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LifeLink of Georgia
Release:
07/15/08
Albany, Georgia
National Minority Donor
Day is August 1st
LifeLink of Georgia and other organ procurement
organizations across the country will be
celebrating National Minority Donor Day on
Friday, August 1, 2008.
Programs, events and media stories help to
focus the importance of
considering organ and tissue donation within
multicultural communities and
the need for minorities to designate their
decision to become organ and
tissue donors. There are nearly 100,000
Americans waiting for organ
transplants with minorities making up 53 percent
of the national transplant
waiting list. They represent 26 percent of
living and deceased organ donors.
In Georgia, there is a particularly high need
for organ donors in the
African-American community. Currently, of
the more than 2,430 Georgians
awaiting an organ transplant, 57 percent are
African-American. For kidneys
alone, 62.9 percent of Georgians listed for a
transplant are African
American. In addition, minorities are
disproportionately affected by
illnesses that can lead to organ failure
including hypertension, diabetes,
and heart and kidney diseases.
Angela Powell is thankful for the individual
whose kidney functions within
her. Angela was diagnosed with Lupus in
her early 20s and before long began
experiencing serious symptoms, including kidney
failure. To her donor
family, Angela says, ³If it werenıt for them I
donıt know what my outcome
would have been. God landed on their
heart, and they allowed me to have
another chance.² Angela received her
life-saving transplant in July 2005,
just in time to recover for her planned wedding
date in September. She now
lives life to the fullest, spending time with
her son and husband, attending
church regularly, and shopping whenever she has
the opportunity.
LifeLink of Georgia, the non-profit organ and
tissue recovery organization
facilitates the recovery of high-quality organs
and tissues for
transplantation therapy. LifeLink serves
all of Georgia and two counties in
South Carolina. LifeLinkıs Multicultural
Donation Education Program (MDEP)
was established in 1994 due to the high number
of African-Americans awaiting
transplant in Georgia. LifeLink also
expanded the program to include
outreach to Spanish-speaking residents.
MDEPıs mission is to increase donor
designations in the African American and
Hispanic communities to close the
gap between minorities awaiting transplants and
those who donate.
To become an organ and tissue donor sign up on
the state organ donor
registry or contact LifeLink for a family
notification card at
1-800-544-6667 or
www.lifelinkfound.org.
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