hosting the Living Donation Awareness Games—an annual event that brings awareness to the power of living donation.
  
• He shares how the energy of the game helps paint a vivid picture of what living donation represents.
  
• The conversation turns personal as David reflects on living with a rare autoimmune disease for six years before pursuing a transplant.
  
• With the unwavering support of his wife Lynn, they embraced living donation as an option—an act of courage and love that led to his brother-in-law, Mark, stepping up as the donor.
  
• David highlights how vulnerability is a key part of the recipient’s journey and underscores the emotional rewards for living donors that are often overlooked.
  
• Faith played a central role in David’s healing and recovery, providing strength through uncertainty.
  
• Mark’s own journey as a donor came with challenges, but he had the blessing of a brother who is a surgeon, guiding him through the process.
  
• David shares how baseball became a powerful platform for spreading hope and awareness, including the upcoming launch of a new national observance—“National Want-To-Have-A-Catch Day,” celebrated every second Saturday of May.
  
• He also honors the medical professionals behind transplant surgeries and their life-saving work.
  
• The discussion touches on legislative efforts to support living donors—such as ending insurance discrimination, offering tax credits, and introducing a 12-week leave policy.
  
• David and Andi explore the research from Kindness.org, which found that becoming a living donor for a friend ranked as the number one act of kindness.
  
• Finally, David shares the emotional tools that helped him through recovery—visualization, music, and keeping faith alive during the waiting period.
  

📝 Key Takeaways

• The Cincinnati Reds have been long-time partners in the Living Donation Awareness Games, helping bring the message of hope and generosity to a wide audience.
  
• David’s transplant journey began after living with a rare disease for six years, and his story shows how love, faith, and family can lead to life-saving decisions.
  
• His brother-in-law Mark’s heroic donation reminds us of the incredible emotional and spiritual rewards of being a living donor.
  
• Baseball has become a unique platform for David to inspire stories of hope, raise awareness, and advocate for policies that remove barriers for donors—including financial and workplace support.
  
• Through kindness, advocacy, and storytelling, David’s mission continues to save lives and bring light to the gift of living donation.

📢 Tweetable Quotes

“Well, the Reds have been a tremendous partner in launching Living Donor Awareness games that we've been doing now for three or four years.”

• David Galbenski

“And so what we loved about that was baseball was this perfect vehicle, yes to allow living organ donation to come to life. And then here's the beauty of living organ donation yes tied to baseball, another great metaphor, the ultimate double play.”

• David Galbenski

“I really leaned in my faith on this journey…”

• David Galbenski

“So I call it Realistic positivity, right? Let's embrace life with everything, but let's make sure we're confronting the facts right, acronym head-on, right. But then doing it with optimism, absolutely, doing it with faith, doing it with a desire to say, when I get through this, I'm going to pay it forward.”

• David Galbenski

“And they surveyed 10s of 1000s of people to say what would be the biggest overall kind act that someone could do. The number one overall act of kindness, out of 1692 acts that they surveyed, was giving and becoming a living donor for a friend.”

• David Galbenski

Resources:

https://getoffthelist.org/

https://www.networkforhope.org/

https://www.networkforhope.org/about-us/

https://www.facebook.com/NetworkForHopeOPO

https://www.youtube.com/@NetworkforHope.

https://aopo.org/