While a record number of lifesaving organ transplants were performed in 2023 — 46,000, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing — the need remains high.
Right now, there are 103,884 people on the National Transplant Waiting List.
Of those, nearly 4,000 are in the D.C. area. That’s according to Infinite Legacy, a nonprofit that works to facilitate organ, tissue and eye donations in Maryland, D.C. and Northern Virginia.
Jecoliah Daniels, director of communications and marketing for Infinite Legacy, told WTOP, “Every eight minutes, another person is added to the National Transplant Waiting List,” and 16 people die each day waiting for a necessary organ.
The greatest need for organs is among people suffering from end-stage organ failure.
“Eighty-six percent of people who are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant are in need of a kidney,” Daniels said.
In 2023, Infinite Legacy joined the family of Xan Korman, a 20-year-old Butler University student who was shot and killed in 2021, in creating a scholarship to honor him. Korman was also an organ donor.
Applications to that scholarship are being accepted until Aug. 31.
Daniels said the impact of organ and tissue donations has a large ripple effect: “One organ donor can save eight lives. One tissue donor can save and heal 75 lives,” and a cornea donor can restore eyesight to two people.
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