April is National Donate Life Month, a month-long celebration that commemorates those who have received or continue to wait for lifesaving transplants as well as the donors who save and heal lives.
Donate Life America stresses the importance and impact of organ donation by noting that more than 24,000 patients began new lives in 2014 thanks to organ transplants (about 65 every day).
However, the fact is there’s an ongoing need for organ donations. Donate Life America says nearly 124,000 people in the U.S. are currently waiting for an organ transplant with nearly six out of 10 patients being minorities. More than 1,000 of them are 10 years old or younger.
In addition, on average, 21 people die each day because the organs they need are not donated in time.
How can you help? You can register as a lifesaving and healing donor in your state.
Some common questions concerning organ donation are addressed by Donate Life America:
- Who can be a donor? People of all ages and medical histories should consider themselves potential donors. Your medical condition at the time of death will determine what organs and tissue can be donated.
- Does my religion support organ, eye and tissue donation? Every major religion in the United States supports organ, eye and tissue donation as one of the highest expressions of compassion and generosity.
- Is there a cost to be an organ, eye and tissue donor? There is no cost to the donor’s family or estate for donation. The donor family pays only for medical expenses before death and costs associated with funeral arrangements.
- Does my social and/or financial status play any part in whether or not I will receive an organ if I ever need one? No. When you are on the transplant waiting list for a donor organ, what really counts is the severity of your illness, body size, tissue type, blood type and other important medical information.
- Why should I register to be an organ, eye and tissue donor? Organ, eye and tissue transplants offer patients a new chance at healthy, productive, and normal lives and return them to their families, friends and communities.
To register as a donor, go to Donatelife.net
Deceased organ donation is a good deed, but let’s not forget living organ donors.
A third of all organ donors are living donors. Join the Living Organ Donors’ Rights Movement. Sign a petition to get Congress to take steps to compensate living organ donors for their donation related expenses — petition is on bottom right of home page. http://www.StopOTN.org
Check out this TEDMED on compensating donors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS9wkGjEdhQ
The ALODF has already made 84 transplants possible this year.
Don’t wait until you die to save a life. Help the ALODF support a living organ donor who can help save a life today.
https://www.charitable.org/en/livingkidneydonorssavelives
I am a living Donor. I helped out a friend of mine when he needed a kidney. This was the best decision I made besides having children. I go around now telling our story and trying to get people signed up at least as a Donor on their Drivers Licence. Please pay it forward by saving someone else’s life!