National Donate Life Month

National Donate Life Month (NDLM) was instituted by Donate Life America and its members in 2003, and grew out of the federally proclaimed National Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation Awareness Week (NOTDAW). NDLM features an entire month of local, regional and national activities to help encourage Americans to become a donor. 2010 NDLM United States Proclamation More than 55 years after the first successful organ transplant in December of 1954, thousands of individuals have recognized the importance of giving the gift of life to others. In 2009, over 13,000 people were organ donors. Thanks to them, and thousands of others before them, more than 475,000 people in the United States received transplants. Despite the compassion of so many, National Donate Life Month is a time when we also must raise public awareness that there continues to be a critical need for more donors and an increasing gap between the number of people whose lives depend upon receiving an organ transplant and the number of available organs. More than 110,500 people are on the waiting list for an organ transplant. Thousands more need tissue and corneal transplants each year, and about 30,000 people a year are diagnosed with blood diseases that may be cured by a marrow/blood stem cell transplant. Every day in April people across the U.S. make a special effort to celebrate the tremendous generosity of those who have saved lives by becoming organ, eye, tissue, marrow, and blood donors and to encourage more Americans to follow their fine example. Several activities are organized during this month to call attention to the need for organ and tissue donation, the impact donation has in saving lives of other individuals and the importance of people making their wishes known to their family in the event of an untimely death. In celebration of NDLM, Donate Life Connecticut joins together with State Legislators, Mayors and First Selectman, Department of Motor Vehicles, organ and tissue donor families, transplant recipients and health professionals who advocate organ donation to bring public awareness and education to the residents of Connecticut. This media event at the State Capitol is a wonderful public opportunity to rally in support of the growing Connecticut Donor Registry. For more information contact us at 203-387-1549.Join Us for the 2011 Celebration! Please join Donate Life Connecticut for the annual celebration of National Donate Life Month and awards ceremony honoring the 2011 Annual Poster Contest winners. A no-cost continental breakfast will be served. Friday, April 1, 2011 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. Connecticut State Capitol Building North Lobby & Hall of Flags 210 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, Connecticut Co-Hosts: Elizabeth “Betsy” Ritter - House Chair of the Public Health Committee & State Representative (D-Waterford and Montville) David Labriola - Republican Whip & State Representative (R-Naugatuck, Oxford and Southbury) Guest Speakers: Melody A. Currey - Commissioner of Department of Motor Vehicles Deborah Heinrich - Non-Profit Liaison to the Governor Tom Dempsey, OD - Transplant Recipient Lorraine Tierney - Mother of an Organ Donor Instrumental Performances: North Haven High School Students