In Oklahoma, there were 112 organ donors last year and 216 people received transplants. This April, during the federally sanctioned National Donate Life Month, LifeShare of Oklahoma, the not-for-profit organ recovery organization for the state, encourages every Oklahoman to become registered organ, eye and tissue donors. Currently, more than 98,000 men, women and children in the United States, 490 of them Oklahomans, still wait for a lifesaving transplant, and thousands more are in need of cornea and tissue transplants.
“A record 112 Oklahomans were organ donors in 2007,” says LifeShare Communications Director Phil Van Stavern, “yet while donation has increased, it has not kept pace with the number of patients being listed. And now as many as 18 people die each day in this country because an organ is not available.”
To learn how you can be part of the solution, visit www.lifeshareoklahoma.org. “This month we challenge everyone to focus on the good that transplantation offers and the need that grows every day in Oklahoma,” says Van Stavern. “Please make a commitment to learn more about donation today. One donor can help fifty or more people through organ, eye and tissue donation. Your commitment today can make all the difference for those in desperate need.”
There are three ways to register your wish to be a donor in Oklahoma:
1. ON YOUR LICENSE OR STATE ID CARD - When you get your driver’s license or state ID card, you will have an opportunity to say yes to organ, eye and tissue donation, and you will have an opportunity to donate a dollar to the Oklahoma Donor Education Fund. If you have registered on your license or state ID card, you do not need to register in any other way.
2. ONLINE – If you have not registered on your driver’s license or state ID card, you can go online anytime and register in just minutes at www.lifeshareregistry.org. After you complete your registration, you will be sent a signature card. When you sign it and return it, your name will officially be added to the registry. Registering online gives you the ability to access your registry page and change the information on it.
3. ON THE PHONE – If you no longer have a license or state ID card, and you
do not have a computer, or access to the Internet, you can call 800-826-LIFE (5433) and request that a donor registration card be sent to you. After you fill out the card and return it, your name and donation wishes will be added to the LifeShare Donor Registry.
