Some of us might give our significant others and family members flowers and chocolates on Valentine’s Day, but did you know that February 14th is also National Donor Day? That’s right – in the spirit of love and giving, today is all about celebrating past donors and raising awareness for the five points of life: organs, tissues, marrow, platelets and blood.
There is an urgent need for donors in the world today. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services…1
- …every 10 minutes, a patient is added to the organ donor waiting list
- …every day, an average of 18 patients die due to a shortage of available organs
- …in 2010, there were 2.5 million deaths in the U.S. alone – imagine if all of them were organ donors, because…
- …right now, there are more than enough people waiting for an organ to fill a large football stadium twice over
So, how can you help? You can register to become an organ or tissue donor, or you can find a local blood or platelet drive and register for the Be The Match national bone marrow registry.
If you have received an organ donation – or are waiting for one – you can reach out to the transplant community at PatientsLikeMe and connect with members who have received heart, kidney, liver, lung or pancreas transplants, among many other types. You can also check out the extensive PatientVoice report on what life is like after a transplant and share your experience in the PatientsLikeMe transplant forums.
1 http://www.organdonor.gov/about/data.html
I cannot donate blood because I am on Coumadin. My husband used to donate blood, but now he has high blood pressure. I had a cyst on my knee removed and it had left such a big hole that the surgeon had to fill up with bones from a cadaver. I was thankful for the person who donated the bones.