This is regarding the Chicago Tribune article “Address can mean life or death in organ vigil; Two very sick men; Two locations; Two fates” (Page 1, June 21).
More than half of the 92,000 Americans on the national transplant waiting list will die before they get a transplant.
Most of these deaths are needless.
Americans bury or cremate about 20,000 transplantable organs every year.
More than 6,000 of our neighbors suffer and die needlessly every year as a result.
There is a simple solution to the organ shortage:
Give organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die.
Giving organs first to organ donors will persuade more people to register as organ donors.
It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. About 60 percent of the organs transplanted in the United States go to people who haven’t agreed to donate their own organs when they die. People who aren’t willing to share the gift of life should go to the back of the waiting list as long as there is a shortage of organs.
Anyone who wants to donate his or her organs to others who have agreed to donate theirs can join LifeSharers.
LifeSharers is a non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die.
These organ donors can achieve this through a form of directed donation that is legal in all 50 states and under federal law.
Anyone can join for free at www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88.
LifeSharers has 4,756 members, including 337 members in Illinois.
More than 400 of our members are minor children enrolled by their parents.
