Today we received a Donate Life newsletter online
and the numbers of people waiting for
an organ transplant was sobering:

U.S. totals ******* waiting in Florida
74,181 - kidney transplants - 2,885
16,667 - liver transplants - 443
1,634 - pancreas transplants - 11
2,275 - kidney-pancreas transplants - 80
223 - intestine transplants - 11
2,702 - heart transplants - 82
106 - heart-lung transplants - 5
2,252 - lung transplants - 137
97,782 -- TOTAL PATIENTS -- 3,654

Numbers current as of 11/30/07

In some European countries, you are considered
an organ donor unless you sign papers stating you
don't want to be a donor. In those countries,
there is no wait for an organ. Here in the U.S.,
it is the opposite. You have to sign up to be
an organ donor unless at your death your
family agrees to donate your organs.

If you'd like to read more on this topic, go to
this site:
http://donatelife.net/

If you desire to be an organ and tissue donor,
please discuss your wishes with your family because
they will be the ones to grant permission on your behalf.
Even if you have registered as an organ donor, if your
family doesn't agree, the donor procurement team
will not go against their wishes.

Vernon and I are so grateful that he didn't have
to wait any longer than he did and are grateful
to Lisa, who donated the heart of her husband,
Steven, to Vernon. We're still waiting and hoping
to hear from her that she would like to meet us.
That news will certainly be broadcast loudly
on this blog!