Learn About Organ Donation

Become a Donor Today

Registering as an organ donor is a personal decision. If you have questions about why organ donation is so important, scroll down to the “Facts About Organ Donation” portion of this page.

MAKE THE DECISION TO DONATE

1.

REGISTER

2.

You can SIGN UP ONLINE or in-person at your local motor vehicle department. Registering online takes just a few minutes. All you need is some identification information and your driver’s license or photo ID number.

Be sure to let your family know you have registered as a donor, so they can be sure to support your wishes.

TELL YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS

3.

Facts About Organ Donation

  • Around 120,000 people in the United States are in need of a lifesaving organ transplant.

  • Someone new is added to the transplant waiting list every ten minutes.

  • On average, 21 people die per day waiting for a transplant due to the lack of organ donations.

  • 8,000 deaths occur every year in the United States because not enough organs are donated.

  • One organ, eye, and tissue donor can save and heal more than 75 people.

  • Donating just your organs can save up to eight lives.

  • The cornea is the most commonly transplanted tissue. More than 40,000 corneal transplants take place yearly in the United States.

  • A healthy person can become a living donor by donating a kidney, a section of the liver, lung, intestine, blood, or bone marrow.

  • About 6,000 living donations occur every year. One in four donors are not biologically related to the recipient.

Did you know…

  • Liver and kidney disease kills over 120,000 people each year, more people than Alzheimer’s, breast cancer, or prostate cancer.

  • One in nine, or 26 million, Americans have kidney disease- and most do not know it.

  • One high school-aged athlete suffers a Sudden Cardiac Arrest every three days in the U.S.

  • The leading cause of death in young athletes on the playing field is an undetected heart condition.

  • Sudden Cardiac Arrest contributes to the second most frequent medical cause of death among youth under 25.

  • The best way to detect these heart conditions is through a heart screening using an ECG (Electrocardiogram) and in some cases an Echocardiogram (ultrasound) of the heart.

  • Sudden Cardiac Arrest is the leading cause of death in the U.S., taking the lives of 356,000 people annually.

  • 1 in 300 youths have an undetected heart condition that puts them at risk for sudden cardiac arrest.

 FREQUENTLY ASKED

QUESTIONS:

GET ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT ORGAN, EYE, AND TISSUE DONATION.

  • People of all ages and medical histories should consider themselves potential donors. Your medical condition at the time of death will determine what organs and tissues can be donated.

  • All major religions support donation as a final act of compassion and generosity.

  • There is no cost to the donor’s family or estate for donation. The donor family pays only for medical expenses before death and costs associated with funeral arrangements.

  • An open casket funeral is possible for organ, eye and tissue donors. Through the entire donation process the body is treated with care and respect. Funeral arrangements can continue as planned following donation.

  • Your life always comes first. Doctors work hard to save every patient’s life, but sometimes there is a complete and irreversible loss of brain function. The patient is declared clinically and legally dead. Only then is donation an option.

  • No. A national system matches available organs from the donor with people on the waiting list based on blood type, body size, how sick they are, donor distance, tissue type and time on the list. Race, income, gender, celebrity and social status are never considered.

  • Although donation and transplantation can take place successfully between individuals from different racial or ethnic groups, transplant success is often better when organs are matched between people of the same racial or ethnic background.

    People of African American/Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaska Native and multiracial descent currently make up nearly 58% of individuals on the national organ transplant waiting list. These communities are in great need of more organ and tissue donors.