Family âKeeps Love Aliveâ by raising awareness about pediatric organ donation
(BPT) - For many people, raising a child is one of life s greatest adventures. If your child is healthy and happy, you re a lucky parent. Not all families are so fortunate. Of more than 100,000 people currently on the national organ transplant waiting list, more than 1,900 are children, over one-third of them under 6 years old. Due to the unique requirements of pediatric organ donation, many continue to wait, hoping for a brighter future.
The unique nature of pediatric organ transplants
The need for organs is only growing, but for many types of transplantation, young children often need to receive an organ from a donor of similar age and size, a requirement that frequently means a lack of availability. Approximately 100 children die each year due to this critical shortage, but they don t have to - just one organ and tissue donor can save up to eight lives and enhance the lives of as man
Parents of boy killed by alligator at Disney World advocate for pediatric organ donation in new campaign
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At Disney World, a sculpture of a lighthouse similar to the one the foundation uses as its logo was later erected near where Lane was killed.
Matt and Melissa Graves say they want parents to talk about organ donation long before they ever face the unthinkable prospect of their child dying.
“No parent is prepared to lose a child ever. The loss is unbearable,” Matt Graves said. “Organ donation may seem like a hard choice to make. … But people who donate their child’s organs are heroes.”
The Graves family s foundation is moving beyond the small-scale donations it has been making so far to families with children undergoing transplants in Omaha to raise awareness nationally about the need for pediatric organ donation. They cite statistics saying that roughly 100, of the nearly 2,000 children on the national transplant waiting list, die each year while waiting. Finding transplant organs for children is challenging because the pool of donors is so small.