A Perfect Podcast to Honor National Donors Day

It’s been a busy couple of weeks since I last wrote about recording a guest spot on “This Podcast Will Kill You.” The episode on organ transplants aired this week and is available now. It fittingly arrived just in time for National Donors Day, which falls on Valentine’s Day. Learning about the fascinating biology and history–and critical need for–organ transplantation should spur more people to decide to register as organ donors.

About 110,000 people in the United States are waiting for a lifesaving organ (most of them for a kidney). Only about 3 in 1,000 people die in such a way that organ donation is possible–for example, in a hospital following a car accident–so the pool is very small. That’s why it’s critical that everyone register. And those who can be organ donors can donate up to eight organs: two kidneys, two lungs, a pancreas, a liver, a heart, and intestines. Plus eyes and tissue–even hands and face.

The TPWKY podcast episode (no. 66, by the way, entitled “The Outs and Ins of Organ Transplants”) opens with my telling my story of donating to my son. Then Betsy Crais tells her story of receiving a kidney. Of course, we talk about our upcoming book, The Insider’s Guide to Living Kidney Donation. We were thrilled to learn that Erin Welsh, the co-host who interviewed us, had already read the complete manuscript and loved it. She urged listeners to watch for the book and even wrote a blurb for the book cover!

Please go to organdonor.gov or any of several sites and register now. It will take just a minute. And be sure to tell your family of your wishes to be an organ donor. As much as I want to encourage living donation, on the opening page of this website, I recognize that “being a living donor isn’t for everyone. It’s a big decision.” Registering to be a donor after your death, on the other hand–when you don’t need those precious organs anymore–just seems like a no-brainer.