Health & Exercise

Honoring Donate Life Month

April is National Donate Life Month, an annual observance focusing national attention on how organ and tissue donation saves lives. Hoosiers are encouraged to learn more about donation, sign up to become donors and participate in four key days to raise awareness about and support donation and transplantation.

“It is the generosity of donors and donor families that makes saving lives through organ and tissue donation and transplantation possible,” said Indiana Donor Network President and CEO Kellie Tremain. “We honor deceased and living donors and celebrate the lives they saved through their selfless decisions to become donors.”

Dwight Freeney, eight-time pro bowler and Super Bowl champion, left a legacy in Indianapolis for his dedication to the game. Freeney has decided to continue his legacy by signing up as an organ and tissue donor.

One donor can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance up to 75 lives through tissue donation. One cornea donor can restore sight to two people. Despite age or medical history, anyone can sign up to be an organ donor. There are four ways that Hoosiers can sign up:

  • They can say “yes” when conducting business at their local Bureau of Motor Vehicles branch.
  • They can sign up online at DonateLifeIndiana.org.
  • They can sign up when they apply online for a hunting, fishing, or trapping license through the state Department of Natural Resources.
  • They can say “yes” through the Health app on their iPhone or iPad.

Nationally, more than 103,000 people are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant, including more than 1,300 Hoosiers. Every day in the U.S., 17 people die waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant but only three in 1,000 people die in a way that allows for potential organ donation.

Anyone, regardless of age or medical history, can sign up to be a donor. No one should rule themselves out for any reason.

More than 170 million people, including more than 4.4 million Hoosiers, have signed up to become organ and tissue donors.

Since 1998, Donate Life Indiana has been the state-authorized nonprofit organization responsible for managing the Indiana donor registry. Its mission is to save lives by creating opportunities for all Indiana citizens to sign up on the organization’s official state registry while striving to raise awareness for organ, eye and tissue donation and transplantation through public education.

Donate Life America is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization leading its national partners and Donate Life state teams to increase the number of donated organs, tissue and corneas available to save and heal lives. The organization owns, manages and promotes Donate Life, the national logo and brand for the cause of donation; motivates the public to register as organ, tissue and cornea 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.

The Waynedale News Staff
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