Organ donors are needed.(Neighbor)(Hispanics helping Hispanics)

Byline: Audrey Reed

There are more than 8,000 people waiting for an organ transplant in the United States, and approximately 50 percent represent minorities (22,088 blacks and 12,216 Hispanics are included).

Hispanics make up 15.5 percent of the kidney transplant waiting list, which is expected to grow as recent reports indicate, that almost half of the Hispanics population will develop diabetes within their lifetime.

Although each day around 68 people receive organs, another 17 people who are on the national transplant list die because of the lack of available organs.

Being an organ donor is one of the most unselfish contributions one human being can offer another. The gift of life, an organ changes the lives of families forever. A recipient of an organ not only receives life but accepts a responsibility, that of giving back to others.

Organ recipients many times wait for months, and many times are hospitalized and follow a required strict prescribed medical regiment, so they can remain eligible for a transplant. All across the country people wait for healthy organs as the demand outweighs supply.

It is important to become an organ donor or consent to organ donation from a relative. As many as eight people can be saved by people giving two kidneys, two lungs, a heart, a liver, a pancreas, intestines, tissues, bones and corneas.

Although half of Americans say they signed a donor card on the back of their driver's licenses, many Hispanics have not taken that step. Within the Hispanic community organ donation is not frequently talked about and many families refuse to give their consent.

People need to take steps to ensure that their family will carry out their wishes:

1. Sign an organ donor card and note it on your driver's license. Donor cards are available at the state department of motor vehicles.

2. Talk with your family and tell them that you want to donate.

3. You can go on the Internet and download a family notification form and let your wishes be known.

4. Even a dated and signed simple form informing the family of your wishes to become an organ donor, followed by the signatures of two witnesses can help the family make a painful decision.

Many people report in giving the gift of an organ, they have the satisfaction of having saved other people's lives, and this in itself makes it easier to cope with the death of a loved one.

The decision to become an organ donor is a wonderful gesture, and it gives someone else the chance to survive. This becomes even more meaningful when we think that one of our loved ones could be the recipient.

For more information, contact the National Coalition at Donation www.ShareyourLife.org.

- Audrey Reed is the director of Centro de Informacion, Elgin.