There are currently 121,678 men, women and children in the United States awaiting life giving organ transplantation. Organ transplantations are needed for heart, lung, liver, pancreas, kidney and intestine patients. In addition, eye or tissue donation is also needed.
Of those individuals on the waiting list, 100,791 are awaiting kidney organ transplants. Kidney transplantation is especially important to the staff and family of Apex Physical Therapy. Julie Paull, the wife of one of our therapists, has been on the waiting list for a kidney transplantation for one year. Unfortunately, the median waiting time for a kidney transplant is 3.6 years. To complicate matters, an average of 3000 new patients are added to the waiting list each month.
In 2014, 4761 patients died while waiting for a kidney transplant. Another 3668 patients become too sick to receive a kidney transplant. See the following graft:
How can we change this statistic? It is simple. Consider becoming an organ donor. Many patients are waiting for a life- giving transplantation.
To take the next step, here are some organizations that are working hard to bring life- saving organs to many patients. The first web site is the United Organization for Organ Sharing (UNOS). The other web sites are for Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center’s Living Donor Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Center.
