John Kerce waited six long years on an organ donation waiting list before he was able to receive a liver transplant in 2006.
His family could only watch as hepatitis C and cirrhosis slowly destroyed the Lexington native’s liver.
“It’s no fun being sick every day,” said Kerce.
“With my transplant it was like a whole new life. I instantly felt better. I remember waking up in the ICU, it was the best I’d felt in years and that was just after coming out of surgery.”
Kerce was one of a number of activists and transplant recipients that rallied at the State House Tuesday to raise awareness about organ donation.
They’re working to encourage people to sign up to become an organ donor and rally organizers said a new person is added to the organ donation waiting list every 11 minutes.
“There are close to a 1,000 people in South Carolina who are awaiting a life saving transplant, without which they will certainly die,”said Nancy Kay, CEO of LifePoint, the state’s organ and tissue recovery service.
Kay said there are currently 390,000 people in the state who have registered to become an organ donor, but she hopes to have over a million people registered in the next 2 years.
“I think we can reach that goal,” she said.
“I don’t understand why everybody isn’t a donor. You certainly don’t need the organs,” said Kerce.
“When you die, if you donate your organs, someone else could live, because of your gracious gift. It is a gift of life. There’s no other way to describe it.”
The state legislature also planed to pass a resolution to designate April as “Donate Life Month” in South Carolina.
“Hopefully it will bring attention to the need for organ and tissue donors,” said Kay.
“A lot of people don’t recognize the importance of it,” said Kerce.
“It saved my life…It was like being reborn.”
For more information visit every11minutes.org.
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