HUNTINGDON, Pa. – April is National Donate Life Month and Juniata Women's Lacrosse is teaming up with the Gift of Life Donor Program for a Donate Life game promoting the great need for organ and tissue donation awareness this Friday, April 15th, when they take on Elizabethtown. Look for the Donate Life table at the game where there will be giveaways and information, including how you can help transform lives by becoming an organ donor or supporting the Gift of Life Family House or the Gift of Life Internship endowment here at Juniata. This event is being held in loving memory of Matt Koenig, the father of Juniata Junior Defender, Nikole Koenig, who past away this past summer of complications from kidney disease.
Organ & Tissue Donation Fast Facts:
- 95% of people support organ donation.
- More than 40,000 Americans received a life-saving transplant in 2021, the first time yearly transplants exceeded that threshold.
- Sadly, 20 people die each day waiting for an organ transplant.
- There are more than 5,000 men, women and children in our region awaiting a life-saving organ transplant.
- Nationally, there are more than 100,000 people on the waiting list for an organ transplant.
- Just one organ donor can save up to eight lives, and one tissue donor can improve the lives of more than 100 others.
- Every 10 minutes, another person is added to the national transplant waiting list.
- 85% of patients waiting for a life-saving transplant are waiting for a kidney.
- More than half of the patients on the waiting list are from communities of color.
- Being an organ donor does not affect medical care or funeral arrangements.
- About Gift of Life Donor Program: Since 1974, Gift of Life has coordinated more than 55,000 organ transplants and more than 2 million life-enhancing tissue transplants.
What is Gift of Life Donor Program:
Gift of Life Donor Program is a non-profit, federally designated organ procurement organization, working with 129 acute care hospitals and 14 transplant centers to serve 11.3 million people in the eastern half of Pennsylvania where the Koenig's live, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. Thanks to its compassionate community, for the past 14 years, Gift of Life has coordinated the most organ donors in the United States. Its annual donation rate, most recently 62 organ donors-per-million-population, ranks among the highest in the world. Since 1974, Gift of Life has coordinated more than 55,000 organs for transplant, and more than two million tissue transplants have resulted from the generosity of donors and their families. One organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people, and a tissue donor can improve the lives of more than 100 others. Gift of Life Family House is celebrating 10 years of caring this year and serves as a "home away from home" for transplant patients and their families by providing temporary, affordable lodging, and supportive services to those who travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for transplant-related care. Gift of Life Family House is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization. For more information or to register, visit donors1.org and giftoflifefamilyhouse.org.
For more information, you can click here to visit the Gift of Life Donor Program website
