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When is National Donor Day?

February 14th is National Donor Day.

What is National Donor Day?

This Valentine’s Day, put those paper hearts to work. Sure, use a few to convey your deep, abiding love for that significant other. Use the rest to publicize that some people spend years on the waiting list for a heart transplant. National Organ Donor Day raises awareness about the need for blood, platelet, marrow, tissue, eye, and organ donation.

Donors can be any age. You don’t have to wait until your own death either. It’s possible to be a living donor if you give a kidney, some blood or bone marrow, or a part of the liver, lung, or intestine. Most major religions permit organ donation, and you don’t have to be in amazing health to be a donor.

Some donations save lives. Others, like eye and tissue donations, heal people of otherwise crippling conditions. Donation advocates use National Donor Day to encourage folks to become donors. Because even if you never need the system, so many people do.

Facts about National Donor Day!

  • An average of 20 people a day die while waiting for an organ transplant.
  • One person’s consent to organ donation can save up to 8 lives.
  • The number of transplants performed in the U.S. rose 20% between 2012 and 2016.
  • Starting in 2015, U.S. surgeons have performed more than 30,000 organ transplants a year.
  • Saturn Corp. and its partners in the United Auto Workers started National Donor Day in 1998.

How to celebrate National Donor Day:

  • Look up myths about organ donation to make sure you know your facts.
  • Become an organ donor. Research the process for your own state. You can often register online with your state’s donor registry. Be sure to choose “yes” to organ donation on your driver’s license, and sign a donor card if your state offers them.

What’s the hashtag for National Donor Day?

Promote organ donation with #NationalDonorDay on social media.