Donating
Spares Needed!What is The Organ Trail, you might ask?
It’s a series of long distance bicycle rides that aims to create awareness of the urgent and dire need for organ donors, primarily living kidney and liver donors.
Right now, approximately 25 people die every day in the United States, 13 that are active in the kidney waitlist, and another 12 die that were on the waitlist but were removed because they became too sick to be a candidate for transplant.
Another 8 die every day waiting for a liver transplant.
Not everyone can be a living donor, but only 60% of the eligible people are signed up to be deceased donors should anything unexpected happen to them. If you haven’t signed up for this, please consider it through your State DMV.
The 2nd goal of The Organ Trail is to demonstrate that a person can donate a kidney, or a portion of their liver, to save a life, and can then return to their previous level of activity and good health, functioning only on a single kidney, even if that includes vigorously sustained activities.
Over the past 5 years, post kidney donation and liver donation 3 years ago, I’ve ridden my bike over 10,000 miles, through 23 states, sharing this message over and over.
My wife Lynn, also a living kidney donor, has joined me in this effort in many ways.
This year’s ride continues highlighting the life of my liver recipient, Selena. Selena was 9 months old when she received a “sliver of my liver”. She’s now 3 years old and thriving.
Follow along in this year’s ride starting April 29th in Aurora, CO and ending in Plover, WI. I’ll be riding 1,900 miles in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
Details on our website: www.theorgantrail.org
