April is National Donate Life Month

Just one organ donor can save the lives of up to eight different people and enhance the lives of up to 50 through tissue donation. In Mississippi, thousands of people are waiting on that lifesaving organ transplant. Today, News 25’s Kristen Durand was at Singing River Hospital as they raised a flag to raise awareness of the need for more organ donors.
Thirty-one-years ago, Dr. Steve Demetropoulas was an intern on the neurosurgery floor in a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama when he was called to the E.R. for a patient brought in with a gunshot wound to the head. “It was a tragic situation. The patient was brain dead, although their body was still living.”
So he decided to try to turn a tragic situation into something positive. “I went to the wife and just expressed my sympathy and I said ‘I’m sorry for your loss. This is an unrecoverable injury that your husband has, but he could possibly be an organ donor.’”
The wife agreed and that patient went on to give two people sight from cornea transplants, two people received kidneys, a number of leukemia patients received bone marrow and one 30-year-old woman from Georgia received his heart, saving her life. Now, Dr. Demetropoulas is taking part in National Donate Life Month as a flag is raised in front of Singing River Hospital, honoring the families of organ tissue donors as well as the staff that makes organ donation possible. “Here’s a way to give sight, to give health, to give life and to give it even after you’ve died,” said Dr. Demetropoulas.
Around the nation, more than 120,000 people are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant, with 1,500 people in Mississippi alone. With your help, those numbers could decrease. Sonny Soileau with the Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency said, “We encourage everyone to speak to your family, find out how they feel about donation and let them know how you feel. We encourage anybody interested in becoming an organ donor to register.”
You can register by going to the DMV and getting a heart on your driver’s license. You can also register online at donatelifems.org. Donating organs could mean donating life.

[mappress mapid=”2807″]