Make a difference, Be a donor
Save lives
Why Donate?
Because you may save up to 8 lives through organ donation and enhance many others through tissue donation.
Last year alone, organ donors made more than 28,000 transplants possible. Another one million people received cornea and other tissue transplants that helped them recover from trauma, bone damage, spinal injuries, burns, hearing impairment and vision loss.
Unfortunately, thousands die every year waiting for a donor organ that never comes. You have the power to change that.
Becoming a Donor
Organ, eye, and tissue donation and transplantation provide a second chance at life for thousands of people each year. You have the opportunity to be one of the individuals who make these miracles happen.
By deciding to be a donor, you give the gift of hope ... hope for the thousands of individuals awaiting organ transplants and hope for the millions of individuals whose lives could be enhanced through tissue transplants.
Use the link below and then select your state to register as an organ, eye, and tissue donor.
Organ Donation and Transplantation
Organ donation begins with a person who recognizes an opportunity to help others, enrolls in a state donor registry, and shares the decision to be a donor with family members and friends. The culmination of the process occurs when the person donates—and saves or enhances the lives of as many as eight people who need an organ transplant. In the United States, the Health Resources and Services Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services has oversight of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN).
Stats
- Each day, an average of 79 people receive organ transplants. However, an average of 22 people die each day waiting for transplants that can't take place because of the shortage of donated organs.
- People of every age give and receive organ donations. In 2014, 29,532 people received organ transplants.
- In 2014, 62% of living donors were women and 38% were men. The statistic is nearly reversed for deceased donation: 40% were women and 60% were men.
- In 2014, 57% of all deceased donors were Caucasian, 16% were African American, 15% Hispanic/Latino and 6% Asian, and Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander.
- As of May 2015, the national waiting list was 42% Caucasian, 30% African American, 19% Hispanic/Latino, and 9% Asian, and Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander.
- In 2010, (the most recent data) there were almost 2.5 million deaths in the U.S. Imagine if every one of those persons had donated.
- Currently, more than 120 million people in the U.S. are signed up to be a donor—sign up and join them.