OLD LYME – On Friday, April 5, at 10:30 a.m., the public is invited to the Town of Old Lyme’s flag-raising ceremony kicking off National Donate Life Month at Old Lyme’s Memorial Town Hall. The Donate Life flag will fly at the town hall through April to raise awareness of the critical need for organ donors.
First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker sees the National Donate Life Month as a great time to register as organ and tissue donors. “As a young adult, I indicated my wish to become a donor both on my driver’s license and by sharing my wishes with my family,” Shoemaker said. “If you wish to be considered for organ donation at the end of life, you simply add that to your driver’s license during renewal time with the Department of Motor Vehicles. It’s a very simple process,” she added.
The annual National Donate Life Month honors those who have given the gift of life through organ and tissue donation, either as a living donor or at the end of life. For those whose lives have been saved or healed as a recipient of a transplant, National Donate Life Month provides a chance to share their stories and encourage more people to register as donors and learn about living donor opportunities.
In 2017, Old Lyme witnessed town residents Rob Wallace and Ryan Lee create a lifelong bond through Lee’s donation of a section of his liver to Wallace. Wallace was in dire need of a liver transplant due to liver cancer, and Lee stepped forward to donate once learning about Rob’s journey.
“This June 28th, I will be celebrating my seventh-year cancer-free,” Rob Wallace noted, continuing, “It saved my life! Having a ‘liver giver’ is God’s gift. I feel amazing. I was blessed!”
Living donations are possible for livers, which slowly regrow to nearly their full original volume about a year after a partial liver donation, and for kidneys, since donors can live well with just one of their two kidneys.
Wallace’s liver donor Lee commented, “Helping a neighbor in need as a living donor is one of the most rewarding things, I’ve ever been a part of – I wish I could do it again!” Since then, Wallace and Lee have both been active in promoting living donations and in spreading the word for others who are now searching for a donor to save their life.
According to the National Institutes of Health, while 95 percent of Americans are in favor of being a donor, only 58 percent of the U.S. adult population are registered organ and tissue donors. However, the number of people in need of transplants continues to outpace the number of organs donated.
According to OrganDonor.gov, as of September 2023, about 108,000 people in the US wait for a matching organ transplant and a second chance at life. On average, 17 people die each day because a matching organ is not donated in time. Shoemaker says registering your decision to become a donor is the most effective way to save lives through donation and is a sign of support to those who continue to wait.
Donate Life Connecticut Executive Director Lindsay Vigue is a living donor of a kidney. She said, “I have been able to see how donation impacts not only the life and health of a singular person, but their family and community. There are too many people waiting on the transplant list. In this life, if we are able to help another with the gift of life, while we are here or after we are gone, that is one of the most powerful legacies we can leave.”
In addition to organ donation, tissue donations help over one million individuals each year. Heart valve, bone and skin donations give recipients a new chance at a healthy life; the recovery of tendons and ligaments can help heal a severe sports injury, while cornea donations give the gift of sight.
For more information about becoming a potential organ or tissue donor, and/or learning how to indicate your wishes via the Department of Motor Vehicles, visit DonateLifeCT.org.
Editor’s Note: We were pleased to support the efforts to find a donor for Rob Wallace back in 2017. Visit this link to read our article about the search.