By FRED SWEGLES
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Dick Veale has lots of friends around San Clemente and serves on a municipal committee that guides operations at the city's 18-hole golf course. But many people don't know this about him:
"Three years ago, I received a heart and liver," he confided at last week's City Council meeting. "I'm a person who is very grateful and very happy to be here today because some 28-year-old kid, when he went to DMV, signed up as an organ donor. I am only alive today because of this kid in South Dakota who died in a construction accident and gave me a heart and liver.
"Forty-four people got things from that guy. Somebody got his corneas. Somebody got his kidneys. Somebody got tissue, bones, everything. Forty-four people."
Veale is one reason San Clemente is getting ready to observe DMV Donate Life California Month in April. The message is that everyone should check "yes" on the organ-donor box when they apply for or renew their California driver's license or ID card.
Chase Edler did. In 2006, when the 19-year-old San Clemente High School graduate attending USC suffered a fatal fall from a skateboard, his family's loss led to hope for eight other families.
"Chase donated all eight organs to give life to eight families who now do not have to suffer like our families do," said Gina Cousineau, founder of the San Clemente-based nonprofit organization Be a Hero, Become a Donor.
Cousineau hopes to inspire other donors by recalling Edler's life and that of her 9-year-old son Evan, who died in 2007 after a battle with a genetic disorder.
"We lost him 3½ years ago due to complications from his bone-marrow transplant, but Evan only had hope because of two cord blood donors and dozens and dozens of blood donors," Cousineau said.
During Evan's battle, his older sister Mary met another boy at the same hospital who was facing a similar challenge. Six months after Evan's death, Mary learned she was a perfect match for the other boy and donated one of her kidneys to him. The boy now is "5, alive and vibrant," Gina Cousineau said.
San Clemente Mayor Lori Donchak said she has given blood and signed on to the national marrow registry. Pat Martin, who runs the DMV office in San Clemente, said getting a pink "Donate life" dot on your driver's license is simple.
"In 2004, when the DMV started adding this statement onto our application, the average amount of people who signed up to donate had been 20,000 a month," Martin said. "That very month it went to over 100,000 people a month."
Now, more than 8 million have signed up, the DMV's website says.
FACTS OF GIVING LIFE
• More than 100,000 people nationwide and nearly 20,000 in California are awaiting organ transplants.
• Every 90 minutes a person dies while awaiting an organ transplant.
• More than 600,000 units of blood per year are needed to meet the need in California.
• At any time, 6,000 patients need marrow donations.
• A donation of the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas and small intestine can save up to eight lives.
• Tissue donations can enhance and save the lives of up to 50 people.
• A single blood donation can help three people.
Source: Mayor's proclamation of DMV Donate Life California Month in San Clemente
Story Highlights
To help observe DMV Donate Life California Month in April, the city urges everyone to check ‘yes’ on the organ-donor box when applying for or renewing a driver’s license or ID card.
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