Organ donation saves lives, gives greatest gift possible
Two parents receive shocking news one day. Their young son, only 3 years old, needs a heart transplant. He is your younger brother.
He gets the transplant and begins the long road of recovery. But, as it is so often, your brother still faces more health complications. The need for such a major transplant as the heart is rarely without complications.
For years, you watch as he grows and continues the battle, still living his life, day after day.
Then, at the age of 20, your brother discovers the medicine he has been taking for so long has fried his kidneys and he, once again, needs a transplant. And he needs a new heart on top of that.
Once again, waiting on the transplant list.
But that isn't your life. It is part of the life of Carissa Coon, a senior accounting major. And it is the life of her younger brother and her family.
Coon's brother has been waiting for six weeks now. It was a donor who saved his life once before. It will be a donor who will, one can only hope, save his life again.
Coon said it was her brother's recent return to the transplant list that drove her and her family to "make it their mission to do whatever they could" to help spread the word about being an organ donor and giving the gift of life.
Coon contacted Donate Life Illinois, and it was then she discovered the six-week, statewide campus challenge.
It is a challenge she has brought to Eastern's campus. She has taken it upon herself to spearhead the effort on campus to educate students, clear the air on any misconceptions and, with any luck, help as many people as possible register to become organ donors.
Unfortunately, according to www.donatelifeillinois.org, only 60 percent of people in Illinois are actually registered to donate organs.
That is a number 40 percent shy of acceptable.
He gets the transplant and begins the long road of recovery. But, as it is so often, your brother still faces more health complications. The need for such a major transplant as the heart is rarely without complications.
For years, you watch as he grows and continues the battle, still living his life, day after day.
Then, at the age of 20, your brother discovers the medicine he has been taking for so long has fried his kidneys and he, once again, needs a transplant. And he needs a new heart on top of that.
Once again, waiting on the transplant list.
But that isn't your life. It is part of the life of Carissa Coon, a senior accounting major. And it is the life of her younger brother and her family.
Coon's brother has been waiting for six weeks now. It was a donor who saved his life once before. It will be a donor who will, one can only hope, save his life again.
Coon said it was her brother's recent return to the transplant list that drove her and her family to "make it their mission to do whatever they could" to help spread the word about being an organ donor and giving the gift of life.
Coon contacted Donate Life Illinois, and it was then she discovered the six-week, statewide campus challenge.
It is a challenge she has brought to Eastern's campus. She has taken it upon herself to spearhead the effort on campus to educate students, clear the air on any misconceptions and, with any luck, help as many people as possible register to become organ donors.
Unfortunately, according to www.donatelifeillinois.org, only 60 percent of people in Illinois are actually registered to donate organs.
That is a number 40 percent shy of acceptable.
Please read Coon's full story
Please join the NATIONAL DONATION CAMPUS CHALLENGE learning series call on October 21 to learn how you can spearhead an organ, eye & tissue donation challenge on your college or university campus. As evidenced by Coon's experience, it takes just one person to start the momentum - be that person!
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