More than 6,000 New England residents are currently awaiting a lifesaving transplant, according to New England Donor Services.
At a news conference Wednesday, Portland Mayor Mark Dion declared this Organ Donation Week, and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows urged more Mainers to become donors.
New England Donor Services coordinates organ and tissue donation in the region and said the donation of a deceased individual can save up to 8 lives and help 50 recipients.
At the event donors and recipients shared their stories of loss and survival because of organ donation.
Anne French lost her 15-year-old daughter Mia to suicide three years ago.
"I am the mom of a superhero. She was a 15-year-old suicide victim. And because we donated her organs six people are living three more years. From just that one day of organ donation that my husband and her older siblings chose to make her an organ donor," she said.
French said among the six people Mia helped are a 10-month-old baby who is now turning four, a high school student who learned to sing after receiving Mia's lungs and another who survived with Mia's heart.
New England Donor Services Director of Government Relations Matt Boger said 18 people die each day in the U.S. waiting for a donor.
Recipient Rick Griffin said he was nearly one of them seven years ago. He said a priest gave him last rites and then a miracle occurred.
"On the day I expected to die a match was found. A young man lost his life tragically in a car accident. I was rushed to Lahey Hospital and underwent a 12-hour operation to take his liver from his body and put it into me to save my life. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of him and his family," Griffin said.
Boger said Maine leads the East Coast in registrations, with at least 57% of the driving population registered as organ donors. Bellows said that amounts to more than 775,000 Maine drivers.
In June 2024, New England Donor Services reported organ donation in New England attained a new monthly record high. The agency said it coordinated a record-breaking 64 organ donors resulting in 154 life-saving organs for transplant from those donors.
You can become an organ donor when you renew your license. You can also do it online.
Bellows also urged high school teachers to encourage their students to participate in the annual Donate Life Maine High School Poster Contest. She said it's a way to educate young people about organ donation. Bellows holds an awards ceremony in the spring to celebrate the winners.
