The 26th annual Dash for Donation is just around the corner!
28 years ago I was able to save a life through a living donor liver transplant.
Ava was born with a genetic condition that caused her to go into liver failure at the age of 3 months. Because of advances in medical research they were able to take a piece of my liver , put it in Ava and that piece grew with her. She lived an active, unrestricted life for 26 years then that piece of liver started to have problems.
26 y and 9m after her first transplant she was listed for a second transplant. Because it was her second transplant she was told that her best option for success was to wait for a full liver from a deceased donor. The list for those organs is much longer than the availability thus they are allocated to the “sickest” people.
Ava waited 14 months for a liver to come available to her. During that wait she became sicker , requiring many many hospitalizations. Unfortunately by the time she got the call she was too sick to tolerate the surgery and died in the operating room.
Ava was not eligible for a partial (living) liver donation her second time around however if more people received a transplant from a living donor then perhaps that would have made a deceased donor liver available for her.
And just maybe she would be alive today.
In 2023 there were 10660 liver transplants in the United States, only 659 were from living donors.
………1700 people died while waiting for a liver that never came.
There are a lot of resources put forth to promote organ donation upon death but ~ 97% of “donated” organs are not viable for transplant .
Just because you sign up to be an organ donor does not mean your organs will be used . The way you die determines the viability.
One way to decrease mortality of those waiting for a life saving organ transplant is to increase the number of living donor transplants. Please consider being a living donor and save a life now ♻️.
On Saturday, July 12, our team will walk with thousands of others through downtown Columbus to raise awareness for organ, eye and tissue donation. The Dash is raising funds to benefit Lifeline of Ohio’s programs, and all contributions will celebrate the ripple effect each can make through organ, eye and tissue donation. Please consider helping us by making a financial contribution (large or small) to my walk. Every dollar makes a difference!
Thank you for joining me as we “Dash” for Donation!
