I drove past a bank Friday night and noticed their electronic sign which read, “Save lives. Be an organ donor.  www.yesutah.org.”  I was so excited.  National Donate Life Month is in full swing and we appreciate the support we are receiving from local banks and businesses who have added a donation message on their electronic signs during the month of April.

For all of our Facebook friends, we extended a request last week to post, ‘April is National Donate Life Month. I’m a registered organ, eye and tissue donor. Are you? Go to www.yesutah.org to register. Copy and post this in your status to show your support for donation!’ as their profile message.  If you are a Facebook friend and missed that post, it’s not too late to put this as your profile message. 

We are also teaming up with Lagoon to offer discount Lagoon coupons to everyone who is either already registered as a donor or to people who choose to register as a donor now.  Information can be found at http://www.yesutah.org/content/lagoon.

Help us celebrate National Donate Life Month.  If you haven’t already “liked” us on Facebook, we would love to have you as one of our friends.  If you are already a friend, feel free to post a comment about organ donation and why you are a supporter.  Let’s spread the word.

April, National Donate Life Month, is almost over.  Throughout the month, I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of incredible people and attend some very touching events. 

Two of the people I had the pleasure of meeting were Mike Parke, Funeral Director at the Parke’s Magic Valley Funeral Home, and his wife Catherine.  Mike had a liver transplant in 2008 and says he feels better than he has in 20 years!  He expressed gratitude for the overwhelming support he received from people in his community prior to and following his transplant.  He is now a strong advocate for donation and is looking for ways to make a difference in his community and throughout Idaho. 

I attended a community event at Ogden Regional Hospital where Dr. Wahlstrom and his son Andy spoke about the impact organ donation has played in their lives.  Andy received a kidney from his younger sister, Mallory, several months ago.  Dr. Wahlstrom shared what is was like as a father to watch as two of his children were wheeled in to surgery.  Both Andy and Mallory, who is the current Miss Kaysville-Fruit Heights, are doing well. 

The Wahlstroms were followed by Paul Cardall, concert pianist and heart recipient.  Paul told a little about his heart condition and the disappointments and tragedies his family has faced in the last year.  He has gained a new perspective that has increased his great gratitude toward his donor and their family.  He then played a song he wrote for a baby he met at Primary Children’s Hospital, “Gracie’s Song.”  This beautiful song set the mood for the raising of the Donate Life flag which took place immediately following the speakers.

I also continued to see the need.  I interviewed a teenager on dialysis, met a toddler who needs an intestinal transplant, and spent some time with a woman who needs a new heart.  I hope next April finds these people doing well and ready to celebrate with us.  If you haven’t registered as an organ, eye, and tissue donor, it’s as easy as logging onto http://www.yesutah.org/ and clicking on the big, yellow “Register Now” button.

Look what landed at the library!

Have you seen them?

If you’ve been to a Salt Lake County Library lately, you may have noticed some items proclaiming National Donate Life Month! We are excited to partner with the SLCO Library System to help people find accurate information regarding organ donation. With all the crazy myths and misconceptions out there about donation, it can be challenging to find The Real Story!

We are hoping that the posters and brochures may catch your eye, and especially that the mousepads by the computers will direct patrons to our new website, www.yesutah.org. Yes, we know the mousepads are a little “out there”, but hopefully they will grab some attention, make people stop and think for a second, and then go to the website. YesUtah.org is an amazing collection of facts, questions, news items, and personal stories, as well as a place to find links to many other partners in organ, eye, and tissue donation.

There are wonderful people in the library systems in Utah! We are grateful to them for their support this year during National Donate Life Month!

Are you creative? Do you like making videos?  Then you might be just who we are looking for!

April is National Donate Life Month and we need your help publicizing the need for organ, eye, and tissue donation. Almost 400 people in Utah, and 106,000 nationwide, are waiting for a life-saving transplant.

We are looking for fun, creative, factual videos about donation to help publicize the need for more registered organ donors and we decided to have a CONTEST! We are looking for videos that: 

• Are two minutes long, or less
• Include factual information about donation/transplantation
• Have a message encouraging people to be donors
• Direct people to www.yesutah.org and www.yesidaho.org to register as an organ, eye, and tissue donor

Check out our example video, “Knock out the Myths,” but we want you to use your own creativity.  Come up with something that wows us and blows away the competition!

 To be considered, videos must be submitted to info@yesutah.org in avi or wmv format by Thursday, April 1, 8:00 a.m., MST.  Complete details can be found at on the Yes! Utah website. 

The video that receives the most views during the month of April wins a cash prize of $150, the second most views $100, and third place, $50. 

Facts about organ, eye, and tissue donation can be found at www.yesutah.org. You may enter more than one video, but only one prize per person will be awarded.  

Help us celebrate National Donate Life Month and make a difference!   

Pass this information on to your friends.  You do not need to be a Utah resident to enter.