On September 9, 2012, Southeast Missouri State University nursing student and soccer player, Meg Herndon was critically injured in a motor vehicle accident near campus. Everything was done to save her, but when she died several days later, she gave life through the donation of her liver, kidneys and rare negative B type blood.
April is National Donate Life Month.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in 2014, organ donors made more than 28,000 transplants possible. Another one million people received cornea and other tissue transplants that helped them recover from trauma, bone damage, spinal injuries, burns, hearing impairment and vision loss. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services states that a single donor can save the lives of up to eight people and enhance the lives of at least 50 others. Unfortunately, thousands die every year waiting for a donor organ that never comes. You have the power to change that, not only during the month of April, but all throughout the year.
You can simply answer “yes” when you are asked at the License Bureau if you want to indicate your consent to be listed in the donor registry, or you can sign up online at missouriorgandonor.com. Missouri is a state that allows first person consent, so that makes your decision final. Your family does not have to consent for your decision to be honored, but you may want to share your choice with them. You might help them make the choice to also become donors!
Meg was a hero. You can be one too.
Websites:
http://www.semissourian.com/story/1897060.html
http://www.organdonor.gov/materialsresources/materialsntlevents.html
http://health.mo.gov/living/organdonor/facts.php
https://www.missouriorgandonor.com/odpublicsite/Default.aspx
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/in-depth/organ-donation/art-20047529
