Factoids and Talking Points

· Approximately 77 organ transplants take place every day in the U.S.

· On average, a single tissue donor can save or enhance the lives of up to 50 people.

· More than 28,000 patients began new lives last year thanks to organ transplants.

· Approximately 39,000 patients had their sight restored last year through cornea transplants.

· A living donor can provide a kidney or a portion of their liver, lung, pancreas or intestine.

· Almost two-thirds of all living donors are relatives of their recipient, most commonly siblings.

· The number of unrelated living donors has more than tripled since 1998.

· To learn more about living donation visit www.transplantliving.org/livingdonation.

· People of all ages and medical histories should consider themselves potential donors. Your medical condition at the time of death will determine what organs and tissue can be donated.

· One in 10 deceased donors is age 65 or over.

· Sadly, an average of 18 patients die every day while waiting, simply because the organ they needed did not become available in time.

· On average, 134 people are added to the nation’s organ transplant waiting list each day—one every 11 minutes.

· More than 100,000 people are currently waiting for an organ transplant in the U.S. More than 600 of them are 5 years old or younger.

· 35% of patients awaiting kidney transplants are African American.

· Annually, there are more than 25,000 tissue donors and 70,000 cornea donors.

· More than 1 million tissue transplants are done each year and the surgical need for tissue has been steadily rising.

· All major religions support organ, eye and tissue donation as an unselfish act of charity.