“Believe, when you are most unhappy, that there is something for you to do in the world. So long as you can sweeten another’s pain,
life is not in vain.” – Helen Keller

 

Organ donation and transplantation statistics

THE NEED: 

Over 103,000 Americans are on the wait list for organ transplants, and the vast majority need a kidney.

• On average:
  • Nearly 3,000 new patients are added to the kidney waiting list each month.
  • 12 people die each day while waiting for a life-saving transplant
  • Every 8 minutes someone is added to the organ transplant list

• Acceptable organ donors can range in age from newborn to 65 years or more.
• Donor organs are matched to waiting recipients by a national computer registry called the National Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). This computer registry is operated by an organization known as the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which is located in Richmond, Virginia.

Religion and Organ Donation

• Virtually all religious denominations approve of organ and tissue donation as representing the highest humanitarian ideals and the ultimate charitable act.

Source: National Kidney Foundation

The National Kidney Foundation has a detailed Q&A about kidney donation for potential living donors:

http://www.kidney.org/transplantation/livingdonors/infoQA.cfm