Currently, there are 103,223 men, women, and children on the national transplant waiting list, with 17 people dying each day waiting for an organ transplant. If these numbers are shocking to you, know there is a way you can help. April is National Donate Life month, encouraging Americans to register as organ, eye, and tissue donors and to honor those who have saved lives through the gift of donation.
“The way we try to explain it to people is to try to make them think what would it be like if they were in someone else’s place,” said Director of Transplant Operations and Compliance at WVU Medicine Shelley Zomack. “The main question we want people to ask themselves is do I need my organs after I’m dead, or can I give them to someone else to live their life.”
National Donate Life Month was first established in 2003 by Donate Life America. The organization serves as the national symbol for the cause of organ, eye, and tissue donation and links the call to action to become a donor with a powerful visual image. More than 89 percent of their funding goes to mission spending, including education programs, campaign materials, the National Donate Life Registry, national meetings and conferences, and web technology.
For many, the need for organ donation surprises them, as was the case for West Greene School District teacher Becci Watson. Watson was living with Brittle Diabetes that was diagnosed her freshman year of college. The former teacher was very active teaching language arts, coaching, and sponsoring the yearbook and newspaper programs. However, her body was unable to keep her blood sugar under control. In 2008, she received the news she was in End Stage Renal Failure, when chronic kidney disease reaches an advanced state. Her doctor advised her at the time to get on the transplant list, start dialysis, or go home and call hospice. She immediately signed up for the transplant list.
“I received a call right away, which is very rare,” said Watson. “However, the first donor was a known drug addict, so I passed. When I got my second call, I was still teaching at the time, and it didn’t match up. On the third call, I had a donor who was a 99.9% match. The donor was a 17-year-old who had been in a car accident and later had an aneurysm. “She checked that she wanted to be an organ donor when she got her driver’s license. Her parents honored this decision,” stated Watson.
Watson would have her Simultaneous Pancreas/Kidney (SPK) transplant in November of 2009 and would spend the next year and a half in and out of the hospital. Initially, she was in the hospital for 13 days. Watson retired from teaching the following year, but she remains active in the community volunteering at 2nd Sam 9 and Blueprints. Fifteen years later, Watson has everything under control and hasn’t had to take a shot of insulin since getting her transplant. She is very grateful that her donor came at the right time and everything she does is for her.
“The transplant was a life-changing moment for me because I didn’t know how sick I was,” said Watson. “To be able to go back to doing all the things I love is an incredible gift. I try to have all the experiences that young lady missed out on. When you owe your life to someone you better live.”
While most people think of organ donors who have passed away, there are also living donors who are making a difference for those in their time of need. That was the case for Greene County native Dave Rush, who in June of 2020 was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, a form of cancer that affects the blood cells. By August of 2023, Rush’s cancer turned terminal and the need for a donor became critical. His siblings tried to help save his life, but none of them were a 100% match. Then, in his time of need a living donor was located who was a 100% match.
“My diagnosis came as a complete shock,” said Rush. “I felt completely fine, and I just thought that as I got older, I was feeling more tired in the evening. When the illness went terminal in August, I had to go to the hospital for a month to keep the cancer under control and a month later it was back out of control. The doctors went heavy and fast with the chemo, and I don’t know if I have ever been weaker.”
During the treatment it was discovered that Rush needed a stem cell transplant in order to keep him alive. He mentions how signing up was a long process as he realized that he would need to rely on someone else to keep him alive. The transplant would come just at the right time and Rush would get the transplant just a few weeks after signing up. The recovery process is still on-going and Rush has been battling for three years now.
“I am truly grateful to be honest. It was really divine timing the way it unfolded,” said Rush. “It didn’t sink in until afterwards that there is another living human DNA inside me. I would really like to meet the guy who donated to me one day. It brings a flood of emotions just thinking about it.”
In just 30 seconds, you can be a part of the solution to help people in similar situations as Rush and Watson. You can sign up to be an organ donor or get more information about organ donation by visiting donatelifepa.org. One organ and tissue donor can save eight lives and impact 75 others. Be part of the change and sign up today to save a life.