Employees urged to register as organ, tissue donors
An average of 20 people die each day because the organs they need are not donated in time, said Dr. Fauzia Butt, a transplant surgeon at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” Butt said. “Anyone can be an organ and tissue donor. Anyone can save a life.”
Often, people think they are unqualified to be a donor, Butt said. “But they shouldn’t think that. People of all ages and medical histories are potential donors.”
April is National Donate Life Month, a time to celebrate transplant recipients, to recognize those still waiting and to honor donors and donor families.
In 2018, more than 36,500 organ transplants from 17,500 donors brought new life to patients and their families, according to Donate Life America, a nonprofit organization that promotes organ donation.
“Around 114,000 people await lifesaving organ transplants,” Butt said. “You could save as many as eight people by donating your organs and help another 75 people by donating your tissue.”
Griffis spoke at Hershey Medical Center’s annual Organ Donor Remembrance Ceremony on Feb. 24.
“He’s incredible,” Butt said. “Everything he does is for his donor.”
While many organs come from deceased donors, a kidney or liver can be donated by a living person. The wait time for a kidney from a deceased donor ranges from five to eight years, Butt said. “Having a living donor saves time spent getting dialysis and time spent on the transplant waiting list.”
The wait time for a liver transplant varies, Butt said, depending on the severity of the disease.
Sometimes, an organ from a deceased donor becomes available before the living donor has completed the transplantation process. That happened recently to a grandfather who was preparing to donate a kidney to his grandson.
“The grandfather was so overjoyed and overcome with emotion that he still wanted to donate his kidney,” Butt said. “He wanted someone else to feel the joy he felt when his grandson received a kidney.”
Butt encourages those who decide to donate their organs to let their family know. “They need to understand your wishes to be able to honor them.”
Pennsylvania residents can register to be an organ donor on the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation website. Transplant services are also available in Lancaster County at Penn State Health Medical Group – Lime Spring.
“It’s really the donors who are the heroes,” Butt said. “Anyone can be a hero.”
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