Donate Life Month 2014 Newsletter Article – Option #2 Thank you for supporting April as Donate Life Month. As part of this national effort, we offer the article below. We invite you to customize it for your organization’s publication or Intranet site by inserting information in the designated areas. Saving and improving lives through organ and tissue donation (Organization Name] supports National Donate Life Month “When I grow up, I want to be a race car driver,” says five-year-old Kiefer. When he’s not at school, energetic Kiefer loves to spend time riding his bike and playing with his cousins. Kiefer’s parents, Katie and Thomas call him their “walking miracle” thanks to the success of his liver transplant and the generosity of a donor family. Each year, countless patients are given a second chance at life through the generous gift of organ donation. During the month of April – National Donate Life Month – we take the time to raise awareness for organ, tissue and eye donation and the life-saving impact of those generous gifts, as well as celebrate those that have saved lives through the gift of donation. [ORGANIZATION NAME] is passionate about saving and improving lives every day. (ORGANIZATION NAME) partners with BloodCenter of Wisconsin, home to the Wisconsin Donor Network and Wisconsin Tissue Bank, to provide potential donor families in our area the opportunity to touch countless lives. Kiefer’s story is just one example. “When Kiefer was born, we found out after a few weeks that he was born with no bile ducts,” says Kiefer’s mom, Katie. “When Kiefer was five weeks old, he had his first surgery where they took his small intestine and connected it to his liver to form a bile duct. The surgery was effective for a couple of months, and then when Kiefer was 8 months old, he needed a liver transplant. Being on the waiting list was very stressful.” But the news that a donor liver was available for Kiefer came soon thereafter. “The only thing that I could do at that moment was cry, knowing that someone had made the decision for their child to donate their liver to Kiefer to keep him alive. I always think about the generosity of that donor family.” Patients in need By adding your name to the registry this April, you can save and extend the lives of countless patients in need by becoming a donor. Nationally, more than 121,000 people are awaiting a life-saving transplant, 2,450 of those are in Wisconsin. An average of 18 people die each day awaiting life saving transplants. One tissue donor can enhance the lives of more than 50 people. Every year, more than one million Americans receive tissue transplants of bone, heart valves, tendons, ligaments, corneas and skin. As the home of the Wisconsin Donor Network and Wisconsin Tissue Bank, BloodCenter of Wisconsin is dedicated to saving and extending the lives of patients while caring for donor families. In 2013, the Wisconsin Donor Network helped to facilitate 183 life-saving organ transplants. Wisconsin Tissue Bank serves 73 hospitals throughout Wisconsin, and we anticipate more than 25,000 patients will receive the gift of tissue donation from the families we supported. Visit www.bcw.edu/sharinglife for more information and share your wishes with your family. As always, BloodCenter of Wisconsin also encourages you to donate the generous gift of blood, as well as join the Be the Match Marrow Donor Registry. Wisconsin launched its own state donor registry in 2010, so it’s important to visit our website if you haven’t registered or renewed your commitment since then, even if you have a donor dot on your driver’s license. You never know how many lives you could touch. ###