Former Minnesota Gophers and Vikings player Ben Williams went for a routine checkup in June of 2015. He was told that his kidneys were operating at 15% of their normal function.

“I consider myself fairly tough, and among the things I went through made me really query my passions in life and what more I could do,” Williams said Tuesday.

Williams, who played as a defensive lineman for the Gophers until 1992 and for the Vikings in 1998, received a kidney transplant that November from an 18-year-old donor who’d passed away. He said that every one the things he’s been in a position to do because the operation are because of the gift of his donor. He went on to receive an MBA from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, is actively pursuing law at Columbia University and have become the primary president of the National Football League Players Association in Minnesota.

“I’m on a journey to attempt to make this second likelihood as exciting if no more exciting than the NFL half of my life,” Williams said.

LifeSource, a federally designated nonprofit organization that manages the organ donation process for Minnesota, announced a brand new public awareness campaign Tuesday on the Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services office in downtown St. Paul, encouraging everyone, but especially men, to “join Bigfoot” in the large heart club during their next visit to the DMV. Williams shared his story on the event together with others who’ve been impacted by organ donation.

“Every number counts and when you will have 50% of men not registering, that impacts what number of lives we are able to save,” LifeSource CEO Kelly White said.

‘We’d like more men’

In accordance with a national survey by LifeSource, 90.4% of adults in the USA support organ donation, but only 51% of Minnesota men are registered. Men are also at a greater need for transplants as 62% of individuals on the state’s donor waitlist are men.

“End goal, we’d like more men to take part in this system,” Williams said. “We’d like more organs total because I used to be lucky myself.”

Liver transplant recipient Jay Beyer-Kropuenske shared Williams sentiment, saying he was a few months away from death before his operation. Being a donor recipient means he’s been in a position to see his children graduate from highschool and college and to assist his own parents as they age.

“Men just must take into consideration the way it could potentially be them because I never thought that I’d ever be needing an organ or two in my case,” Beyer-Kropuenske said.

Bigfoot, the campaign’s mascot, is reportedly a member of the large heart club and in addition represents myths and misconceptions about organ donation. LifeSource goals to reply questions people have about being a donor with educational resources, based on White.

Thomas Leventhal, a transplant hepatologist and intensive care physician, said persons are sometimes hesitant to develop into donors because they fear they’ll be giving up something and even allowed to die within the hospital if their organs are in need.

As a physician, he assures folks that this shouldn’t be the case.

“I feel it’s about helping people understand, you’re not giving anything up. If anything, you’re helping to create more opportunity,” Leventhal said.

White said men often have becoming a donor on their to-do list, but don’t make it a priority. She said people also worry that in the event that they have pre-existing medical conditions they will’t register.

“We all the time tell people to register, and as experts we’re those that will help determine whether or not they can go on to be a donor,” White said.

One other factor for communities of color is a distrust of medical professionals, Williams said. He said that prior to now 100 years, health care systems haven’t been very positive for underserved communities and he can understand why people hold the fear. Yet hypertension greatly affects the African-American community, Williams said, and he’s lost members of the family who were on an organ waiting list for greater than 10 years.

“Statistics show that now we have a better need, so we’d like more men and more men of color to be involved,” Williams said.

A donor’s dad

Gary Bougie, whose donor son unexpectedly died at 35, said he doesn’t understand why anyone would hesitate to enroll. He said it’s a quite simple process and that the oldest organ donor was 95.

“We’re all going to pass away, so checking the box that you just’re going to be a donor doesn’t mean you’re signing a life sentence, that you just’re going to die young,” Bougie said.

Finding purpose in life after losing his son was extremely difficult, but what helped Bougie begin to heal was receiving a letter from his son’s recipient, an avid competitive tennis player who was in a position to play again due to his son’s donation.

“Don’t get me mistaken, I need my son back,” Bougie said. “I need him back. But he’s helped dozens and dozens of individuals.”

Bougie said his son was a tissue donor and he helped people in 25 states.

“If I’m going to lose a loved one, what higher option to honor him, his legacy, his memory, his spirit by helping dozens of individuals, only because we checked the box,” Bougie said.

Those concerned about becoming a donor can achieve this at any Driver and Vehicle Services office within the state, when applying for a fishing or hunting license, via lifesourcedonorregistry.org or in a living will.

“I actually have yet to satisfy a donor family that was sorry they said yes,” Bougie said during his speech.