BRATTLEBORO — This April marks the 11th annual National Donate Life Month, a celebration commemorating those who have given the gift of life through organ and tissue donation.
For those whose lives have been saved or healed by a transplant, National Donate Life Month provides a chance to share their story to encourage more people to register as donors.
Suellen Canfield, 61, was a happy wife, mother and grandmother when she died suddenly in 2001. Her family had no doubt that if given the opportunity she would continue to help others even after she had passed. Her organ donation saved the lives of three people.
Her husband, Bob, volunteers for New England Organ Bank, and shared his story of how, in great loss, he found comfort in his wife's ability to help others.
According to Laura Dempsey of New England Organ Bank, people of all ages are waiting on the transplant list.
“It's important to show that people of any age can make a powerful difference in someone's life by being a donor. Donation saves and heals lives every day, but it can only happen when someone makes the important decision to register as an organ and tissue donor. You can make that lifesaving difference by registering your decision to donate,” she said.
In addition to organ donation, tissue donations help more than a million people each year. Heart valve and 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, and cornea donations give the gift of sight, Dempsey said.
There's been some success. Thanks to the efforts of Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, New England Organ Bank, motor vehicle department offices, and Donate Life volunteers, the number of registered donors continues to climb.
Indeed, today there are 112 million registered donors in the United States, more than 5.5 million from New England.
That said, the number of people depending on such transplants is outpacing the supply of donated organs. More than 120,000 people await a transplant today, and an average of 18 patients will die daily for want of a timely donation.
The solution, Dempsey said, is to continue educating the public about the lifesaving effects of donation and transplantation and encouraging them to sign up through their state donor registry.