Recipient from Dayton going on road to promote donations.
By Virginia Burroughs, Contributing Writer
Dayton native Douglas (“DJ”) Jordan knows all too well how important organ donations are, since a liver and two kidneys saved his life.
A Patterson Cooperative High School grad, he went to Ohio State University to study dentistry. Instead of going into practice, however, he joined the Air Force.
He was stationed in North Dakota, then Germany, and, in Tokyo, he was reassigned from personnel to a vocalist with the band. “I’d been in every choir Patterson had, and even made it to state competitions,” he said.
Back in Washington, D.C., until 2008, DJ had no noticeable physical problems. “Then, I started getting bloated; I kept growing and knew something was wrong, so went in for tests.”
When tests showed that he had a nonalcoholic cirrhosis and needed a transplant, he was in shock. “I was put on medication, and fluid had to be drained every other week while I waited for a liver,” he said.