GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — Tuesday was National Living Donor Day and more than 100,000 people across the U.S. are awaiting a transplant.
Most of the people on an organ transplant list are waiting for deceased donations. However, that’s not the only way an organ can be received. A living donor can provide parts of their organs for donation or a whole one, like a kidney.
The more living donors there are the less need for deceased ones. This means that many more people can survive their medical hardships.
“If you’re a donor, sometimes you can change one, two … we got a heart, we’ve got lungs, we’ve got liver, we’ve got two kidneys, we’ve got a pancreas,” said Chief Surgical Immunology and Transplantation Vice Chair of Academic Affairs for Brody School of Medicine, Dr. David Lesser. “We can change the lives of multiple folks by one simple action, and that’s to say I want to be a donor.”
ECU Health set a record last year for the most transplant operations performed within their hospitals. They are set to surpass that number this year, with 70 transplant surgeries completed over the past six months.
