Happy 17th Kidney Birthday to Jim!!!!

17 years ago today someone had to make the decision to donate their child's organs. I can't imagine how hard that was, but I am thankful every day that the choice was made to donate a kidney for Jim.

Everyone knows the story how he got the phone call in the middle of the night, how it was a record amount of transplants that day for Children's Hospital and how well Jim did afterwards. It could have been a totally different outcome-dialysis for years or even worse.

We are very aware of just how lucky Jim was to receive the kidney that night. If you look at the waiting list, you'll see Jim hit the lottery:

WAITING LIST FOR ORGANS
UNITED STATES
This table shows the number of candidates (men, women and children) who are waiting for organs for transplantation in the United States.
All Organs
108,123
Kidney
85,684
Liver
16,093
Pancreas
1,457
Kidney-Pancreas
2,175
Heart
3,150
Lung
1,765
Heart/Lung
77
Intestine
257


-More than 100,000 men, women and children currently need life-saving organ transplants.
-Every 10 minutes another name is added to the national organ transplant waiting list.
-An average of 18 people die each day from the lack of available organs for transplant.
-In 2009, there were 8,021 deceased organ donors and 6,610 living organ donors resulting in 28,465 organ transplants.
-90% of Americans say they support donation, but only 30% know the essential steps to take to be a donor.

I know organ donation is a personal decision, but your decision to someday donate your organs could save up to eight lives. So, fill out the back of your license and let your family know your wishes.