April is National Donate Life Month

Organ donors save lives.

Donate Life America has been partnering with other organizations since 2003 to celebrate National Donate Life Month during April each year. Once an impossible dream, organ and tissue transplants saved the lives of more than 33,600 people during 2016 creating a new reality for them and their families.

Despite the many successes, more than 116,000 Americans are actively waiting for an organ transplant to save their lives and a new person is added to the list every 10 minutes on average.

These chronic shortages cause over 8,000 people to lose their lives each year because no donors are available. While more than 138 million people in the U.S. are registered as organ donors, about half the population can still register which would dramatically increase the number of available donations from the deceased. Including tissues such as corneas, skin, and organs, a single donor could potentially help more than 75 people.

Fully 80 percent of all patients waiting for a transplant are in need of a kidney, and 12 percent are waiting on a liver. While giving a kidney represents a substantial sacrifice for a living donor, the National Kidney Foundation explains that most people who have chosen to donate a kidney experience little to no long-term problems and go on to live healthy lives. Meanwhile, the liver will regenerate itself over time if a portion is removed for a donation.