Know the Facts

These facts from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services may help you better understand organ, eye, and tissue donation:

Know the Stats

  • As of March 2020, there are over 112,000 people on the organ transplant waiting list in the US.

  • Around 2,000 of those awaiting organ transplant are children under the age of 18.

  • 83% of transplant waiting list patients are in need of a kidney transplant.

Registration is quick and easy.

What about Living Donors?

Around 38% of 2019 organ donors were living donors.

  • One kidney, and part of a liver, can be donated by a living donor:

    • Directed Donation (most common) - donor specifies to whom they are donating (usually family/friend).

    • Paired Donation - donor who is not a match to their family member/friend participates in chain to donate to someone else, and find a match for their family member/friend.

    • Non-Directed Donation - medically compatible person donates to stranger in need.

Bone Marrow and Stem Cell transplants are life-saving procedures made possible by living donors.

  • 70% of patients in need of a bone marrow transplant (or ~12,000 patients) are in search of an unrelated donor.

  • Bone marrow and stem cell transplant patients are more likely to match a donor of their same ethnic ancestry. It is essential that there is an increase in ethnic diversity within the donor registry.

    • While 77% of white patients in search of a bone marrow donor will find a match, only 23% of Black patients, 41% of Asian or Pacific Islander patients, 46% of Latinx patients, and 57% of Native American patients will find a life-saving donor. 

Sources:

Join Now! Registration. https://join.bethematch.org/s/landing?language=en_US. Accessed July 30, 2020.

Organ Donation Statistics. OrganDonor.Gov. https://www.organdonor.gov/statistics-stories/statistics.html. Published June 16, 2020. Accessed July 30, 2020.

The Need for More Marrow Donors. BloodStemCell.HRSA.Org. https://bloodstemcell.hrsa.gov/donor-information/donate-bone-marrow/need-more-marrow-donors. Accessed July 30, 2020.

Types of transplants. Living and Deceased Kidney Transplants. https://www.kidneyfund.org/kidney-disease/kidney-failure/treatment-of-kidney-failure/kidney-transplant/types-of-transplants/. Accessed July 30, 2020.