Last Friday Night I attend a Gala honoring members of New Jersey Sharing Network in Somerset

Today, there are over 100,000 Americans registered with the United Network for Organ Sharing on transplant waiting lists.

* Every year, an estimated 6,000 people die while waiting
for organ transplants.
* In 1988, 4,080 people donated organs after death. In 2006, that number has nearly doubled to 8,024.
* Organ donation occurred in only .0025% of all deaths in
the United States.
* One individual who donates after death can provide organs, corneas, skin, bone and tissue for 50 or more people in need.
* In 2006, there were 28,931 organ transplants performed
in the United States.
* An estimated 220,000 Americans are treated with transplanted bone and tissue each year. Tissues include tendons and ligaments, skin used to treat burns, heart valves and eye corneas.
* About 46,000 cornea transplants are performed annually,
with more than 5,000 people waiting for donated corneas.
* The largest number of children who need organ transplants are waiting for kidney donations.
* Almost 44% of people waiting for organ transplants are between the ages of 18 and 49.
* By gender, 57% of Americans waiting for donated organs
are male; 43% are female.
* African-Americans, who represent 27% of the national population, receive more than 40% of all kidney transplants. Because of specific medical conditions, including diabetes and high blood pressure, African-Americans suffer a disproportionately high rate of End Stage Renal Disease (kidney failure). There are currently more than 24,000
African Americans waiting for kidney or kidney-pancreas transplants nationwide.
* Survival rates for organ recipients continue to rise. The one year survival rate for kidney recipients is 95%, for heart recipients, 85%, for liver recipients, 77%, and for pancreas recipients, almost 77%. Between 1996 and 2001, one year survival rates for lung recipients increased by almost 34%.
* There is no cost to be an organ and tissue donor.
Donation is a gift.

In New Jersey you can:
1. Make it a license to save lives. Make the donor designation on your New Jersey driver’s license or ID card. This is the most important and direct way to make your wishes known. The words “Organ Donor” will appear on the front of your license and will be included in your computer record with the Motor Vehicle Commission. For more information or to sign up to be notified when an online registry is available, visit www.donatelifenj.org.
2. You should tell your family about your decision so they understand your wishes. If there is no designation on your driver’s license or other legal means of donor designation, the final decision about organ and tissue donation will be made by your family. Your wishes can also be made through advance directives and living wills.

3. Until you get to MVC and make your donor designation, you can also sign and carry an organ donor card. Please note that while the donor card allows you to legally express your wishes, it must be accessible at the time of your passing as it is not connected to any registry.

Sign Up today!