It is possible for a single donor to donate organs and
tissues that may help as many as 60 recipients.
No age restrictions apply to the donation of primary organs.
An estimated 15,000 brain deaths occur each year, but only 30% become donors.
It is possible to transplant 25 different organs and tissues from one donor.
Every 16 minutes, someone is added to the National waiting list. More than 80,000 people are waiting for transplants
More than 2,200 on the National waiting list are children.
By signing a Uniform Donor Card, an individual indicates his or her wishes to be a donor. A family must still sign a donation consent form, therefore it is important to discuss and make your wishes known so your wishes may be honored.
More than 136,000 kidney transplants have been performed in the United States since 1980. 30% from living relatives and 70% were from deceased non-related donors.
44.000 Corneal transplants were performed in the United States last year.
Transplanted skin is used an estimated 100,000 times a year as replacement tissue for severe burns. Another 500,000 patients could have their wound-healing time shortened if enough skin were available.
700,000 bone grafts were done in 1996.
Approximately 14 million blood donations occur every year in the United States and about 12 million units of whole blood are transfused annually.
Studies have found that donating organs or tissues of a loved one who has died helps a bereaved family to recover from their loss.
All major religious groups approve of organ and tissue donation as a charitable act toward one’s fellow human beings.
Since there were an estimated 10,500 failed opportunities for donation and a possible 60 recipients per donor that could have been helped, 630,000 people lost the chance to improve and possibly save their lives last year.
