Last Sunday was more than just Valentine’s Day, 14th of February marking the moment when National Donor Day events asked for help and applicants. Naturally foreshadowed by more popular holidays, many may not even know of the existence of National Donor Day. It is a moment during a year when any kind of donation – whether it is organs, blood or bone marrow – is celebrated while also trying to shed as much information regarding the need for donors.
Officials have been urging people to register as an organ donor and maybe one day become a hero and save someone else’s life. They made an effort to increase awareness regarding the 122,000 cases of patients currently on the waiting list in United States alone, hoping that various organs or blood will be donated in order to save their lives.
Because of the very small number of donors, statistics show that in Pennsylvania, for example, a patient dies every 18 hours due to the lack of available transplants. This is most likely caused by an overall lack of understanding on behalf of the populace who has not gone through experiences of this nature and miss out on the importance of organ transplants.
The National Donor Day was first established in the 1998 by the United States Department of Health and Human Services in an attempt to get more people to sign and register their donor cards to maybe try and solve the issue of transplant needs.
The non-profit organization behind the National Donor Day is attempting to find more people willing to donate things such as organs, bone marrow, tissue and corneas to help the always increasing numbers of people in need. In order to achieve that, they bring out stories of the lives that were saved over the past years.
One particular story describes the tale of an unborn child that was diagnosed with a congenital cardiac defect which rendered the child with an undeveloped part of her heart. Out of desperation, the parents signed up for a transplant. Another mother who had lost her 5 year old daughter agreed to donate her child’s heart to baby Faith, who now, years later is growing up and thriving.
There are countless of stories of saved lives on behalf of selfless acts of donating organs post-death, but unfortunately hundreds stories more of unfortunate events where patients died waiting for a transplant. You can find more information on how you can register as a member on the official donatelife.net website.
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