By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Phillip Hanks is used to giving an “organ recital.”

“I received a pancreas, a liver, upper / lower intestine, liver, (Did I say liver already), kidney, and stomach.

The Joliet area man was a bodybuilder who used too much protein, creatine, and then ibuprofen. Almost one year ago, he received the five-organ transplant in one operation from a single donor. Now the secretary of state’s office has hired Hanks to be a regional coordinator for its organ and tissue donor program.

At what originally was to be a flag-raising ceremony at a Springfield hospital to mark National Donate Life Month, Secretary of State Jesse White told his own story – he declined to allow doctors to harvest his dying brother’s organs.

“Then, two years later, my sister had a need. She put her name on the organ and tissue donor list, and through the generosity of someone, she got a second chance at life. She lived an additional 28 years because someone said, yes, I will donate my organs.

“It warms my heart.”

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]