As the last few days of winter wind down, St. Patrick’s Day is a welcome sign of spring. It’s a day of wearing green for the Irish and the non-Irish alike. It’s a celebration of the Emerald Isle’s patron saint. Many St. Patrick’s Day traditions revolve around luck. Over 3,000 North Carolinians are hoping St. Patrick’s Day 2016 will be their lucky day –the day they get a life-saving organ transplant.
A number of factors are used to determine who receives a transplant but there is one critical factor that serves as the foundation for the process as a whole – donor registrations. It’s not sheer luck that more than one-half of North Carolinians have registered as organ and eye donors. Donation is a conscious choice and one that can directly save the lives of others.
There are now more than 121 million registered donors in the United States, and 4.7 million are from the state of North Carolina, making our registry the sixth largest in the country. Still, the number of people in need of transplants continues to outpace the supply of donated organs. Today across the country, more than 120,000 men, women and children are waiting for that gift of life from an organ donor. Over 3,000 of them live right here in North Carolina.
It takes more than the luck of the Irish to receive a transplant. It takes generous people like you who register to be a donor. This St. Patrick’s Day, please take the time to register as an organ, eye and tissue donor online at Register as a Donor and bring hope to those who wait. As a registered donor, you have the power to bring good fortune to others. A single donor can save or enhance the lives of more than 50 people.
For more information about how to register as a donor or how to get involved, please visit HonorBridge.org or call 1-800-200-2672.
