Explore news and events from organ procurement organizations around the country. These important groups do incredible things to promote the cause of tissue donation.
Are you an OPO who would like to share news of an upcoming event?
National Donor Day is set aside to increase donor awareness and honor those who have already donated. Yet, in the midst of a tragic situation, it is the donor’s family that has to make the hard decisions. Those whose lives are saved or enhanced by that decision are often inspired and touched by the families they have never met. To honor the donor families on National Donor Day, here are words of thanks from our recipients.
“Everything I’ve done since the transplant and all that’s to come are because of the tissue donor family. The allograft gave me a second chance to fulfill an unrealized destiny,”-May Chen, fresh tissue recipient (more…)
February 14th is all about love. Not only is it Valentine’s Day, but it’s also National Donor Day. So while you’re remembering to show love for those closest to you, show love to your community by becoming an organ and tissue donor.
In the past, Allograft Possibilities has honored donors by telling their stories. National Donor Day is a great time to look back, read and remember Nick, Cameron and Ryan who chose to show love through donation. Thanks to that love, countless people can spend this Valentine’s Day with their loved ones, appreciating the gift of an enhanced or saved life.
Arizona tissue donors number in the thousands as the state reports record donation highs.
The Donor Network of Arizona says 477 lives were saved in 2011 through organ donation while tissue donations restored mobility and sight to thousands.
Arizona stands as a great example of the lives that can be saved and enhanced through active and informed citizens. Read more about their success here!
Pop sensation Justin Bieber increases organ and tissue donations while helping a young girl in need
While awaiting a lung transplant, 20-year-old Helene Campbell decided to take action and increase donor awareness. Campbell and friends focused on a Twitter campaign with a specific goal in mind: getting Justin Bieber to take notice and spread the word to his 16-million followers.
Well they got Justin’s attention, and with his support via Twitter, a Canadian organ registry received more than 500 new registrants within just a few days. Check out the full story here.
Congratulations to Donor Alliance, the federally-designated organ procurement organization serving Colorado and Wyoming, which this week reported that it increased driver’s license office donor registration in 2011. This maintains Colorado’s position as one of the highest donor designation rates in the country. (At the close of 2011, 67 percent of Colorado’s licensed drivers and ID card holders had joined the registry. Similarly, Wyoming’s registry remained at a strong 59 percent donor designation rate.)
The organization also recovered more bone and joint restoration tissue grafts, allowing roughly 48,000 people to regain mobility and active lives after disease or trauma last year.
Donor Alliance has also launched Donate Life Colorado and Donate Life Wyoming Facebook pages, where it will bust myths surrounding donation, and answer questions from the public.
We love seeing the stories promoting donation in national media outlets!
Watch this story from this morning’s Today show. It tells the story of a rare heart, liver and kidney recipient, who today met the family of his donor for the first time.
A thought-provoking look at the decision to become an organ and tissue donor. Take a few minutes to watch this somewhat humorous video (which parodies Nike’s LeBron James advertisements) that tackles a serious topic. Compiled by a student group at Ohio State University and Lifeline of Ohio.
The clip stars former OSU football player Dane Sanzenbacher, who now plays for the Chicago Bears.
A great editorial from Slate encourages readers who are looking to honor and celebrate Steve Jobs to help the next Steve Jobs by becoming organ and tissue donors. Two years ago, Jobs got a liver transplant to prolong his life.
Says the article:
Steve Jobs made machines. They’re machines you can type on, or talk on, or listen to music on. He didn’t just tinker with gadgets. He changed what they did. He made machines do what machines had never done before.
But there was one machine he couldn’t fix: his body.
Jobs died yesterday at 56 because of a glitch in his programming. The glitch was cancer. A lot of smart people are trying to fix this glitch in future releases of the human body. But that’s going to take a while. In the meantime, there’s something you can do to help people such as Jobs. You can supply replacement parts for the machines that keep them alive. You can sign up as an organ donor.
Very poignant.
Remember: tissue donation can have the same life-saving and life-enhancing benefits of organ donation.
Donate Life America announced this month that a key goal set by the donation and transplant community in 2006 has been reached: the United States can now boast that 100 million Americans – roughly 42 percent of the adult population – are registered as organ, eye and tissue donors in state donor registries.
Take a moment to view this touching story of a U.S. Navy veteran who received the gift of an organ donation from an Air Force Academy cadet.
The recipient and donor were matched by Donor Alliance, the non-profit organ procurement organization and tissue bank serving Colorado and most of Wyoming. Last week, Donor Alliance was recognized with an award for its participation in the Military Organ Sharing Program, presented by the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
The Military Sharing Program allows military members and their families the opportunity to designate donated organs to military beneficiaries listed at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The program provides active duty military personnel and their families who need a kidney transplant with a greater chance of receiving an organ than they might normally have had since most military families move around frequently.
It is so powerful to see donor families touched by the miracle of organ and tissue donation dedicating their time and effort to promote the cause.
We encourage you to read this story from the Cincinnati Enquirer about Carolyn Henry Glaspy, the mother of former Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry. Following his death in 2009, Glaspy made the decision to donate her son’s organs and tissue. Since then, Glaspy has found a calling to advocate for donation, and minority donation.
She works closely with LifeCenter Organ Donor Network – Greater Cincinnati’s organ and tissue procurement organization for which she’s made 25 appearances in the past year.
From the article:
“I don’t ask for anything,” Glaspy said while sitting in her sparsely furnished, wood-frame house. “I didn’t ask God to take my son so I could make money doing this. It gives me joy in my heart to try to help.”
“There is something beautifully organic and genuine about her,” said Andi Johnson, LifeCenter’s director of public relations. “No event we call her about is too big or too small.”
