Organ donation campaign hits the road

[okarol]

Organ donation campaign hits the road

Updated: 03/21/2008 02:44 PM
By: Adrianne Flores

WINSTON-SALEM -- Thousands of Americans die each year waiting for an organ transplant. But one local group is fighting to increase donations. They met this week to reach out to others.

"We're here for different reasons, but also for the same reason, because we have a heart for this."

They're members of a special society -- inducted through heartache and healing.

"My late wife Janet died unexpectedly from a brain stem herniation," Horace Conner remembered.

Valerie Moser’s mother told the crowd, "Our daughter was named Valerie. She was 3."

The audience was filled with those who've received organ transplants and donor families. And this week they came together to recruit new members.

On Wednesday the Rotary Club of Clemmons rolled out a new campaign, to raise awareness about organ donation.

Fifteen big rigs wrapped in billboards encouraging more people to "Have a Heart, Give a Part."

Justus Harris, a member of the Clemmons Rotary Club said, "Once you get involved and meet the people who are personally impacted, the donor families, the recipients, it's really not a far leap to really want to get involved in any way you can."

Each trailer tells it own story... like Alexis McMillian's.

"There I was kind of waiting for my kidneys to fail," she said.

In 2002 the McMillian was diagnosed with kidney disease.

After 3.5 years of pain, dialysis and uncertainty, the proud grandmother finally received a new kidney.

"A toddler and a 3-year old are very, very active,” McMillian said of her family. “And I am just so thankful that I'm able to halfway keep up with them. Whereas before I'd sit in a chair and they'd play around me. And now I can actively participate with them. It's meant my life back."

Conner's wife Janet, died, but her spirit lives on in others.

"She was always a giver and never a taker so it was appropriate that she decided that she wanted to be able to give life one final time even through her death," said Conner.

Now he hopes his wife's story and the trucks will help save more lives.

"It's just something I can do to further promote organ tissue donation awareness and also honor my wife at the same time,” he said.

For more information about organ donation and how to become a registered donor, call Carolina Donor Services at (336) 774-4450.

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