August is National Minority Donor Awareness Month (NMDAM). The Gift of Life Donor Program helps to heal lives by coordinating the recovery and distribution of organs and tissues used in lifesaving and life- enhancing transplants.

The Gift of Life donor program has been serving the community for 50 years, and it’s the vital link between patients who wants to donate with over 100,000 patients who are awaiting transplantation according to Rick Hasz, President and CEO of the Gift of Life Program.

This month provides an opportunity to clear up misconceptions in the minority community regarding donations.

“We also know there's a huge need, in the, in the minority community for transplants. Unfortunately. Especially among communities of color. There's 3 to 4 more times likely to suffer from kidney disease. And need a transplant. You know, right now, 60% of the patients who are waiting for a kidney transplant are people of color. And I think we have to get that information out, so that when families are making that decision about donation, they know that by saying yes, they're going to actually be helping people in their own community. There's such a huge need. Because of that.”

Hasz says the number one misconception is if a person puts donor on their driver’s license, they won’t receive medical help if hospitalized.

 “That couldn't be further from the truth. Hospital staff do not have access, to your driver's license is very rarely found with you at, you know, after you've been in an accident. And it's only after that you have died that that information is accessed, and then shared, with your family. And so, the reality is that putting that donor designation on your license, you let everybody know that at the time, you, you know, you want to help somebody else. And it takes that burden and that decision making, away from your family, and allows them to be able to honor your legacy, after you've passed that.”

Willam Johnson received a kidney transplant in 2022 after being on dialysis for five years. He registered on four separate lists in Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and even Baltimore.

“You have to go through a battery of tests to see if you are able to even receive a kidney transplant. So I had to go through the testing basically at four different medical centers. And so then it's a wait, once you accept it on the list, then it's a waiting game for that phone call to come to see if they have an available kidney that matches you. And since there are so many people who are on the list, it doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen overnight unless you have someone who was willing to be an organ donor to donate for you, because you can live with one kidney, “said Johnson.

Cynthia Slater’s son Ezekial passed away at 21 years old in 2022. He registered as an organ donor when he was 16 years old. Through his generosity, he was able to save five lives with organ donations.

“You know that even in death, he still continues on. So it means a lot. As we spoke to earlier, you know, everyone's not always in the family on board with. A donor make a donor's decision. But it was made. It was so much easier for me to make that decision for our family to make that decision, because we knew that that was Ezekiel's specific, decision. So we weren't making thinking about is this something that he would want to do? But he had donated, you know, made himself a donor. Designated donor, "said Slater.