April is National Donate Life Month. This month is dedicated to educating and encouraging Americans to register as donors of organs, tissue, marrow, and blood. Donating is a generous act that saves thousands of lives annually.
Transplanting organs and tissue is one of the greatest and most successful medical procedures in the history of medicine. Organ transplantations offer patients a chance to give back to their families, friends, and communities. Your generosity can save as many as eight lives through organ donation, bring sight to others with cornea donations, and improve yet another 75 lives or more through tissue donation.
More than 40,000 lives were saved last year due to successful transplants. Organs that can be donated include the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas, and intestines. Tissues that can be donated include arteries, bone marrow, eyes (corneas), cartilage, skin, soft tissue, veins, and heart valves and vessels. More than 106,000 men, women, and children are on the transplant waitlist currently. Furthermore, another person is added to the nation’s organ transplant waiting list every 9 minutes. To learn more information about organ donation and transplantation, please visit: https://www.organdonor.gov/.
Anyone can sign up to be a donor despite your age and medical history. In Texas, you can sign up to be a donor at https://www.donatelifetexas.org/register/. You can also sign up to be an organ donor when you apply or renew you Texas Driver’s license through the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, too. Instructions to receive the Organ Donor designation on your Driver’s License can be found at https://www.dmv.org/tx-texas/organ-donor.php.
Another way to give is by donating blood. Blood donors save many lives every year. In our community, more than 120 people a day must donate blood to maintain the blood supply in the ten-county area served by the Coastal Bend Blood Center. To donate blood, you can find a location to donate blood at http://www.coastalbendbloodcenter.org. To learn more information about blood donation, visit http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood.
If you have questions regarding any of the information mentioned in this week’s article, please do not hesitate to call my Capitol or District Office. Please always feel free to contact my office if you have any questions or issues regarding a Texas state agency, or if you would like to contact my office regarding constituent services. As always, my offices are available at any time to assist with questions, concerns, or comments (Capitol Office, 512-463-0672; District Office, 361-949-4603).
– State Representative Todd Hunter, District 32
Rep. Hunter represents Aransas County and Nueces County (Part). He can be contacted at todd.hunter@house.texas.gov or at 512-463-0672