About 50 residents, advocates, organ transplant recipients and at least one person on the waiting list for a transplant attended a Donate Life flag-raising ceremony Friday at Old Lyme Town Hall to increase awareness in the community of the organ donation program.
Several years ago the Town of Old Lyme was asked to fly the Donate Life flag for the month of April by a father whose daughter’s organs were donated after her untimely death. This meant a great deal to the family and the Town has flown the flag each year since then in the knowledge that it promotes awareness of the organ donation program.
“This is a really, really important thing” said Old Lyme First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder, “ The more light we can shine on this, the better it is for us as advocates, and the better it is for those in need of organ donation.”
The guest speaker was Dr. Richard Jones, Past President of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, who has devoted much of his time in retirement to advocating for organ donation programs. “Last year there were more than 33,000 organ transplants” Jones reported, “but the sad part of the story is that 22 patients a day die waiting for a transplant and there are over 120,000 people waiting on the list for a life-saving transplant.”
“The hope is” Jones continued, “that by raising the Donate Life flag, someone in the community will see that flag and ask, “What does that mean?” and will then move on to become a future donor.”
Despite the falling rain, Rev. Mark Robinson from Old Lyme, who recently received a kidney transplant due to the efforts of the Old Lyme-based Mentoring Corps for Community Development (MCCD) who advocated for him, cheerfully raised the Donate Life flag surrounded by other organ recipients, and also by Rob Wallace of Old Lyme, who is currently on the waiting list for a liver transplant.