Isle foundation encourages
organ donor cards
The National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii is asking residents for a special gift that costs nothing this Christmas: to sign an organ donor card.
"Organ donation doesn't require a credit card, cash or even a gift certificate, yet it's the one gift with enduring value," said Glen Hayashida, foundation president. "One organ donor can save or enhance the lives of up to 25 people."
A name is added to the national waiting list for lifesaving organs every 13 minutes, the foundation said.
The list now has more than 82,000 men, women and children.
Each day, 17 people die because there are not enough available organs, but the waiting list could be cleared if every potential organ donor became one, the foundation said.
Living donations of a kidney, partial liver and lung also are possible, and 6,534 living people made a donation last year.
The National Kidney Foundation is dedicated to preventing kidney and urinary tract disease, increasing organs available for transplantation and improving the lives of donor families and transplant recipients.
For more information or to receive a free organ donor card, call 593-1515 or see www.kidneyhi.org.