Celebrating National Organ & Tissue Donation Awareness Month
This month we are celebrating awareness of organ and tissue donation across North America! April 22 to 28th marks National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week in Canada, and April is National Donate Life Month in the US.
This means that all month long there are great opportunities to show your support for organ donation both online and off! Our friends at BC Transplant reported yesterday a record-breaking 222 registrations in one day– we’re hoping that with our collective efforts, they’ll surpass that by the end of the month.
With two screenings coming up in Victoria this month and several more in the planning stages, we’re using April as an opportunity to share Eva’s story with new audiences, and motivate them to register as donors and talk to their friends and family about the film. We’re also sharing great stories like this video from Global TV, about Cecilia Ferreira, a young woman from Burnaby who received a heart transplant at 13.
Our friends and fellow awareness raisers are also taking action this month. Donate Life America has launched a campaign to register 20 million donors in 2012. Visit their site to learn how you can join the cause! Transplant Trots, 5 or 10k walks/runs held around Canada to raise awareness, are taking place in cities across Canada between April 22 and 28. Find out if there’s a Transplant Trot happening in your community! Trillium Gift of Life also has an extensive list of awareness events happening in Ontario.
If you’re already registered as an organ donor, tell us on the 65_RedRoses Facebook Page how you’ll be raising awareness this month! Or tweet it to us with the hashtag #4Eva. As you can see in the photo, I’ll be wearing my #4Eva t-shirt as a conversation starter about the value of registering as a donor and sharing the story of how an anonymous donor saved my mom’s life.
Even a small step can have a big impact: each person who registers as an organ donor can save up to eight lives and improve 75 more. That’s something worth celebrating all April long!
