It’s an inspiring and humbling thing to be providing public relations and media relations support for the Guinness World Record Attempt: Living Donor Rally on Saturday, April 21st at Millennium Park in Chicago.
Through contacts I have made in myriad media markets around the United States–all after gathering information from organ donors who are attending the rally–I have been inspired to consider donating one of my own organs. The key word is “consider,” since significant, thoughtful steps must come before organ donation is a reality for me.
Among the heroes I have been fortunate to connect with, and to connect with their regional media: June Monroe, featured in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Ashley Hoyng, the focus of a column by Joe Blundo in The Columbus Dispatch; Misty Shaw, in The State Journal-Register; Rebecca Marsh, in the Reporter-Herald of Loveland, Col.; and Mike Koetting, featured in a “Minnesota Moment” segment on KSTP, the ABC station in the Twin Cities.
Kudos to Laurie Lee, a friend and client (along with her husband, Rob, she is the owner of Swift Passport Services). An organ donor herself, Laurie is spearheading heightened awareness of the need for more life-saving living donors. See the Northwest Herald feature on Laurie’s story, including her distinctive take on the so-called organ “shortage” that numbers more than 100,000 across the country:
“You hear every day on the news about an organ shortage,” Lee said. “There isn’t an organ shortage. There’s an organ surplus.”
The problem is a lack of people willing to donate, Lee said.
“There’s an allocation issue,” Lee said. “Most people are walking around with two kidneys. You only need one to live a perfectly normal life.”
Those are challenging, and inspiring, words indeed!
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