This semester I got to work on a campaign for a class that is an important issue in New York State. This issue would be organ and tissue donation. The facts do not lie and what the facts say is that New York, out of the fifty states in the country, has the lowest amount of donors and highest need of organs. So if you want to go back to economics 101 terms that means the demand is greater than supply which is not a good thing.

Everyone hears the myths and lies but never listen to the actual facts. Here are some facts about being an organ donor that are interesting.

How many people are waiting?

More than 120,000 people are waiting on the organ transplant list and 10,000 of them are currently in New York state. On top of that every ten minutes someone is added to the waiting list and every day an average of twenty people die from waiting on the list.

How many New Yorkers are donors?

Of people over the age of eighteen only 27% are on this list! If you want to go national theres only a 50% of Americans signed up!

One donor can help eight or fifty lives.

When you choose to be a donor, your organs can help save eight people and if you choose to donate tissue you can help improve over fifty lives which is an added bonus!

You choose.

Yes you read that right. On the lovely registry cards there is a list of organs. If you don't want to donate a certain organ you don't have to! Just check off what you want!

All religions welcome being a donor.

All major religions actually do allow for organ and tissue donation. It's considered a selfless act to help others thus allowing it to happen.

Open casket funeral is still possible.

Alright, no one likes to talk about death and funerals. I am the one who avoids the topic like it is the plague. But because normally people are clothed for funerals the scars from collecting the organs are actually not even visible meaning your beautiful face can be seen one last time.

What do you get for it?

Well if you are a University at Albany student and you see someone who is doing the campaign in the spring semesters you can get awesome prizes like the ones above otherwise you get a awesome little heart on the bottom of your license.

Where can you sign up or get more info?

If you are a UAlbany Student or even just a student in the area, you can find any of the students running the campaign in the spring walking around campus, tabling, or even at sporting events! If you are not in the Albany area you can go on your health app on your iphone and sign up right there or you can go to https://www.donatelife.net/ Donate Life also has answered questions and facts in case people have other things they want to know!