A new state campaign aims to register more organ donors

Reading Eagle | Matthew Nojiri
Reading Eagle: Susan L. Angstadt
Sandy Maicher and her son, John, of Birdsboro. John, 28, is on the waiting list for four transplants.
Those on the list for an organ transplant can only hope a donor is found in time. A new state campaign aims to register more donors.
John Maicher can only wait.

His friends are getting married, starting families, moving up in the world. He wants those things, but for now they are on hold.

When the 28-year-old Birdsboro resident recounts his health struggles, he spends 20 minutes describing his portal hypertension, the hole in his small intestine, the liver transplant of 2006, the medically induced coma of 2011, blood infections. The list goes on.

"Needing a new organ, it kind of stops everything," he said. "It stops life. For a good seven-plus years, it's like the world has moved on. I've been stuck in the same place."

Maicher is not waiting on one transplant. He needs four.

This week, the state's two official organ donation matching programs and the state health and transportation departments are launching a campaign called Donate Life PA to register new organ donors in Pennsylvania. Officials from the campaign say they are trying to close the gap between the 85 percent of Pennsylvanians who support organ donation and the 45 percent who are actually registered on their state IDs.
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______________________________________________________ 
"You have the power to SAVE lives." 
To register as a donor in California: 
www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org 
Outside California: 
www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net

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