April is Donate Life Month
More than 26,000 people in the United States received organ transplants in 2007. That's the good news.
The bad news is that nearly 6,000 people died while waiting for a transplant last year, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).
Donate Life America and UNOS are using the month of April to educate Americans about the number of lives that could be saved and improved through organ, eye and tissue transplants.
According to Donate Life America, each day in the U.S., about 79 organ transplants take place while an average of 132 people are added to the nation's organ transplant waiting list.
The number of patients on the U.S. waiting list for organ transplants reached a record high of 97,670 as of Dec. 31, 2007. In comparison, 80,790 patients were on the waiting list as of Dec. 31, 2002. And 53,167 patients were on the waiting list as of Dec. 31, 1997. That's an increase of nearly 84 percent in 10 years.
UNOS reported that the longest organ-specific waiting list is for kidney donations, with more than 75,000 people currently waiting for an organ transplant.
So please note that April is a special month for encouraging donation signup. Many states provide simple methods for designating organ donation on drivers' licenses or state identification cards. Donate Life America offers a directory with details by state online at http://www.donatelife.net.
"State donor registries play an essential role in the donation process by enabling an individual to make a decision that gives procurement agencies full authority to procure their organs and/or tissues upon their death," said Sara Pace Jones, Donate Life America chairman. "These legally binding donation decisions are critical for the nearly 100,000 people who are on the National Waiting List for organ transplants and the many more awaiting cornea and tissue transplants to restore their lives and health."
One misconception about organ transplants is that most recipients survive only a few years. According to Donate Life America, long-term survival is becoming more common. For example, a number of kidney recipients are living 30 years or longer after transplant. Recipients of other organs have survived more than 20 years after transplant.