On A Personal Note: Are You a Donor?

If you’ve read my blog for a while now, you’ll know that I don’t often post about my personal/family life.  But, every now and then, I will post about something that is near and dear to my heart. 

April is National Donate Life Month.  National Donate Life Month (NDLM) was instituted by Donate Life America and its partnering organizations in 2003. Celebrated in April each year, NDLM features an entire month of local, regional and national activities to help encourage Americans to register as organ, eye and tissue donors and to celebrate those that have saved lives through the gift of donation.

Organ donation has touched my family in more ways than one.  My mom received the gift of life in 2006 and my precious Nora was an organ donor.

Watch their story here:

My mom is a strong advocate for organ and tissue donation.  She helped to create a law in our state that all drivers educations students be informed about organ and tissue donation, she speaks at high schools, churches and other organizations throughout the state and even helped to build a donor memorial wall in our hospital.

This past Wednesday, the wall was dedicated to organ and tissue donors and their families.  It is a beautiful tribute and my beautiful Nora is also featured on the wall.

We always say, it will never happen to me.  But it did happen to us.  We lost our beautiful daughter suddenly nearly 8 years ago.   Receiving the call from Life Source about organ donation was scary and hard – it was a conversation we never had, nor thought that we needed to have.  But I am so happy that we chose “yes” for Nora. 

If you make the choice to be an organ and tissue donor (and I hope you do), the most important thing you need to do is to notify your family of your wishes.  Anyone can be a donor – your gift can and will save lives – just as a special gift saved my mom’s life.

Take just a minute to read these important statistics, and then click the link below to register as an organ and tissue donor.  If you had the chance to save a life, wouldn’t you?

Donation and Transplantation Statistics

· Approximately 79 organ transplants take place every day in the United States.

· On average, a single donor can save or heal the lives of up to 50 people.

· Each year more than 28,000 patients begin new lives thanks to organ transplants.

· Over 46,000 patients had their sight restored last year through corneal transplants.

· A living donor can provide a kidney or a portion of their liver, lung, pancreas or intestine.

· More than one third of all deceased donors are age 50 or older, and nearly 8% are age 65 or older.

· Sadly, an average of 18 patients die every day while waiting, simply because the organ they needed was not donated in time.

· On average, 150 people are added to the nation’s organ transplant waiting list each day—one every 10 minutes.

· More than 120,000 people are currently waiting for an organ transplant in the United States.

· Nearly 35% of patients awaiting kidney transplants are African American.

· In 2012, there were more than 30,000 tissue donors and 60,000 cornea donors.

· More than 1 million tissue transplants are performed each year and the surgical need for tissue has been steadily rising.

· As of June 2013, over 112 million people, approximately 46 percent of the U.S. adult population, are registered as organ, eye and tissue donors.

· To register to be an organ, eye and tissue donor visit www.donatelife.net.