Opinion: Importance of West Virginia Donor Day

By Del. Amy Summers

West Virginia Donor Day is August 1. This is the fifth year Donate Life West Virginia (DLWV) and CORE (Center for Organ Recovery & Education) has united to bring about awareness of the importance of organ donation and transplantation.

The date, 8/1, highlights the power of one organ donor to save up to eight lives. Signing up to become a donor is a true act of kindness and compassion — and it takes less than a minute to do so.

Organ donation touches countless loved ones, friends and neighbors in your community and across our country. Each day, more than 100 Americans receive a life-saving transplant, and the lives of thousands more are transformed through the donation of corneas and tissues such as heart valves, veins, skin and bone. The gifts from donors restore sight, heal burn survivors, repair ligament tears, prevent amputation and much more.

However, every 10 minutes, another person is added to the national transplant waiting list, which now includes more than 100,000 individuals.

Today, and every day, 17 people across the country — children and adults — die waiting for a lifesaving transplant, underscoring the need for more registered donors.

Currently, only 36% of West Virginians are registered as donors. West Virginians are known for helping their neighbor in all types of situations, such as weather disasters and the death of a loved one.  Working together, we can increase that number to show the Mountain State’s commitment to each other.

Everyone has the potential to save and heal lives through organ, tissue and cornea donation regardless of age or medical history.

I encourage all West Virginians to celebrate WV Donor Day today by signing up at www.dlwv.org You can also register when you get your WV hunting and fishing license and at your local DMV. I am a donor and on my driver’s license there is a red heart with the word donor beside of it. Thank you for considering this request to become an organ donor and give the gift of life.

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