Jennifer Moe
Director of Communications/PR
Donor Alliance
303-329-4747

WYOMING’S ORGAN AND TISSUE DONATION COMMUNITY TO RE-LAUNCH WYOMING DONOR REGISTRY AS DONATE LIFE WYOMING

Liver recipient, Chuck Forbes, returns to Wyoming for the first time since his transplant and reunites with the WYDOT snowplow drivers who helped make his transplant possible

CHEYENNE – April 20, 2009 – Today, in celebration of National Donate Life Month, Governor Dave Freudenthal joined Wyoming’s organ and tissue donation community at the State Capitol to re-launch the Wyoming Donor Registry to Donate Life Wyoming. With this re-launch, Wyoming initiates a campaign to increase the donor designation rate – the percentage of people who enroll as registered donors when obtaining or renewing their driver’s license – to 65 percent within the next 24 months.

Joining Governor Freudenthal was Chuck Forbes, liver recipient, who was reunited with the five Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) snowplow drivers and State Trooper, Chuck Bloom, who were all vital in clearing the way for Forbes to get to the University of Colorado Hospital for his transplant on April 5th.

“I am incredibly grateful to WYDOT and the Wyoming State Patrol for making it possible for me to get to Denver for my lifesaving transplant. The selfless gift of organ donation and the incredible act of kindness shown by WYDOT and the Wyoming State Patrol saved my life,” said Forbes.

Designated in 2003 as National Donate Life Month, April has been set aside for increased national focus on the critical need for organ, tissue, marrow and blood donors.

“Organ donors save the lives of more than 28,000 Americans on average each year and close to half a million Americans benefit from the lifesaving and healing gifts organ and tissue donors provide,” said Sue Dunn, president and CEO of Donor Alliance, the organ procurement organization and American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) accredited tissue bank serving Colorado and most of Wyoming. “Despite these statistics, one of this country’s most serious health issues is the widening gap between the supply of organs for transplant and the growing demand. In being here today, we hope to inspire people who have not registered to be donors, to sign up today.”

According to Dunn, today more than 100,000 people in the United States and more than 1,800 people in Colorado and Wyoming, including over 100 Wyoming residents, are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant. Of those waiting in Colorado, 65 percent are in need of a kidney and one out of five current transplant candidates have been on the waiting list for five years or longer.

“Those waiting for a transplant need our help and Wyoming is meeting the challenge,” Dunn said. “Each of the 83,639 Wyoming residents who registered to be organ donors last year has the potential to save up to eight lives through organ donation and save and heal more than 100 through the gift of tissue donation.”

“In 2008, Wyoming’s donor designation rate ranked fourth nationally with 58 percent of people obtaining or renewing their driver’s license saying yes to donation. We want to increase that rate,” said Charlene Hill, executive director of the Donor Awareness Council, the nonprofit coalition formed to increase organ and tissue donation through public awareness and education in Colorado and Wyoming.

As a step toward meeting that goal, Governor Dave Freudenthal proclaimed April Donate Life Wyoming month and encouraged all Wyoming residents to register as organ and tissue donors.

“In 1997, I learned that I needed a heart transplant to survive,” said Ryan Rochlitz, Professional Rodeo Cowboy also in attendance today. “I am fortunate because my donor’s family chose to donate life and as a result, I have been able to attend college on a rodeo scholarship and regularly compete in team and steer roping competitions.”

According to Hill, Wyoming residents can save lives regardless of their age or health. For example, it is possible to register to be an organ, eye or tissue donor even after having suffered from common diseases like Diabetes, which can lead to high cholesterol or heart disease, or cancer.

Wyoming residents can register their decision to be an organ, eye and tissue donor in the following ways:
• Online at DonateLifeWyoming.org.
• At the Wyoming Department of Transportation the next time you obtain or renew your driver’s license.
• By calling 1-888-256-4386.

For more information, please visit DonateLifeWyoming.org.

We are pleased to announce the creation of Colorado’s new specialty Donate Life license plate. CLICK HERE.

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