It’s National Donate Life Month

Happy Monday everyone!  I was going to write about something else today, but I realized that this was a very important month for me personally.

No, not my birthday or either of my kids’ birthdays, or even my husband’s birthday. My mother’s birthday is this month, but she doesn’t make a big deal about it, so we don’t either.  No, it’s not a birthday or anniversary.

It’s National Donate Life Month (NDLM)!

What IS NDLM and Why Does It Matter?

During April, there are numerous local, regional, and national events that encourage Americans to sign up as organ donors and to celebrate previous organ donors.

To kick off this month, Donate Life America released some statistics about organ donation:

• In 2016, there were more than 33,600 transplants (from 9,900 deceased and 5,900 living donors).
• More than 116,000 men, women, and children are waiting for lifesaving organ transplants.
• About 58% of the patients awaiting lifesaving transplants are minorities.
• Another person is added to the national organ transplant waiting list every 10 minutes.
• 8,000 people die each year (22 people each day — almost one person each hour) because the organs they need are not donated in time.

Most if the people waiting for organ transplants need kidneys (80%).

NDLM Celebrates ALL Donations

Donating doesn’t only mean organs. There is a need for donated tissue as well.

• Each year, there are approximately 30,000 tissue donors and more than 1.75 million tissue transplants; the surgical need for donated tissue is steadily rising.
• A single tissue donor can help more than 75 people.
• 48,000 patients have their sight restored through corneal transplants each year. As a resident in ophthalmology, I have participated in this process both in the operating room and in the discussions with the family.

Not including living donors, more than 138 million people, approximately 56% of the U.S. adult population, have registered to be organ, eye, and tissue donors.

If you want to register as an organ donor, visit RegisterMe.org. To learn more about organ donation, visit Donate Life America.

Obviously, this is an important cause for me so I decided to highlight NDLM today. I wrote about organ donation and transplant during my search for a donor. For more about my journey before kidney transplantation, you can visit my blog After Nikki got Her Kidney

Have a great day!

Be Inspired – Give Life!

Loving Life — The Reboot!

Dominique