Donate Life America Celebrates 2018 National Donate Life Month

Often following a storm, the presence of a rainbow provides optimism and motivates us to endure through dark times. Organ, eye and tissue donation is the bridge of comfort and hope between one family's mourning and another's healing — turning tragedy into renewed life. The Donate Life rainbow in the National Donate Life Month artwork rises from stormy clouds, recognizing that it takes both rain and light to create the gift of a rainbow.

Maya Angelou's message applies to all of us, no matter our background or experiences. We all know rainbows in the people that have helped carry us through life and its challenges. In turn, we have the opportunity to be rainbows in other people's clouds through the gift of organ, eye and tissue donation. By registering to be a donor and considering living donation, you can change one ray of light into a spectrum of healing and compassion.

"The act of registering your decision to be an organ, eye and tissue donor takes less than a minute. Your one action can serve as a lifesaving prism, transforming your decision into life and healing for more than 75 people, their families and their communities," says David Fleming, President & CEO of Donate Life America.

You can register your decision to be an organ, eye and tissue donor at RegisterMe.org or in the Medical ID tab of the iPhone Health app. To learn more about being a living donor, please visit DonateLife.net.

This year, Donate Life America will also be celebrating a new observance during the last week of National Donate Life Month: National Pediatric Transplant Week.

National Pediatric Transplant Week offers donation and transplantation organizations the platform to talk about the powerful message of ending the pediatric waiting list, to engage clinical partners to share their innovative work and patient stories of transplant candidates and recipients, and to honor donor families whose children have saved and healed lives through organ, eye and tissue donation.

Donate Life America (DLA) would like to thank the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the American Society of Transplantation (AST) and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) for their collaboration and support in piloting the first annual National Pediatric Transplant Week.

We celebrate that 56 percent of U.S. adults have registered their decision to make LIFE possible and be organ, eye and tissue donors at the time of their death. Yet the number of people in need of transplants continues to outpace the number of organs donated. Currently, 115,000 people are waiting for a transplant and a second chance at life. On average, 22 people die each day because the organ they need is not donated in time—that is almost one person dying every hour. You can help by registering your decision to be an organ, eye and tissue donor, and learning more about living donation.

*Maya Angelou™ is a trademark licensed by Caged Bird Legacy, LLC
**Data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) as of April 2, 2018

About Donate Life America

Donate Life America (DLA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization leading its national partners and Donate Life State Teams to increase the number of donated organs, eyes and tissue available to save and heal lives. DLA manages and promotes Donate Life℠, the national brand for the cause of donation; motivates the public to register as organ, eye and tissue donors; provides education about living donation; manages the National Donate Life Registry at RegisterMe.org; and develops and executes effective multi-media campaigns to promote donation.

SOURCE Donate Life America

Related Links

https://www.donatelife.net