This Chicago Defender article sheds light on the important issue of increasing organ and tissue donation awareness amongst minorities.
In the story, Cook County Commissioner Robert Steele, an African American, shares his own story of receiving a living liver transplant from his sister. After battling diabetes for more than three decades, the transplant gave Steele a new lease on a healthier life.
Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network reports that 2,017 African Americans are on the waiting list for a kidney in Illinois. Additionally, more minorities receive organs than donate.
An important reminder to encourage all people, regardless of race, to register to be organ and tissue donors. You can do so by visiting Donate Life America.
Check out this important video from Upstate New York Transplant Services for teens, about making the choice to be organ and tissue donors. In this video, teens discuss the facts and myths often held about donation, and we hear some testimonials from organ and tissue recipients.
Families from south central Wisconsin gathered to light candles over the weekend to remember some departed loved ones who brought hope and life to others.
The “Reflections of Life, Reflections of Love” ceremony was a chance for families to honor loved ones who helped save someone’s life through tissue donation.
“When you lose a loved one, you don’t want them forgotten, so it’s a way to have them remembered,” said Loni Wednt, whose departed mother and daughter were both donors. “And you are with people, others who know what you’ve gone through, and they understand that too, so you don’t have to be afraid to cry or share your feelings.”
If you are in Ohio, join the Dash for Donation TOMORROW to promote organ and tissue donation and transplantation and to encourage Ohioans to join the Ohio Donor Registry and give the “Gift of Life.” By showcasing the involvement of those touched by donation and transplantation, Lifeline Ohio aims to provide hope to the 110,000 Americans and more than 3,300 Ohioans currently waiting for a life-saving transplant.
The NJ Sharing Network’s first-ever SHARE NJ 5K Race to Save Lives Through Organ & Tissue Donation held last month in New Providence was a huge success. The event included more than 4,000 participants, including volunteers, children, transplant recipients, donor families, and sponsors. The 5K additionally helped to raise more than $443,000 for the cause.
Congrats to all who participated in this inaugural event!
The Donor Dash is a 5K run/walk to honor the lives of organ and tissue donors, celebrate the lives of organ and tissue recipients and recognize those who continue to wait for a lifesaving transplant.
Coordinated by organ recovery organization Donor Alliance, the Dash is in its 12th Year and is always a fantastic event.
If you live in or near Denver, we encourage you to come out and participate Sunday, July 17 in Washington Park. Click here to register and for more information.
We are honored to share this video blog from donor parents Pat and Jay Landers of Springfield, IL. Here Pat and Jay remember their son, Ryan, who was killed in a car accident and became an organ and tissue donor. So far, Ryan’s gifts have impacted 61 recipients in at least 12 states and Korea through 2 organ, 54 tissue and 5 vascular transplants.
Pat and Jay share in their own words what it has meant to them to be a donor family.
We were so pleased to meet this brave donor family via the Gift of Hope organ procurement organization.
Today upstate New York procurement organization UNYTS will celebrate Donate Life Month with the Grand Opening of its Donate Life Center and a press conference – we look forward to media coverage of the event.
Are you in upstate New York? Visitors can donate blood onsite in the Donate Life Express Bus from 2-6PM at the event today.
Congratulations to New York state, where the Association of County Clerks has partnered with the New York Alliance for Donation to help increase registrations of organ, tissue and eye donors.
One local official has a particularly personal connection to the cause, via Little Falls Times: ”In a release about the local effort, county Administrator James Wallace, who received a kidney transplant from his brother, urged everyone to consider becoming an organ and tissue donor.
‘I was extremely fortunate to have a match with my brother who stepped up to save my life. I also know that there are thousands of people who are not as fortunate. I hope that you will take a minute or two to consider this gift,’ he said.”
Brochures, posters and enrollment forms alerting customers of the donor crisis can be found in DMV offices in NY.
Organized by Donate Life Arizona as part of Donate Life Month, last week transplant recipients and donor families gathered at the AZ State Capitol in celebration of Donate Life Day.
“The event served a special purpose this year, providing an opportunity for state lawmakers to meet those who have received a second chance at life through organ donation. These same lawmakers will continue to address the controversy over state Republicans decision to cut Medicaid funds to those in need of life saving transplants.” Read the full article here.
April is National Donate Life Month (NDLM) and was instituted by Donate Life America and its members in 2003, and grew out of the federally proclaimed National Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation Awareness Week (NOTDAW). NDLM features an entire month of local, regional and national activities to help encourage Americans to become donors.
Additionally, this year there is a national initiative, Flags Across America, in which hospitals and other organizations will raise Donate Life flags to honor and celebrate organ, tissue and eye donors and recipients. Already media coverage is popping up on the campaign, like this story about Erlanger hospital in Tennessee and this story about Seymour hospital in Connecticut.
Encourage participation from hospitals and organizations in your communities to help spread awareness for donation during the month of April! Visit Donate Life for more information on the campaign.
In a story published by The Cypress Times today, LifeGift reminds everyone that the need for organ and tissue donors is still critical.
According to LifeGift, an organ and tissue recovery agency in Texas, there are 110,000 people in the United States waiting for a lifesaving transplant. On average,18 people die of organ failure due to the lack of available organs for transplant and approximately 138 people are added to the nation’s organ transplant waiting list daily. There are nearly 11,000 people in Texas alone waiting for lifesaving transplants.
The Associated Press reported that this week Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White has denoted March as National Kidney Month. White’s sister is a kidney recipient, and at the designation ceremony held at the Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago, he spoke about the importance of organ and tissue donation.
Newsfeed