BlogCatalog Community Organ Donation Awareness Campaign

Today is the day BlogCatalog has asked bloggers to take part in their Donation Awareness Campaign. I am proud to be one of the bloggers who will be participating today.

Organ donation - it could mean the difference between life and death for another person.

Anyone can be a potential donor regardless of age, race, or medical history. For people whose organs are failing because of disease or injury, donated organs and tissue may offer the gift of sight, freedom from machines, or even life itself.

Success Story! Alex Pratt of Los Angeles suffered from kidney disease for over 20 years. It was a huge burden on his wife and two children until he received his first transplant in 1993. Unfortunately, it only lasted 9 years, so he had to wait another four years for a second transplant. He would have never gotten a second chance if not for http://www.MatchingDonors.com and a paired donation program at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Donors Needed! In Australia, more than 1,700 people are waiting for organ transplants. In Latin America, more than 50,000. In Europe and the United States, more than 95,000. In China, more than 2 million. In Africa, there isn't enough organization to really know. Without an organ transplant, these people will die. There are many statistics and links to find a good story at Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_donation

For more information:

http://www.organdonor.gov/

http://www.organdonor.gov/donor/index.htm

Calling All Bloggers: BlogCatalog Needs Our Help

I hope everyone will join in for this on July 18.

In May, BlogCatalog helped more than 1,000 students get the school books, supplies, and resources they needed for their classrooms. Amazing!

Since then, the BlogCatalog team has been busy looking for a way to pull the community together again to launch an awareness campaign that will be heard around the world. It’s the BlogCatalog Community Organ Donor Awareness Campaign.

Why organ donation? In Australia, more than 1,700 people are waiting for organ transplants. In Latin America, more than 50,000. In Europe and the United States, more than 170,000. In China, more than 2 million. In Africa, there isn’t enough organization to really know. Without an organ transplant, these people will die.

Organ donation is a gift of life. On July 18, let’s all come together again and raise awareness about organ donation and the good it can do. If everyone blogs about organ donation, no matter what country you live in, we can save lives! It’s easy and we can also prove that bloggers can do good at the same time!

If you live in the United States, all you have to do is link to OrganDonor.gov. (http://www.organdonor.gov/donor/index.htm), UNOS (http://www.unos.org/), or MatchingDonors.com (http://matchingdonors.com). If your country has an online organ donation site, please add it to this bulletin so BlogCatalog members in your country can promote it too or visit the British Organ Donor Society for known worldwide links (http://body.orpheusweb.co.uk/lnks.html).

On Wednesday, July 18, write a blog post asking all your readers to sign up as organ donors. Your blog post should:

• Have the title “BlogCatalog Community Organ Donation Awareness Campaign” (or some variation)

• Explain the importance of organ donation and how it is a gift of life.

• Link to one (or all three) of the sites above or the most suitable site for your country.

• And add a link to our BlogCatalog Community Organ Donation Awareness Campaign page so we can give you and your blog credit for being part of it.

If you have any questions, please send an e-mail to tony@blogcatalog.com . We will also be posting some ideas that you can use to tell your story about how organ donation is a gift of life! And please, don’t forget to tell your friends to blog about this too. Together, I know we can raise awareness about organ donation!